Installment loans like most personal loans) are going to be much better than revolving lines of credit (like credit cards) in terms of total interest paid, b/c of simple/fixed vs. compounding/variable interest. However, it also means a much higher mo. pmt, b/c it's not open ended like a cc, which has very low min. monthly pmts.

So...you need to figure out what your ultimate short/long term goals are. It's not that simple, as you're starting to realize.