Q. Would it be wise for me to pay off my home equity loan with a fixed rate of 7.51% with a credit card that has a fixed-rate of 4.99%?

A.Consumers usually want to use home equity loans to pay off their credit cards and we hate to see anyone load up on credit card debt.

But you're in the unusual position of having a better interest rate on your card than your home loan. Saving 2.5 percentage points certainly tips the scales toward using your credit card to pay off your home equity loan.

In addition, paying off the equity loan would free your home of that encumbrance should something unforeseen occur that would hurt your ability to repay the loan.

There are a couple of other factors to consider, however.

Putting what might possibly be a large debt on your credit card could hurt your credit score.

One of the main factors in determining your credit score is how much of your available credit has been used. You'll be penalized if the home equity debt requires you to borrow more than 33% of the available credit being used on any one card.

We're assuming that great, 4.99% fixed-rate doesn't expire before you can get the home equity debt paid off.

You have to be 1,000% sure that you can make your credit card payments on time, every single month. Credit card issuers have clamped down on late payments in these touchy financial times. One late payment and you could be thrown into universal default, which would push your great 4.99% rate up to 25% or even above 30%.