Malone has a good point about running up credit cards after paying them off, but I still would pay those off first. Then, You could take what would have been the credit card payment money each month (or 1/2 of it) and put it towards the equity loan. I just hate paying high interest, and they then charge you interest on the interest! It's a scam in my opinion.

You'll feel good about having less bills to pay each month. It make life simpler. it's freeing.