The Central Bank interest rate can affect you in all sorts of ways -- some directly, some indirectly.

Here are the three main financial impacts of today's decision for consumers.

The first and most immediate impact is with home equity loans, which are directly tied to the interest rate set by the Federal Reserve.

Marc Barton used a home equity line of credit to help him remodel his modest, century-old house in Tacoma.

"We installed the counters, new sink, new dishwasher, garbage disposal," said Barton.

Most home equity loans are based on the Federal Reserve loan rate, so consumers like Barton can expect to see a half-percentage point drop in their loan.

What about the interest paid on credit card purchases?

Jennifer Mathison of Seattle will probably get some relief after today's action by the Fed. Interest rates do tend to come down on credit cards, but not as quickly as with home equity loans. And credit card companies can limit credit in other ways, by lowering credit limits and making it harder to quality for a card.

Finally, today's rate drop may help buyers and sellers of real estate -- just what Tiffany Maskiell of Seattle was hoping to hear. She wants to sell her house and buy another.

"No one's looking. No one's looking to buy our home. Consequently, we can't turn around and buy another home," said Maskiell.

Like credit card interest, mortgage interest isn't directly tied to the Fed rate, but it does tend to trend in the same direction. Mortgage rates are generally quite low now, so today's decision may bring more buyers into the market eventually.

So the biggest immediate winners from today's federal rate cut are those with home equity loans. But experts caution against using them irresponsibly.

"Don't use it to buy cars, jet skis, stuff. It's not a checking account or a credit card--it's your house," said author and financial expert Jeff Lehman.

Lehman says using a home equity loan to make improvements to your house may pay dividends when it comes time to sell.

Even though the current federal interest rate is now only 1.5 percent, on Wednesday the fed governors said they remain concerned about the economy, leaving the door open to another rate cut at their next meeting.

Lehman has his own website where you can take a survey to find out how frugal you are. It can be found here.