Personal finance services company WalletHub, noting the strong expectation for the Federal Reserve to reduce its target interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, December 18, released results of a consumer survey on the matter indicating continuing personal financial concern ahead of the potential benefits of such a rate cut.
Here are some key findings of the WalletHub Fed rate survey:
- 74% of Americans think upcoming tariffs will increase inflation.
- 44% of people think the Fed has done a bad job taming inflation.
- Nearly 9 in 10 people think inflation is still an issue.
- More than 3 in 4 people think inflation is a bigger issue than the job market right now.
- 74% of people blame credit card companies the most for the average interest rate on store cards being above 30%, while 17% blame the Federal Reserve.
- 70% of Americans say that a quarter-point rate cut by the Fed will not help with their holiday shopping.
WalletHub outlined some of the potential impacts of a 25-basis-points Fed Rate Cut:
- Credit card users will save roughly $1.88 billion in interest over the next 12 months.
- WalletHub expects mortgage rates to drop by 11 basis points, translating to $10,800 over the life of a 30-year loan.
- WalletHub expects the average APR on a 48-month new car loan to drop by around 12 basis points in the coming months.
