Fed holds interest rates steady: Here's what that means for credit cards, mortgages, car loans and savings rates

the fed held rates steady wednesday, keeping the federal funds rate at 3.5% to 3.75%. this could be jerome powell's last meeting as chair before kevin warsh takes over, though warsh hasn't been confirmed yet. inflation has jumped since the war with iran began, limiting the fed's options. "we're in a kind of suspended animation — between iran and the fed transition," said sean snaith, director of ucf's institute for economic forecasting. for consumers, the hold means no relief. credit card aprs are stuck just under 20%, per bankrate. "carrying a balance will remain very expensive," said lendingtree's matt schulz. the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 6.38% tuesday, up from 5.99% at the end of february, per mortgage news daily. new car loan rates near 7% pushed the average monthly payment to $773 in q1 2026 — an all-time high, per edmunds. top-yielding online savings accounts and one-year cds still pay around 4%, according to bankrate.