Household debt, credit card balances and delinquencies all increased

What Rising Interest Rates Mean Credit Mortgage? An Empirical Commentary on Greg G. How Credit Rates and Mortgage Rates Are Accuring in the United States

He said that it gives you a clear runway to pay off your debt, and insulates you from future rate hikes. If the economy sours, less debt and more savings will give you more savings and help you weather rising interest rates.

Greg said rates have increased at the fastest pace in 40 years. Home equity lines of credit are the highest in 14 years, car loan rates are at 11-year highs, and mortgage rates have rocketed to 20-year highs. Savers are seeing the best yields since 2008 – if they’re willing to shop around.”

If you have been depositing cash at big banks that pay no interest for savings accounts and certificates of deposit, it won’t change much.

The national savings rate has gone up from zero in January to 0.16% thanks to the big players, according to Bankrate.com.

When the fed funds rate goes up, various lending rates banks give to their customers will follow.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/success/what-rising-interest-rates-mean-credit-mortgage/index.html

What is the rate of interest on a credit union? Preserving the buying power of your money with Series I Saving Bonds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities

As for certificates of deposit, there’s been a noticeable increase in return. The average rate on a one-year credit union CD is 1.05% as of October 27, up from 0.14% at the start of the year. But top-yielding one-year CDs now offer as much as 4%.

Given today’s high rates of inflation, Series I savings bonds may be attractive because they’re designed to preserve the buying power of your money. They’re currently paying 6.89%.

The rate will be in effect for six months only if you buy an I Bond by April 2023, which is when the rate is scheduled to adjust. The rate on the I Bond will fall if inflation falls.

There are some limitations. You can only invest $10,000 a year. You can’t redeem it in the first year. And if you cash out between years two and five, you will forfeit the previous three months of interest.

Nevertheless, they preserve the buying power of your $10,000 if you don’t need to touch it for at least five years, and that’s not nothing. They also may be of particular benefit to people planning to retire in the next 5 to 10 years since they will serve as a safe annual investment they can tap if needed in their first few years of retirement.

If inflation stays sticky, you may want to consider putting some money into Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. TIPS can be sold before term in comparison to SERIES I BONDS. They pay interest according to the adjusted principal. That rate never falls below 0.125% at auction. At the most recent auction in October, for instance, the 5-year TIPS had an interest rate of 1.625%.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/success/what-rising-interest-rates-mean-credit-mortgage/index.html

What is the best interest rate on a credit card? An expert advice on what to transfer to a zero-rate balance card and how to get a fixed-rate loan

The latest interest rate hike will most likely have a big impact on consumers who do not fully repay their credit card balances through higher minimum monthly repayments, said the vice president of US research and consulting at TransUnion.

Best advice: If you’re carrying balances on your credit cards – which typically have high variable interest rates – consider transferring them to a zero-rate balance transfer card that locks in a zero rate for between 12 and 21 months.

It is advisable to understand what you will have to pay, as well as the consequences if you miss a payment during the zero-rate period. It is best to pay your balance off as soon as possible before the zero-rate period ends. Otherwise, any remaining balance will be subject to a new interest rate that could be higher than you had before if rates continue to rise.

If you don’t transfer to a zero-rate balance card, another option might be to get a relatively low fixed-rate personal loan. Currently rates on such loans range from 3% to 36%, with the average at 11.27%, according to Bankrate.com. But the best rate you can get would depend on things like your income, credit score and debt-to-income ratio. Bankrate’s advice: To get the best deal, ask a few lenders for quotes before filling out a loan application.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/success/what-rising-interest-rates-mean-credit-mortgage/index.html

What Rising Interest Rates Mean-Credit-Momentum-Mortgage Rates in the 30-Year Mortgage Market?

Freddie Mac shows that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was at 7.20% last week. That is more than double where it stood a year ago.

To the extent you already own bonds, the prices on your bonds will fall in a rising rate environment. If you purchase short-term bonds, you can benefit from that trend because they are less expensive than longer-term bonds. That’s because their prices have fallen more relative to long-term bonds, and their yields have risen more. Long- and short-term bonds can move in tandem.

If you have a variable-rate home equity line of credit, and you use part of it to do a home improvement project, you might be able to get a fixed-rate home equity loan, if you ask your lender.

The cost of services, which make up a large part of the Consumer Price index, is the thing to watch in terms of inflation. “The big question now is how sticky the services side of inflation proves to be. Ma said that wage growth could keep growing if the job market doesn’t weaken, but service inflation might have to take its toll.

As for geopolitics, he added, “The market seems to have put geopolitical concerns in Europe on the back-burner, but as winter looms there is a risk that the energy warfare could escalate again.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/success/what-rising-interest-rates-mean-credit-mortgage/index.html

Inflation, Walls and Wall Street: How Do Value Stocks Become More Diverse in a Supply Chain? A Comment on Financial Planner Doug Flynn

Financial service companies can do well in a rising rate environment because, among other things, they can make more money on loans. But if there’s an economic slowdown, a bank’s overall loan volume could go down.

The Federal Reserve has made sweeping rate hikes over the past 11 months in an effort to combat high inflation. Climbing interest rates have taken a toll on the housing sector: During the fourth quarter of last year, mortgage originations dropped to 2019 levels, according to the New York Fed report.

He remains bullish on value stocks, especially small cap ones, which have outperformed this year. He said that they expect that performance to persist for a long time.

But broadly speaking, Ma suggests making sure your overall portfolio is diversified across equities. Since some of those areas will come out ahead, it’s important to hedge your bets.

That said, if you’re planning to invest in a specific stock, consider the company’s pricing power and how consistent the demand is likely to be for their product. For example, technology companies typically don’t benefit from rising rates. But since cloud and software service providers issue subscription pricing to clients, those may rise with inflation, said certified financial planner Doug Flynn, co-founder of Flynn Zito Capital Management.

Investing in Bonds and Floating Rate Instruments: How to Make the Most of Rates Rise and Debt Increase in the U.S.

Flynn believes there is a very good opportunity in short-term bonds. Those in high income tax brackets should look into tax-free municipal bonds.

Other assets that may do well are so-called floating rate instruments from companies that need to raise cash, Flynn said. The floating rate is tied to a short-term benchmark rate, such as the fed funds rate, so it will go up whenever the Fed hikes rates.

If you aren’t a bond expert, investing in a fund that focuses on making the most of rising rates through floating rate instruments and other bond income strategies would be better. Flynn advises looking for a flexible income mutual fund or exchange traded fund that has different types of bonds.

Total US household debt hit a record $16.9 trillion during the fourth quarter, an increase of $394 billion, or 2.4%, from the prior three-month period, according to the Fed’s latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. Delinquencies are on the rise and credit card balances are swelling at record levels, as shown in the report.

New York Fed data show that credit card balances increased by a record amount during the first quarter of the year. Credit card balances grew over the course of the year.

Worrying about the labor market and the delinquencies of borrowers and lenders: New York Fed researchers warned against inflation and a restart of student loan payments

He said that if the labor market remains tight, people will keep spending even in the face of challenges. “It just speaks to the challenges that we face in the fight against inflation.”

“It’s triple trouble for credit card borrowers,” Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst for Bankrate, said in a statement. “Balances are up, rates are up and more people are carrying credit card debt.”

The fact that the rate of delinquencies are increasing despite a robust labor market environment is worrisome, according to New York Fed researchers.

At the end of 2022, 18.3 million borrowers were behind on a credit card, according to New York Fed researchers. At the end of the year, it was 15.8 million.

New York Fed researchers said that if the labor market deteriorated, it would be bad for consumer debt and delinquency levels.

“While person-level delinquencies are high, we do not anticipate widespread stress for lender portfolios as balance weighted delinquencies remain at or below pre-pandemic levels,” New York Fed researchers wrote in a blog post Thursday. “But, on a person-level, this financial distress is real, and the delinquent marks will impact their access to credit for years to come.”

Additionally, the ending of the current federal student loan payment forbearance could not only cause education loan delinquencies to rise but also spill over to credit card and auto loans as well, researchers noted.

A restart of student loan payments “is absolutely going to put more pressure on the consumer and force people to make touch choices,” Mike Loewengart, head of model portfolio construction at Morgan Stanley, said in an interview with CNN.