it. inflation, it is zapping the strength of a lot of families. that inflation hit 8.6% last month, highest rate since 1981. majority of americans weren t even alive actually. u.s. families paying more for everything. gas, cars, food, housing, just to name a few. plane tickets, everything. and today fed is expected to rise rates three quarters of a point. so that means that people will pay more to get a car loan, houses and even college. that will taste bad, but the hope is that it cools down inflation overall. right now on wall street you re seeing a little bit of optimism here heading into this final fed decision here. in overseas market, mixed performance in asia and europe has opened higher this morning. this is a perfect day to talk to greg mcbride from bankrate.com, he knows something about interest rates, all kinds of different rates. hi, greg, how are you? good morning, christine, great to be with you again. so this rate hlike we re expecting, 75 basis point
disaster and so that is why they are expected to take this three quarter percentage step. and the inflation number didn t show any signs of cooling in a meaningful way. for people watching at home, for our viewers, how can they expect this increase to affect their everyday life? a few different ways from on the borrowing front, if you are going out to take out a new loan, borrowing will cost more. mortgage rates have jumped more than three percentage points, highest levels in 14 years. but if you go out to buy a new car that will cost more than what it would have as rates goi up. and even if you are not in the market to borrow, if you have variable rate debt, credit cards, home equity line of credit, variable rate student loans, those rates will be rnlg making higher. and this is not just about a three quarter percentage hike today this, is the cumulative effect. the federal reserve could raise interest rates three full