Everything Americans thought they knew about personal finance was upended when the Federal Reserve started aggressively hiking interest rates to cool post-pandemic inflation. After more than a decade of ultralow rates,

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that the Federal Reserve will likely reduce short-term rates in 2026, with the key interest rate anticipated to settle at 3.4% by the end of President Donald Trump‘s term in 2028.

Fed rate cuts could ease credit card and deposit rates, but auto loans and mortgages may stay high due to risk and long-term inflation expectations.