The Fed Just Raised Rates. Here's What It Means for Your Money

Seven years after dropping it to zero, the Federal Reserve finally increased a key benchmark rate that affects interest rates on consumer and business loans.

The central bank voted to raise the federal funds rate — the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans — by a quarter percentage point, its first move since lowering the rate to zero in December 2008 in an effort to boost the beleaguered economy. The last time the Fed increased the rate was almost a decade ago, in January 2006.

“It’s kind of a milestone,” says David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at The Brookings. “I’m sure nobody thought we would be considering if we should raise rates for first time seven years later.”

The hike ushers in a new era for the Federal Reserve, which has promised to increase rates gradually to ensure that economic growth isn’t derailed. Here are 10 ways you may feel the effects of the Fed’s new policy direction, as we first laid out in early November: - Read More at the Fiscal Times
The Fed Just Raised Rates. Here's What It Means for Your Money

Why the Fed Raised Interest Rates and What it Means for You - TIME‎