Survey suggests consumers are waiting for Fed rate decision before next big financial move
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Survey suggests consumers are waiting for Fed rate decision before next big financial move
Turns out, most of us are waiting on the Federal Reserve for something or other. A survey conducted by NerdWallet found 61% of respondents are planning a significant financial action once the Fed cuts interest rates‚ and that could happen as soon as next month.
Nearly a quarter of respondents said they plan to buy a car when the Fed cuts rates; others said they’ll open a new credit card or refinance a loan.
About all this planning around interest rates? “The Fed relies on those kinds of responses,” explained Laura Veldkamp, a finance professor at Columbia.
Because that tapping on the brakes of major financial decisions suggests elevated rates are successfully cooling the economy. The survey found Gen Zers and millennials were more likely than older people to make a financial move post-rate cut.
That tracks, because “younger respondents are more likely to be people who are borrowing, people who are indebted,” Veldkamp said.
And rate cuts mean the cost of borrowing will drop — though maybe not dramatically, according to NerdWallet’s Sara Rathner.
“They can happen quite incrementally, a quarter of a percent at a time,” she said. “And so if you have credit card debt, maybe your debt will go down like $50 for an entire year.”
Still, Rathner said the survey shows people may soon feel ready for that big financial move they’ve been putting off lately.
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