The quarter-point interest rate increase expected this week will impact millions of borrowers, many of whom will find it difficult to make monthly payments on credit card and other types of debt that’s about to become more expensive.
While it may not sound like much on paper, the Federal Reserve’s anticipated move Wednesday to hike its benchmark interest rate target up a quarter point will have ramifications.
Financial information services firm TransUnion found that when the Fed made a similar move back in December 2016, some 8.6 million consumers could not absorb the hit. Though the move cost the average debt-holder just $18 a month, it “caused a financial challenge to millions of consumers” in the three months after it hit.
Moreover, the harm was not just to folks at the bottom of the credit ladder.
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