How consumer interest rates have changed during Jerome Powell’s tenure leading the Fed

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN

(CNN) — Wednesday marked the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee under the leadership of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Powell chaired his first of more than 65 meetings in March 2018. During his eight years at the helm, the FOMC raised the central bank’s key overnight lending rate 15 times and lowered it 11 times, according to Fed data.

This week, as expected, the FOMC decided to stand pat. The committee bases its rate decisions on economic data and its best assessment of how many factors – eg, fiscal policy and geopolitical events – may affect both inflation and employment.

The Fed funds rate is now 2.25 percentage points higher than it was in March 2018. But that doesn’t reflect the wide swings it took during the Powell era – from a low range of 0% to 0.25% during the pandemic to a high of 5.25% to 5.50% from mid-July 2023 through mid-September 2024, when the Fed was trying to beat back inflation.

At each step of the way, the FOMC’s decisions affect – directly or indirectly – how much you make on your savings and pay on your debts – and how much you pay at checkout.

Here is a look at how consumer prices and key consumer interest rates have changed since Powell began his eight-year tenure.

How much more things cost now

Something that cost $1,000 in March 2018 cost $1,323 in March of this year, according to the CPI calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means overall consumer prices grew 32% during Powell’s term.

While that may seem like a big jump, it is far from the highest across comparable March-to-March eight-year periods from 1957 through today.

That dubious honor belongs to the period between March 1973 and March 1981, when prices rose a whopping 104%, according to calculations from CNN’s Alicia Wallace.

What you’re making on your savings

Keeping cash in a brick-and-mortar bank savings account has never been lucrative, since their average yields live well below 0.5%, and sometimes below 0.1%.

But better options to earn money on your savings include:

Online high-yield savings accounts: Back in March 2018, FDIC-insured online banks offered modest but higher returns than the biggest banks – an average of 1.53% on high-yield savings, according to Ken Tumin, co-founder of DepositQuest.com. Since then, with the exception of the pandemic era when rates were abysmally low, they have offered even better yields. Granted, not as good as the 5%-plus ones on offer when Powell’s Fed was trying to bring inflation down. But this month, Tumin said, the average online savings account had an APY of 3.43%. And online banks with the best deals were offering between 4.2% and 4.4% as of April 27.

Money market accounts: These types of accounts offered by banks can provide a somewhat better yield on average than a regular savings account. And if you shop around, you can get a much higher return.

In mid-March 2018, the average bank money market account had a yield of 0.15% whereas in mid-March of this year it was 0.51%, according to Bankrate. But some of the best MMA deals this month are offering between 3% and 4%.

Certificates of deposit: If you can afford to lock up your cash for a set period of time – a CD can offer you a more lucrative return than just parking your money in a savings account.

The average return on a one-year CD in March 2018 was roughly 0.5%, per Bankrate data. Today it’s 1.92%. But you can often do better than the averages if you don’t restrict yourself to just your bank’s offering. Your brokerage likely provides a wide range of CDs from banks across the country. For example, newly issued one-year CDs at Schwab.com this week had annual yields ranging from 3.8% to 4.25%.

What you’re paying on your debts

When the Fed lowers rates, borrowers stand to benefit eventually, but there can be a little lag between the Fed’s action and a decline in the loan rates that consumers pay.

Credit cards: The highest-rate debt you can carry is typically found on your credit cards. While today’s rates are notably higher than they were in March 2018, they weren’t exactly a bargain back then either.

In mid-March 2018, the average credit card rate came in at 16.84% versus the 19.57% registered last week, according to Bankrate. But in both cases, they came in below the record-high 20.79% set in August 2024.

The average APRs on store-based retail cards are even worse: 25.64% in 2018 versus 30.14% in 2025, per Bankrate’s latest data.

Buying and borrowing against your home: The FOMC rate decision only indirectly affects mortgage rates. They are, instead, more directly tied to the 10-year Treasury yield, which is influenced by the fiscal outlook as well as Fed moves. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage stood at 4.44% in mid-March 2018, well below the 6.23% registered last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Once you own a home, you may have good reason to borrow against your equity, which will be cheaper than using a credit card to pay for a renovation, repair or any emergency for which you don’t have cash at the ready. But your equity is not something you want to tap frequently in a high- or rising rate environment.

Here the Fed has a more direct impact on the cost of borrowing. In mid-March 2018, the average rate on a home equity line of credit, which typically has a variable rate, was 5.77%. Today it’s over 7%, according to Bankrate.

Meanwhile, the average rate in mid-March 2018 on home equity loans – which typically have fixed rates – was 5.53% versus close to 8% today.

Buying a new car: If you took out a loan to buy a new car in March 2018, on average you would have borrowed $31,020 over 69.5 months at an average APR of 5.7%, according to Edmunds.com. That would have meant monthly payments of $527. And you would have owed $5,473 in total interest over the life of your loan.

By contrast, if you took out a loan to buy a new car in March 2026, you would have borrowed an average of $43,732 over 70.4 months at an average APR of 7%. That would result in monthly payments of $770. And you would owe $9,731 in total interest over the life of your loan.

Buying a used car: If you were the average used car buyer in March 2018, you might have taken out a $21,202 loan over 67.2 months at an APR of 8.7%. That meant paying $393 on a monthly basis and $5,637 in total interest.

Last month, that same car might have required taking out a $29,266 loan over 70 months at an APR of 11%. Your monthly payment would come to $560 and you’d pay an additional $10,508 in interest in total.

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