FOMC · September 16, 2026
The Fed raised rates a quarter point. Here is the household version.
First increase since 2023. Unanimous. Mortgage surveys had already been climbing.
Decision September 16, 2026
The Federal Open Market Committee voted 12–0 on September 16, 2026 to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by one-quarter percentage point, to 3¾ to 4 percent. The statement is short. The line that changed is the target itself. The line that did not change is the claim that inflation is still too high and that the Committee “will deliver price stability.” Read the FOMC statement.
That overnight rate is what banks pay each other. You do not. Your bills move through three different pipes: credit cards (usually fast), savings (often fast), and 30-year mortgages (priced off longer-term yields, which can jump weeks before the vote).
The mortgage that already moved
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week of September 17, 2026 put the 30-year fixed average at 6.95%, versus 6.76% the week before and 6.26% a year earlier. That survey window can include days after the meeting and days before it. Treat the weekly jump as the market’s week, not as “the Fed rewrote your note at 2 p.m.”
On a $320,000 30-year loan, principal and interest at 6.95% is about $2,118 a month. At the prior week’s 6.76%, it was about $2,078. Difference: +$41 a month, taxes and insurance not included. Run your own balance in the mortgage calculator.
Cards and savings
If your card APR is “prime plus,” prime usually tracks the funds rate. A 25-basis-point hike is about $1.35 a month of interest change on a $6,500 revolving balance, before new purchases — small per month, large if you revolve for years. Check the APR line on the statement. The payoff calculator uses whatever APR you type.
High-yield savings rates are set by banks. Many follow the funds rate with a lag, and some do not. The Fed pays banks 3.90% on reserve balances, effective September 17, 2026, per the implementation note. That is a floor for what a bank can earn parked at the Fed. It is not a promise about your savings APY.
What the statement actually said
- Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace.
- While uncertainty remains elevated owing, in part, to geopolitical developments, domestic spending has been resilient.
- Inflation remains elevated.
- Today’s policy action will support a timelier return to the Committee’s 2 percent goal.
Those lines are description, not a forecast of the next vote. Next scheduled meeting after this one: October 27–28, 2026.
This desk does not forecast the next vote. We translate the last one.
Sources: FOMC statement, September 16, 2026; Fed implementation note, September 16, 2026; Freddie Mac PMMS, week of September 17, 2026.