Today, at 12:15 pm Eastern, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce its latest interest rate decision. However, most expect interest rates to remain steady. In such cases, it is important to pay attention to what Fed officials say after the meeting, reports Mortgage News Daily:

"The expected inaction doesn’t mean the market won’t be interested in
the meeting’s outcome. On the contrary, interest will be as high as
ever because of the uncertainty surrounding the wording of the policy
directive," said Patrick J. O’Hare from Briefing.com. "We think there
is increased potential that the market will perceive a comforting
message that the Fed won’t be hiking interest rates anytime soon."

What Fed rates affect

Traditionally, Fed rates do not affect mortgage loans (those are more influenced by Treasury notes), but since the subprime lending crash last year, things have been a little different and unpredictable. Items more affected by Fed rates, though, include home equity lines of credit, auto loans and credit card interest rates.

So if you have consumer loans, now is the time to work on paying them off — before interest rates start rising again.