Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

jason_steakums t1_iwvdzfn wrote

Sucks that high mortgage interest is what it takes to get home prices to stop going through the roof. Although I am a fan of my savings account actually earning interest for once in my adult life.

141

tipbruley t1_iww84r3 wrote

Lol my bank savings account is still at like .05% so I have no faith banks will adjust

60

CrystalMenthol t1_iwwdn27 wrote

You can shop around for a better rate. A quick look at Investopedia shows Citi, Capital One, and a few others with interest rates above 3%.

Of course, you have to judge if you actually have enough money in the bank where the difference between 0.05% and 3.00% is worth the hassle of moving the account over. But there are definitely options much better than the rock-bottom interest rates we've been stuck with the past decade and a half.

39

tipbruley t1_iwwe40q wrote

All banks with 3% are online only banks. But yeah, I’m switching my savings over to one now since 3% is legit.

I just don’t see the majority of the population taking the effort to do so.

13

zzleeper t1_iwx3t21 wrote

Go to Marcus they pay like 3%. Or just buy 6mo tbills they are risk free and pay + 4.5%. or buy ibonds at 9%.

8

RawOystersOnIce t1_iwxz8a1 wrote

Transfer your money to a High Yield Savings Account. My interest rate is 3%.

2

CrystalMenthol t1_iwvzwvu wrote

It actually started to feel like free money was the natural state of the world for a decade or so there. Younger people (less than 35 or so), probably really don't have perspective on how national economies "normally" function without extreme measures like Quantitative Easing happening in the background. Stonks don't always go up.

19

jason_steakums t1_iwwb2rd wrote

tbh I'm glad we seem to be easing into a more normal economy the way that we are, it could have been a real abrupt shitshow between post-covid and Brexit economic weirdness and Ukraine and all this other stuff hitting at the same time

5

Rikey_Doodle t1_iwwb606 wrote

>Stonks don't always go up.

You're telling me all that stuff about infinite growth was all just lies? I refuse to believe it.

5

thunder_struck85 t1_iwwdwa1 wrote

Why do people continue to call it free money? There's nothing free about it. You still borrowing an enormous sum that has to be paid back in full. No different than borrowing a mediocre sum at a higher rate.

5

CrystalMenthol t1_iwwe7m0 wrote

They call it free because you borrowed it for almost free. It's like if I rented you a car for no money, you'd have no problem saying "I got this rental car for free!" You still have to give back the car / pay back the loan, but you got to use that car/money during the rental/loan period.

15

thunder_struck85 t1_iwwk7mj wrote

But you still didn't borrow it for almost free. It's a stupid saying. Borrowing $1mil at 1% is still not free. That's still a lot of money in interest if you're buying an item that has no real return.... like a house you don't plan to flip but live in long term.

Nothing free about it.

3

Ag0r t1_iwx96a9 wrote

If the loan's interest rate is lower than inflation, it is literally free. Many many Americans have mortgage rates lower than 3% which means the value of the debt is shrinking more then the debtor is charging for it.

24

aladdyn2 t1_iwz1ym2 wrote

Yeah I'm 46 and got my first mortgage at 6.5% 15 years ago which was good at the time and my parents maybe 25-30 years before that started at 13% interest. Of course back then they could actually make and save money more easily so they weren't just borrowing 100% of the cost.

2

VonStinkelberg t1_iwx6bt7 wrote

That's exactly what monetary policy is meant to do. What sucks is since 2008 we've had low interest rates and any attempt to raise rates has been met with equity markets shitting their pants, thus the most prudent decision was to do nothing about it... If we had higher rates perhaps private interests like BlackRock wouldn't own such a large swaths of the housing market, or Carvana and the like wouldn't have driven secondary car prices through the roof. Leading us to the seventh ring of inflation, which will be followed by consolidation when weaker competitors bow out due to increased operating costs, only to concentrate more of the world's wealth. In short, the people entrusted with protecting our financial system have allowed it to be plundered. Hopefully we have sense enough to let speculators wither into non-existence instead of bailing them out with kids' lunch money. Source: A decade on Wall St.

16

SolomonGrumpy t1_iwyyujy wrote

That's only part of the problem. QE (the govt adding billions to the market over the past few years) is also a major contributor to inflation.

1

VonStinkelberg t1_ix1lzkq wrote

You're very much correct. Open market activities are another lever, which only incentivizes poor behavior from a concentrated banking sector. Glass-Stegall would remedy many of the issues we have come up against and will into the future. Banks shouldn't gamble with depositors money, yet those bets are effectively insured under current law; they can securitize the next dog shit product or take over-draft fees from broke people, there's no need to risk the entire fucking economy for bonus season.

2

IndIka123 t1_iwzebb0 wrote

We can hope that this will spark cheaper development and government housing

2