Interest Rates in 2026: No Relief Coming [E243]

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Thought interest rates had peaked? So did most of the country. So what happens when a customer needs a $10,000 repair, owns a home with hundreds of thousands in equity, and still can't pay?

Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis & Associates, returns to interest rates for the first time in over a year. He explains the Federal Reserve's quarter-point hike and why the relief expected in 2026 keeps slipping away. The Fed rate sits under every credit card, car note and mortgage your customers carry. Hunt shows why one good inflation report proves little when it's measured a new way, and how the K-shaped economy pays savers 4.5% while borrowers sink. He also says today's stock market looks like a shop that lives off three AI customers.

Then he looks at what this means for your customers. The 30-year mortgage is near 7.5%, up from 6.5% a year ago. Customers holding 3% mortgages can't or won't borrow against their homes to cover a big repair. Commercial loans written near 3% in 2021 are resetting around 9%, and some landlords locked into 10-year leases are telling their banks to take the building. Hunt explains why shops that own their buildings are better protected, why rising costs justify raising your prices, and why savers have rarely had it better.

Whether you're carrying a variable-rate loan, facing a commercial refinance, or watching customers turn down big repairs, this episode explains what's driving rates and how long they may stay high.

What You'll Learn…

00:00 Intro

02:17 Why the Fed rate sets yours

05:07 0% vs. 30% on the same truck

06:43 The inflation report that changed the math

09:00 The K-shaped economy

10:13 A stock market riding on three companies