LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Americans could see interest rate relief before the end of the year after the Federal Reserve announced on Friday, it's close to its objective for a soft landing.
Kentucky families found savings Saturday, while they wait for that to happen, by securing a free coupon from the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in Lexington.
It was a day of savings for Walmart customers, free coupons were offered by the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile at Walmart in Lexington to help people save money.
From car loans to credit debt and mortgages, Americans have felt the burn of high interest rates over the last few years. Many felt squeezed tackling bills while trying to save money.
"Oh everybody loves coupons. Everybody loves free stuff for half off. Anything like that. I'll most definitely take it," said Kaleigh Dunn, who collected her coupon from the Wienermobile. "It's most definitely hard. I'm not even living out on my own. I still live with my parents, but still I can hardly save anything. Working now a days is hard, especially getting food. I never would of thought how expensive everything was until I got out and got older and started doing it myself."
"In today's society, prices of groceries have gone up so sky high. Coupons save a couple bucks here and there. You can't lose," explains Holland, another customer who grabbed his coupon.
"Really just how expensive it all was and how little you got for how much you pay," said Dunn.
On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced its closer to its original objective of getting inflation back to a sustainable 2%. This comes after the Fed began aggressively hiking rates in early 2022 to stop soaring inflation after the pandemic.
"Over the past couple of years we've seen really, really high inflation. Now we're starting to see that start to level off and come down in some pockets in the economy," explains wealth adviser Dillon Harper, who's with Family Financial Partners.
"So about time, things got kind of crazy the last four or five years. So it's about time people started opening up for the people," said Holland.
Harper says interest rates are still a moving target and the Reserve isn't sure where it will end up. Don't expect rock bottom lows like we did in 2020. However, a couple hundred dollar drop in prices will still be noticeable in future mortgage or car loan prices. "It's definitely going to help as they're embarking on 'I'm trying to buy a house.' And with rates coming down, what they really means to somebody that's looking to buy. They're trying to figure out, where does my price range line up for my monthly payment."
"I know my car payment is quite a good bit every couple weeks and I could most definitely take less on that," said Dunn.
Harper says although there will be a slow decline in interest rates, it's important to manage your money first before making big purchases. "When you figure out, here's some couple things that I can cut back, to kind of replace that over the next couple of months."
Until prices level out, though, Kentuckians are hoping a few bucks off their Labor Day parties will help balance their budgets in the meantime.
