After plummeting last week to their lowest levels since early 2023, refinance rates on 30-year, 20-year, and 15-year mortgages have all jumped higher.

If five years is a bit too long to tie up your cash, consider a 3-year CD. The highest-yielding 3-year CD we’ve found, also offered by Lafayette Federal Credit Union, has an APY of 4.52% and a minimum opening deposit of $500. If you put $5,000 in the account, after three years you’d have $5,709.11, earning $709.11 in interest.

The Federal Reserve just lowered its benchmark rate by 0.50 percentage points. Here's how the move could impact your finances.

Today’s interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.125%, which is unchanged from yesterday. The monthly payment for a $250,000 mortgage with a 15-year term and a fixed interest rate of 5.5% would be $2,042.71. The payment for the same loan with a 6% interest rate would be $2,109.64.

The Federal Reserve's historic rate cut this week could usher in a period of lower mortgage rates. Predicting the financial market’s next move has never been simple. Experts must consider a plethora of shifting economic variables,

In the first week of January, mortgage rates averaged around 6.62%, already elevated compared to historical norms. By late March, they had surged to 6.94%, and by the first week of May, they had reached their peak for the year at 7.22% — up by about 0.6% from the start of 2024.