Markus Andrews

If you opted into your employer’s Roth 401(k) after-tax matching contribution this year, it could trigger a tax surprise, experts say.
Your employer’s Roth match will be extra income for tax purposes and levies aren’t automatically withheld.

JGI/Jamie Grill

If you’ve opted into your employer’s Roth 401(k) after-tax matching contributions this year, it could trigger a tax surprise without proper planning, experts say. 
Enacted in 2022, Secure 2.0 ushered in sweeping changes for retirement savers, including the option for employers to offer 401(k) matches in Roth accounts. These accounts are after-tax, meaning employees pay upfront taxes but growth and withdrawals in retirement are tax-free. Previously Roth 401(k) matches went into pretax accounts.

Roughly 12% of employers with 401(k) plans said they are “definitely” adding the feature and 37% are “still considering it,” according to a recent survey from the Plan Sponsor Council of America.
However, those new matching Roth contributions could have “unintended consequences” at tax time, according to Tommy Lucas, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo in Orlando, Florida.
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“If you go this route, you’ll want to know that you’re basically getting extra income” and taxes aren’t automatically withheld, Lucas said. 
“You’re increasing your adjusted gross income by taking this match as a Roth,” he said.

“If you go this route, you’ll want to know that you’re basically getting extra income.”

Tommy Lucas
Financial advisor at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo

For example, let’s say your salary is $100,000 with a 6% employer match in 2024. If you designate your $6,000 employer match as Roth and you’re in the 22% federal income tax bracket, you could have an extra $1,320 in tax liability, according to Lucas.
“There’s probably something on top of that for state income taxes,” depending on where you live, he said.
Plus, you won’t see your employer’s matching Roth contribution reported on Form W-2, according to IRS guidance released late last year. Instead, you’ll receive Form 1099-R, which could be confusing, Lucas said.

How to plan for income from Roth 401(k) matches

If you’ve chosen your company’s Roth matches for 2024, you need to prepare for the extra income, said CFP Jim Guarino, managing director at Baker Newman Noyes in Woburn, Massachusetts. He is also a certified public accountant.
You can increase your federal and state withholdings with your employer or boost your quarterly estimated tax payments, he said.  

For example, if you expect to incur $1,320 more in federal taxes, you could divide that amount by your remaining 2024 paychecks and include that “extra withholding” on Form W-4 for your employer, Lucas said.
Of course, you’ll need to double-check that the change is reflected on future paychecks, he said.
“In either case, working with a trusted tax advisor would help to optimize overall tax planning and eventual tax reporting for the year,” Guarino added.

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Warren Buffett’s biggest advantage in investing is time.
Had he retired at 65, he may have never become a household name.
Here’s what individual investors can learn from his approach.

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, smiles as he plays bridge following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 5, 2019.
Nati Harnik | AP

Warren Buffett is widely praised for his investment acumen.
But one of the biggest factors to his success has nothing to do with picking the right companies.

“His skill is investing, but his secret is time,” Morgan Housel wrote in the bestselling business book, “The Psychology of Money.”
“That’s how compounding works,” Housel wrote.
To that point, 99% of Buffett’s net worth was accumulated after he was 65 years old, Housel said during a 2022 interview with CNBC.
“If Buffett retired at age 65, you would have never heard of him,” Housel said.
Today, Buffett’s total net worth is estimated at $132 billion.

That’s up substantially from the $84.5 billion net worth Buffett had at the time Housel’s book was published in 2020. Most of that wealth came in Buffett’s later years, Housel wrote, with $84.2 billion after he turned 50 and $81.5 billion after he turned 65.
Compound interest accumulates not only the on the initial amount invested, but also to the interest in previous periods.
Buffett has compared it to a snowball rolling down a hill. By the time it gets to the bottom, it is much larger.
“The trick is to have a very long hill, which means starting very young or living … to be very old,” Buffett said.

How to use compound interest to your advantage

Everyday investors can easily put the power of compound interest to work.
“Start early — as young as you can — and even if it’s just small amounts, just keep doing it,” said David Rea, president of Salem Investment Counselors in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Buffett himself got an early start, making his first stock purchase at age 11. But after selling the three shares of Cities Service, he saw the stock surge, which served as an early lesson that it’s hard to predict when to buy a stock and when to sell it.
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People tend to get excited when the market is going up, which prompts them to buy, noted Bradley Klontz, a certified financial planner and behavioral finance expert with Your Mental Wealth Advisors.
Then when markets drop, they tend to get scared and sell, which is the opposite of what they should be doing, said Klontz, who is also a member of the CNBC FA Council.
The S&P 500 has returned more than 10% per year on average over the past 100 years, Klontz noted. Yet investors who try to time the market won’t reap the full benefit of those gains if they’re moving in and out of their investments.
Individuals are not necessarily to blame; survival instincts will prompt you to follow the crowd.
“We’re wired to do it,” Klontz said.

Becoming a millionaire is ‘easy’ if you start early

We’re also wired to consume today rather than prioritize future gratification. To combat that, it helps to have a specific vision for why you’re investing — the freedom you hope to achieve, the car you want to drive and the emotional satisfaction that life will bring you, Klontz said.
When you clearly have that goal in mind, take action and set up automated movements of your money, say from your paycheck to your 401(k) plan, he recommended.
Like Buffett, individuals will also reap the most rewards if they start young.
“It’s actually pretty easy to become a millionaire if you’re starting early,” Klontz said.

But the longer you wait, the harder it is to catch up. For example, the $5 a day you would need to accumulate $1 million when you’re just starting out may turn into $500 a month at age 30, he said.
The good news is that an investment strategy does not need to be complicated. Buffett himself has recommended individuals keep it simple with a low-cost S&P 500 index fund.
“If you buy an S&P 500, index fund, week in and week out, you will compound to a large amount of money,” Rea said.
Investors can also take other cues from Buffett — don’t panic; buy American; and keep investing through good and bad, Rea said.

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The U.S. Department of Education recently said that it will soon transfer some student loan borrowers to different servicers.
Here’s what you need to know.

The US Department of Education sign hangs over the entrance to the federal building housing the agency’s headquarters on February 9, 2024, in Washington, DC. 
J. David Ake | Getty Images

If your current federal student loan servicer is Mohela, or the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, the U.S. Department of Education said it will soon transfer some student loan borrowers to different servicers.
Here’s what you should know about the change.

Change impacts Mohela borrowers

The Education Department began transferring a portion of Mohela’s borrowers this week to different companies, it said in an April 29 blog post.
More than 1 million borrowers may be impacted.
“A different servicer will begin managing these loans and assisting these borrowers,” the department said.
The Education Department contracts with different companies to service its federal student loans, including Mohela, Nelnet and EdFinancial. It pays the servicers more than $1 billion a year to do so, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

Why the transfer is happening

Mohela requested the transfers, the Education Department said, but the company has also been a magnet for controversy of late.

At the end of October 2023, the government accused the servicer of failing to send timely billing statements to 2.5 million borrowers when the Covid-era pause on payments expired, resulting in more than 800,000 borrowers becoming delinquent.
The Education Department withheld $7.2 million in payment to Mohela for its error.
“The disruption to Mohela’s servicing last fall may have been caused by capacity issues,” Kantrowitz said.
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In February, the Student Borrower Protection Center and the American Federation of Teachers published a joint report titled, “The Mohela Papers,” finding that four in 10 student loan borrowers in repayment serviced by Mohela “experienced a servicing failure since loan payments resumed in September 2023.”
On April 10, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy held a hearing about Mohela’s performance as a student loan servicer.
“Today, Mohela surrendered more than 10 percent of its total loan servicing business, showing that its executives now recognize what borrowers have long understood: Mohela’s position as a leader in the student loan industry was a mistake,” Mike Pierce, the executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, said in a statement.
Officials at Mohela did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pierce added that he hopes Education Secretary Miguel Cardona “builds on this progress and continues to protect borrowers by stripping the scandal-plagued firm of its remaining business.”
After the transfers, Mohela will still service the federal student loans of at least 6 million borrowers, Kantrowitz estimates.

What borrowers should do amid transition

Borrowers who are being transferred to a different servicer should receive alerts from Mohela and their new servicer, the Education Department explained.
They will then need to establish an online account with their new servicer.

If you were enrolled in automatic payments with your servicer, which usually leads to a small discount on your interest rate, you may need to reenroll, Kantrowitz said.
If a borrower has a problem with their servicer, they can submit a complaint to the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid unit.

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The IRS has released an update on its strategic operating plan, which outlines “major accomplishments” since its infusion of funding less than two years ago.
The agency aims to more than double the audit rate for the wealthiest taxpayers with total positive income of more than $10 million by tax year 2026.
It also plans to nearly triple audit rates on large corporations with assets over $250 million and boost audit rates by tenfold for large, complex partnerships with assets over $10 million.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Danny Werfel speaks during his swearing in ceremony at the IRS in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 2023.
Bonnie Cash | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The IRS has released an update on its strategic operating plan, which outlines “major accomplishments” in taxpayer service, technology and enforcement since its infusion of funding less than two years ago.
Emphasizing key focus areas, the agency on Thursday highlighted the need for sustained funding, including a $104 billion proposal to extend Inflation Reduction Act funding through fiscal 2034.

The agency also renewed its focus on “tax fairness” with plans to increase audits on the wealthiest taxpayers, large corporations and complex partnerships.
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“This update also reflects our ongoing effort to make sure we focus compliance resources where they need to be,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told reporters on a press call.
The IRS aims to more than double the audit rate for the wealthiest taxpayers with total positive income of more than $10 million by tax year 2026. This would bring the audit rate for these individuals to 16.5% in 2026, compared to 11% in 2019.
The agency also plans to “nearly triple audit rates” on large corporations with assets over $250 million and boost audit rates “by tenfold” for large, complex partnerships with assets over $10 million, Werfel said.

“At the same time, the IRS continues to emphasize the agency will not increase audit rates for small businesses and taxpayers making under $400,000,” he said. “And those remain at historically low levels.”
In fiscal 2023, the IRS closed nearly 583,000 tax return audits, resulting in $31.9 billion in recommended additional tax, according to the latest Databook.
For all returns filed between 2013 and 2021, the IRS examined 0.44% of individual returns and 0.74% of corporate returns as of the end of fiscal 2023.

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The Federal Reserve indicated it is unlikely to lower interest rates just yet, which means anyone who carries a balance on their credit card won’t get a break on sky-high interest charges.
Rather than wait for a rate cut, consumers should take matters into their own hands, experts say.
Here are the best ways to lower your credit card’s annual percentage rate.

The Federal Reserve held rates steady Wednesday — again deciding not to cut — which means anyone who carries a balance on their credit card isn’t getting a break from sky-high interest charges.
“It is becoming clearer and clearer that the Fed isn’t going to lower interest rates anytime soon,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree. “If Americans want lower interest rates, they’re going to have to do it themselves.”

The good news is there are options out there, especially if you have solid credit, he added.

What determines your credit card rate

Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. In the wake of the recent rate hike cycle, the average credit card rate rose from 16.34% in March 2022 to almost 21% today — near an all-time high, according to Bankrate.

“As long as interest rates remain relatively high, it’s important that consumers continue to use credit smartly, especially when it comes to higher interest products such as credit cards,” said Michele Raneri, vice president of U.S. research and consulting at TransUnion.
“It’s best to only use these cards to the extent there is confidence they can be paid off relatively soon, as interest can pile on quickly, particularly at the higher rates of today,” she added.

How to lower your credit card APR

Annual percentage rates will start to come down once the Fed cuts rates, but even then they will only ease off extremely high levels. With only one or two potential quarter-point cuts on deck, APRs aren’t likely to fall much, according to Schulz.

“Those anticipating a dip in new credit card APRs in the near future should probably adjust their expectations,” Schulz said.
Rather than wait for a modest adjustment in the months ahead, borrowers could call their card issuer and ask for a lower rate, switch to a zero-interest balance transfer credit card or consolidate and pay off high-interest credit cards with a personal loan, Schulz advised.
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Cards offering 15, 18 and even 21 months with no interest on transferred balances are still out there, according to Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.
“The fact that zero-percent balance transfer cards remain widely available, is, on its face, surprising,” said Rossman, particularly given the amount of inflation and the number of interest rate hikes the credit card market has weathered since the pandemic.
And U.S. consumers are carrying more credit card debt.
Total credit card balances have been above $1 trillion since August 2023 and are currently hovering just near or above $1.05 trillion since this past February. But that hasn’t deterred credit card issuers from offering generous terms on balance transfer cards, Rossman said.

“It’s actually a very profitable time for credit card issuers because rates are up and more people are carrying more debt for longer periods of time,” Rossman said. “But most of those people are paying that debt back. If we were to see the job market worsen or delinquencies to go up even more, that’s when I think issuers get nervous. But right now, it’s kind of a Goldilocks environment for credit card issuers.”
It’s also an ideal time for consumers to take advantage of all the options credit card issuers are offering.
“Balance transfer cards are still your best weapon in the battle against credit card debt,” Schulz said.
A balance transfer credit card moves your outstanding debt from one or more credit cards onto a new card, typically with a lower interest rate.

Alternatively, “consumers should consider exploring lower interest products to help consolidate their higher interest debt and lower their monthly payments,” Raneri said.
Currently, the interest rate on a personal loan is closer to 12%, on average, according to Bankrate.
“If you don’t have good enough credit to get a zero-percent balance transfer card, a personal loan can be a good alternative,” Schulz also said.
And consolidating comes with the added benefit of letting you simplify outstanding debts while lowering your monthly payment.

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Regulators and Exxon reached an agreement that will bar Pioneer’s former CEO Scott Sheffield from joining the Exxon board.
Exxon first announced the deal for Pioneer in October, in an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion.
Exxon said the acquisition would more than double its production in the Permian Basin.

A view of the Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas.
Jessica Rinaldi | Reuters

The Federal Trade Commission will wave through Exxon Mobil’s roughly $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources after reaching an agreement with the energy giant, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The FTC will not block the deal now that the regulator and Exxon have reached a consent agreement, the source said. The agreement will bar Pioneer’s former CEO Scott Sheffield from joining the Exxon board.

The push to remove Sheffield was due to concerns about his prior discussions with OPEC, according to the source.
Exxon and the FTC both declined to comment. The agreement was first reported by Bloomberg News.
Exxon first announced the deal for Pioneer in October, in an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion. Exxon said the acquisition would more than double its production in the Permian Basin.
“Pioneer is a clear leader in the Permian with a unique asset base and people with deep industry knowledge. The combined capabilities of our two companies will provide long-term value creation well in excess of what either company is capable of doing on a standalone basis,” Exxon chairman and CEO Darren Woods said in a press release at the time.
Shares of Exxon and Pioneer were both little changed in extended trading Wednesday.
— CNBC’s Pippa Stevens and Mary Catherine Wellons contributed reporting.

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When to claim Social Security is one of the biggest decisions retirees face.
But financial advisors’ guidance may be biased, recent research finds.

Ascentxmedia | E+ | Getty Images

Many people claim Social Security retirement benefits at the earliest possible claiming age of 62.
But that decision prompts their monthly benefits to be reduced for the rest of their lives.

Working with a financial advisor should help encourage prospective beneficiaries to understand the value of delaying their benefit claims. Yet recent research finds working with a financial professional does not necessarily encourage individuals to claim Social Security at later ages.
The research — co-authored by David Blanchett, head of retirement research for PGIM DC Solutions, and Jason Fichtner, chief economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center — found the results varied based on advisor type. Higher wealth households tend to claim benefits two years later when working with financial professionals who are paid hourly, such as accountants, compared to households that work with commission-based advisors, or brokers.
Affluent households that work with any type of financial professional, particularly brokers, tend to claim Social Security earlier than those that do not, the research found.

The research concluded that delayed Social Security claiming may not be beneficial for advisors because it reduces client assets they can manage and may make retirement planning less complex.
“This research shows that financial advisors may be biased toward strategies that may provide higher advisor compensation, even if those recommendations are not in the best interests of their clients,” Blanchett and Fichtner wrote.

The research results are “really disappointing,” said Joe Elsasser, a certified financial planner who is president of Covisum, a Social Security-claiming software company.
“I would have at least liked to see a general later [claiming age] trend across all advisors,” Elsasser said.

Why it pays to wait to claim Social Security

When Social Security retirement beneficiaries claim at age 62, their benefits are permanently reduced.
If they wait until their full Social Security claiming age — which is generally between 66 and 67, depending on their year of birth — they may receive 100% of the benefits they’ve earned.
As the Social Security full retirement age moves to age 67, benefits available at age 62 are even further reduced.
By waiting until age 70, retirees stand to receive the biggest benefit boost — a monthly benefit that is 77% higher than what beneficiaries may receive at 62, the research notes.
But delaying until that highest claiming age requires beneficiaries to have other income on which they can rely in the interim. “Delayed claiming isn’t a free lunch,” the research states.

That may mean working longer or bridging to a higher claiming age by turning first to other investments.
Delaying Social Security benefits is so valuable not only because of the increase to benefits, but also the annual cost-of-living adjustments tied to inflation. No annuities on the market provide the same inflation links, the research notes.
To be sure, not everyone can wait to claim until age 70. Those who do delay tend to retire later or have more financial assets, according to the research.
“A lot of Americans don’t have an active choice on when to claim,” Blanchett said.
“If you know that you’re not sick, and you have some money saved for retirement, the odds are you should probably at least delay until 65, 67, maybe 70,” he said.

How to know if you’re getting good claiming advice

Not all financial advisors will have the same knowledge of the ins and outs of Social Security claiming, which comes with a multitude of rules.
Experts say there are signs prospective claimants can watch for to gauge the quality of the guidance they’re getting.
“If a consumer ever gets either a recommendation or an acceptance of an early claim, they’ve got to really evaluate … ‘Why is this advisor giving me that advice?'” Elsasser said.
Try to evaluate your financial professional’s process that led them to that conclusion, he said. Often, it’s a result of longevity assumptions that are too short, or the idea that Social Security benefit income that is claimed early can be invested.
Consumers can gauge longevity estimates using a free online tool, the Actuaries Longevity Illustrator, Elsasser said. Moreover, investment returns that are compared to Social Security should be based on more conservative holdings like government bonds rather than stocks, he said.
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Written materials provided by the Social Security Administration make it clear that evaluating when to claim is a personal decision, notes Fichtner, who formerly served as acting deputy commissioner at the agency.
A financial professional should also guide you through those same considerations — What is your health status? What other sources of income do you have? How will your claiming decision affect your spouse, if you have one?
Most prospective Social Security claimants are trying to make their money last, rather than maximize their returns, Fichtner said.
Consequently, a financial advisor’s recommendations — whether done independently or through a software — should emphasize protecting lifetime income rather than boosting returns, he said.
Surveys routinely show one of the top reasons Social Security beneficiaries claim early is because they are concerned about the program’s future. The program’s trust funds may run out within the next decade, at which point there may be an across-the-board benefit cut unless Congress acts sooner.
But experts say that’s not a reason to claim early. By delaying, any future prospective cuts would be applied to a higher benefit amount.
Even shorter-term claiming delays of months rather than years can help increase your lifetime income.
“Every month you delay, it’s a benefit increase,” Fichtner said.

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The Federal Reserve held rates steady at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday, delaying the start of rate cuts and any relief from sky-high borrowing costs.
For consumers, it generally won’t get less expensive to carry credit card debt, buy a house or purchase a car.
“Prioritizing debt repayment, especially of high-cost credit card debt, remains paramount as interest rates promise to remain high for some time,” says Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst.

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it will leave interest rates unchanged as inflation continues to prove stickier than expected.
However, the move also dashes hopes that the Fed will be able to start cutting rates soon and relieve consumers from sky-high borrowing costs.

The market is now pricing in one rate cut later in the year, according to the CME’s FedWatch measure of futures market pricing. It started 2024 expecting at least six reductions, which was “completely fantasy land,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.
That change in rate-cut expectations leaves many households in a bind, he said. “Certainly from a budgetary standpoint, not only is inflation still high but that is on top of the cumulative increase in prices over the last three years.”
“Prioritizing debt repayment, especially of high-cost credit card debt, remains paramount as interest rates promise to remain high for some time,” McBride said.
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Inflation has been a persistent problem since the Covid-19 pandemic, when price increases soared to their highest levels since the early 1980s. The Fed responded with a series of interest rate hikes that took its benchmark rate to its highest level in more than 22 years.

The federal funds rate, which is set by the U.S. central bank, is the rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another overnight. Although that’s not the rate consumers pay, the Fed’s moves still affect the borrowing and savings rates they see every day.
The spike in interest rates caused most consumer borrowing costs to skyrocket, putting many households under pressure.
Increasing inflation has also been bad news for wage growth, as real average hourly earnings rose just 0.6% over the past year, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Even with possible rate cuts on the horizon, consumers won’t see their borrowing costs come down significantly, according to Columbia Business School economics professor Brett House.
“Once the Fed does cut rates, that could cascade through reductions in other rates but there is nothing that necessarily guarantees that,” he said.
From credit cards and mortgage rates to auto loans and savings accounts, here’s a look at where those rates could go in the second half of 2024.

Credit cards

Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. In the wake of the rate hike cycle, the average credit card rate rose from 16.34% in March 2022 to nearly 21% today — an all-time high.
Annual percentage rates will start to come down when the central bank reduces rates, but even then they will only ease off extremely high levels. With only a few potential quarter-point cuts on deck, APRs aren’t likely to fall much, according to Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.
“If Americans want lower interest rates, they’re going to have to do it themselves,” he said. Try calling your card issuer to ask for a lower rate, consolidating and paying off high-interest credit cards with a lower-interest personal loan or switching to an interest-free balance transfer credit card, Schulz advised.

Mortgage rates

Although 15- and 30-year mortgage rates are fixed, and tied to Treasury yields and the economy, anyone shopping for a new home has lost considerable purchasing power, partly because of inflation and the Fed’s policy moves.
The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is just above 7.3%, up from 4.4% when the Fed started raising rates in March 2022 and 3.27% at the end of 2021, according to Bankrate.
“Going forward, mortgage rates will likely continue to fluctuate and it’s impossible to say for certain where they’ll end up,” noted Jacob Channel, senior economist at LendingTree. “That said, there’s a good chance that we’re going to need to get used to rates above 7% again, at least until we start getting better economic news.”

Auto loans

Even though auto loans are fixed, payments are getting bigger because car prices have been rising along with the interest rates on new loans, resulting in less affordable monthly payments. 
The average rate on a five-year new car loan is now more than 7%, up from 4% in March 2022, according to Edmunds. However, competition between lenders and more incentives in the market lately have started to take some of the edge off the cost of buying a car, said Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights.
“Any reduction in rates will be especially welcome as there is an increasingly higher share of consumers with older trade-ins that have sat out the market madness waiting for an automotive landscape that looks more like the last time they bought a vehicle six or seven years ago,” Drury said.

Student loans

Federal student loan rates are also fixed, so most borrowers aren’t immediately affected. But undergraduate students who took out direct federal student loans for the 2023-24 academic year are now paying 5.50%, up from 4.99% in 2022-23 — and any loans disbursed after July 1 will likely be even higher. Interest rates for the upcoming school year will be based on an auction of 10-Year Treasury notes later this month.
Private student loans tend to have a variable rate tied to the prime, Treasury bill or another rate index, which means those borrowers are already paying more in interest. How much more, however, varies with the benchmark.
For those struggling with existing debt, there are ways federal borrowers can reduce their burden, including income-based plans with $0 monthly payments and economic hardship and unemployment deferments. 
Private loan borrowers have fewer options for relief — although some could consider refinancing once rates start to come down, and those with better credit may already qualify for a lower rate.

Savings rates

While the central bank has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated to changes in the target federal funds rate.
As a result, top-yielding online savings account rates have made significant moves and are now paying more than 5.5% — above the rate of inflation, which is a rare win for anyone building up a cash cushion, McBride said.
“The mantra of higher-for-longer interest rates is music to the ears of savers who will continue to enjoy inflation-beating returns on safe-haven savings accounts, money markets and CDs for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Currently, top-yielding certificates of deposit pay over 5.5%, as good as or better than a high-yield savings account.
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