Mortgages set own exasperating course, despite Fed cuts. Please take a few minutes to complete our survey so that we can more effectively meet your needs. After the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last month, customers flooded the Cincinnati office of Groves Financial Group in hope of refinancing their home mortgages. Two days later, the same number of prospective borrowers put their paper work on hold. Branch manager Steve Booth wasn't surprised, but his customers were bewildered.
Mortgage rates are up.
It's tough being in this business right now. Such scenes of disbelief are playing out with regularity across the country this spring. Millions of families would love to cash in on lower interest rates, and are exasperated. Much of the confusion, economists say, results from the public's glorification of the Fed, which many Americans wrongly believe directly controls every interest rate in the economy, from home-mortgage rates to car loans. There's just no point in waiting around for the Fed to cut when you're looking at these rates.