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Here's your money briefing for Thursday, September 21. I'm JR Whalen for the Wall Street Journal.

Although the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady yesterday, borrowing money is still

difficult or out of reach for many people. So with average credit card interest rates above 20%,

it's very, very expensive to carry a balance right now. And banks know this and banks know that

more consumers are becoming more budget conscious and they're watching their bottom line

and they're spending closely as inflation keeps going and interest rates rise.

We'll talk to Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Amani Moiz

about lower interest borrowing options after the break.

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Compared to a year ago, it's a lot more expensive for consumers to borrow money.

But they do have options that can ease the financial pressure of higher interest rates.

Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Amani Moiz joins me.

So Amani, first of all, can you just help us out with some numbers?

The Fed held interest rates steady yesterday in the five and a quarter to five and a half percent

range. But we see credit card interest rates often above 20%. How do those numbers get so high?

That number you just cited is the cost that banks pay to borrow from each other.

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