In March, the Fed raised its target federal funds rate by 0.25%, the first rate hike in more than three years. At its May meeting, the central bank hiked rates by 0.50%, and in June it got even more aggressive, raising rates by 0.75%, the largest increase since 1994. The Fed is warning of potentially more rate hikes to come as it tries to cool consumer demand and drive prices down from a 40-year high.

That has resulted in higher interest rates on credit cards, home and auto loans, home equity lines of credit and small business loans. For borrowers, that means those products are only getting more expensive. But the Fed’s rate hike campaign is not all bad news. There is a silver lining for savers.

Rising interest rates represent a turn of fortunes for savers as interest earnings are finally on the rise, and eventually those higher interest rates will help reduce inflation. This is the opposite of what savers have endured the past three years when interest rates fell and then inflation took off.

Early in the pandemic, when the Fed was cutting interest rates to stimulate the economy, the average rate for a typical savings account was around 0.06%, according to the FDIC. Now, with the Fed's benchmark rate rising, banks are starting to follow suit, but don’t expect them to mirror those rate hikes exactly. What the Fed does with interest rates is only one factor banks consider when setting rates. They also take into account how much money customers have deposited and how much their competitors are offering.