Consumer News: Inflation is surging at the wholesale level

But the new card carries a hefty annual fee

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Chase and IHG have launched a new premium hotel rewards card carrying a $350 annual fee and offering up to $300 a year in IHG food and beverage rewards.

• Existing IHG cards are also getting new benefits, including airline credits, elite-night credits, and higher-value anniversary free nights, but some annual fees will change in 2027.

• For a limited time, new cardholders can earn bonuses ranging from 125,000 to 200,000 IHG One Rewards points after meeting spending requirements.

Chase and IHG Hotels & Resorts are making significant changes to their lineup of hotel rewards credit cards, adding a new premium card while upgrading benefits on three existing cards.

The centerpiece is the new IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card, which carries a $350 annual fee and is aimed squarely at frequent IHG guests. Chase says the card can provide more than $1,000 in value during the first year, although consumers would need to make use of multiple benefits to capture that value.

The new card provides up to $300 a year in Food & Beverage Rewards that can be used at IHG properties, a $200 annual statement credit for qualifying airline purchases, and up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash. Cardholders also receive an anniversary free night with a redemption cap of 60,000 points, with the option of adding their own IHG points for a more expensive stay.

The card earns up to 28 points per dollar on IHG hotel stays, six points per dollar on dining and other travel, including rideshare purchases, and three points per dollar on other purchases.

Cardholders automatically receive IHG Platinum Elite status and 20 Elite Night Credits each calendar year. They can earn two additional Elite Night Credits for every $5,000 spent on the card. The card also provides a fourth reward night free when points are redeemed for four consecutive nights.

Changes to existing IHG cards

The changes extend well beyond the new premium card.

The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, with a $150 annual fee, is adding up to $100 annually in IHG Food & Beverage Rewards and a $100 annual airline statement credit. It also provides up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash.

Its anniversary free-night certificate will have a 50,000-point redemption cap, and cardholders can add points from their accounts if a hotel requires more. The card earns up to 24 points per dollar at IHG hotels and five points per dollar on several categories, including dining, gas stations, grocery stores, qualifying flights, and car rentals. Cardholders will receive 15 Elite Night Credits annually and can earn two more for every $5,000 spent.

One notable change is that the Premier card will provide automatic Gold Elite status, while the more expensive Premier Select provides Platinum Elite status.

Chase is also renaming the no-annual-fee IHG One Rewards Traveler Card as simply the IHG One Rewards Credit Card. It will earn up to 17 points per dollar at IHG hotels and three points per dollar at restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores. The no-fee card also provides automatic Silver Elite status and five Elite Night Credits each year. Its fourth-reward-night-free benefit will require cardholders to spend $5,000 on purchases.

Business card gets an upgrade

Business customers are getting changes as well. The former IHG One Rewards Premier Business Card is being renamed the IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card and will carry a $200 annual fee.

New perks include up to $100 a year in IHG Food & Beverage Rewards, a $100 annual airline statement credit, and up to a $100 annual statement credit for Expensify purchases.

The business card provides automatic Platinum Elite status, 15 Elite Night Credits annually, and an anniversary free night with a 50,000-point cap.

Big introductory bonuses

Chase is sweetening the rollout with limited-time introductory offers available through Nov. 18.

New Premier Select cardholders can earn 200,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 during their first three months. New Premier cardholders can earn 180,000 points after spending $3,000, while the no-annual-fee card offers 125,000 points after $2,000 in spending.

New business cardholders can earn 190,000 points after spending $5,000 during their first three months.

IHG says its rewards program covers more than 7,000 hotels and 21 brands worldwide, including Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental, Kimpton, Crowne Plaza, and Staybridge Suites.

What existing cardholders should know

Current IHG credit card customers don't necessarily have to do anything immediately.

Chase says existing cardholders will receive notices during October explaining which new benefits apply to their accounts and when they take effect. The company also says annual fees will be adjusted in 2027, making those notices particularly important for consumers deciding whether the new benefits justify the cost.

For consumers, the value equation largely depends on how often they stay at IHG hotels. Travelers who can routinely use the food-and-beverage credits, airline credits, free-night certificates, and elite-status benefits could offset a substantial portion of an annual fee. Someone who stays with IHG only occasionally may have a harder time doing so.

Consumers considering one of the cards should also remember that rewards are most valuable when the credit-card balance is paid in full each month. Carrying a balance and paying interest can quickly erase the savings produced by points, free nights, and travel credits.

Shopping lenders and improving credit could save buyers thousands of dollars

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Mortgage rates quoted in the headlines don't necessarily reflect what an individual homebuyer will pay, with actual rates varying by nearly a full percentage point among many borrowers.

• Realtor.com says shopping among lenders can produce immediate savings, while improving a credit score particularly above 700 and 720 can also lower borrowing costs.

• The difference between rates offered to borrowers can translate into tens of thousands of dollars in purchasing power, making comparison shopping especially important when rates are high.

Mortgage rates may be hovering around 7%, but homebuyers shouldn't assume that's the rate they'll have to pay.

A new Realtor.com analysis finds surprisingly large differences in the mortgage rates borrowers actually receive, even when they take out loans at roughly the same time. Those differences can have a significant effect on how much house a buyer can afford.

The study analyzed more than 1.35 million purchase mortgages originated from January 2023 through December 2025. It found that credit scores, down payments and the lender a borrower chooses can all affect the final interest rate.

"Mortgage-rate headlines matter, but they are not the whole story," Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel said. He noted that the gap between a typical mortgage offer and a particularly competitive one can translate into thousands of dollars of additional purchasing power.

Nearly a percentage point separates many borrowers

Krimmel illustrates the difference by assuming the median borrower receives a 7% mortgage rate.

Under that scenario, half of borrowers would receive rates ranging from about 6.73% to 7.21%. Looking at the middle 80% of borrowers produces an even wider range from 6.50% to 7.43%.

That's a 0.93 percentage-point spread.

For someone budgeting $2,000 a month for mortgage principal and interest, the difference would amount to roughly $28,400 in home-buying power.

In other words, two consumers shopping for homes at the same time could qualify for significantly different mortgage rates and potentially different-priced homes.

Shopping lenders may provide the quickest payoff

For consumers already preparing to buy a home, comparing lenders may be the easiest way to lower the rate.

The analysis found that a particularly competitive retail lender offered rates about 17 basis points below the Freddie Mac benchmark, while a typical retail lender was about two basis points above it.

That creates a difference of about 19 basis points between a typical lender and a highly competitive one. On a $2,000 monthly principal-and-interest budget, Realtor.com estimates that difference is worth about $5,800 in additional purchasing power.

That's why buyers may want to request loan estimates from several lenders rather than simply applying with their bank or the first mortgage company they encounter.

But borrowers should compare more than the advertised interest rate. Closing costs, lender fees and discount points can make a mortgage with a seemingly attractive rate more expensive than it first appears.

A better credit score can also lower the rate

Credit scores produced the largest independent effect on mortgage rates among the borrower characteristics the company studied.

The biggest benefits appeared around particular credit-score thresholds. Crossing both the 700 and 720 marks was associated with a rate improvement of about 5.5 basis points at each threshold.

Moving from a credit score in the 680s to 720 was associated with an improvement of about 11 basis points, providing approximately $3,200 more purchasing power under the's $2,000-a-month example.

The difference becomes larger across a wider credit range. Borrowers with scores of 780 or higher received rates about 32 basis points better than borrowers with scores below 640, after controlling for other factors. That translated into approximately $10,100 more home-buying power.

For consumers who don't plan to buy for several months, that means paying bills on time, reducing credit-card balances and correcting credit-report errors could potentially produce savings when it comes time to apply for a mortgage.

The 20% down payment isn't all about the rate

The report also challenges a common assumption about down payments.

Moving from a 15%-19% down payment to exactly 20% produced only a very small improvement in the mortgage rate about 0.7 basis points.

The bigger advantage of reaching 20% is generally the ability to avoid private mortgage insurance.

For borrowers putting down less than 20%, however, moving from a 5%-9% down payment to 10%-14% was associated with a 5.5-basis-point rate improvement, the largest step identified below the 20% threshold.

Buyers therefore need to consider the entire monthly payment rather than focusing exclusively on the mortgage rate.

What homebuyers can do

The research suggests buyers have more control over their mortgage costs than the weekly rate headlines might imply.

Someone planning to purchase a home in the future can work on improving their credit score and increasing their savings. Someone ready to buy now may have less time to change those factors, but can still solicit offers from several lenders and compare rates, fees, points and closing costs.

There's an important limitation to the findings. The analysis is based on conventional mortgages acquired by Freddie Mac and does not include FHA, VA, jumbo or portfolio loans. The underlying data also doesn't identify discount points, meaning some borrowers who received lower rates may have paid upfront to obtain them.

However, the research offers a useful lesson for buyers confronting today's elevated borrowing costs: the mortgage rate reported in the news is a benchmark, not necessarily the rate you'll receive.

The average 30-year fixed rate jumped a quarter point in a week

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.28% this week, up sharply from 7.03% a week earlier.

• Mortgage rates have now increased for four consecutive weeks, climbing from 6.71% in early September as Treasury yields moved higher.

• The Federal Reserves September rate increase and persistent inflation concerns are helping keep borrowing costs elevated, making homes less affordable even where prices have softened.

Mortgage rates moved sharply higher this week, delivering another setback to prospective homebuyers who had been hoping borrowing costs would retreat this fall.

Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed to 7.28% as of Oct. 1, up from 7.03% last week. A year ago, the average rate was 6.34%.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage also increased, rising to 6.60% from 6.42% a week earlier. A year ago, the 15-year rate averaged 5.55%.

The latest increase continues a rapid reversal from earlier in September. The average 30-year rate was 6.76% on Sept. 10 and rose to 6.95% on Sept. 17 and 7.03% on Sept. 24 before reaching 7.28% this week.

That means mortgage rates have risen by more than half a percentage point in just three weeks.

With mortgage rates on their current trajectory, the housing market continues to be supported by favorable economic conditions, Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said in releasing the latest survey.

Why mortgage rates are rising

Mortgage rates aren't set directly by the Federal Reserve. Instead, they tend to move with longer-term bond yields, particularly the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, because investors compare mortgage-backed securities with Treasury securities.

Those Treasury yields have been moving higher.

Treasury Department data show a significant increase in longer-term government borrowing costs during September. The 10-year Treasury yield rose from 4.83% on Sept. 9 to 5.18% on Sept. 24 and 5.29% on Sept. 30.

One factor has been renewed concern about inflation and how long interest rates will need to remain elevated.

At its Sept. 16 meeting, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point, putting the target range at 3.75% to 4%. The Fed said economic activity was expanding at a solid pace but that inflation remained elevated.

That matters to mortgage borrowers because expectations about future inflation and Fed policy influence Treasury yields and the mortgage-backed securities market.

The Fed's action doesn't automatically produce an equivalent increase in mortgage rates. But when bond investors expect inflation or interest rates to remain higher for longer, yields on longer-term bonds can rise, pulling mortgage rates along with them.

A significant difference for buyers

Even seemingly small changes in mortgage rates can have a noticeable effect on monthly housing costs.

For example, a buyer borrowing $400,000 with a 30-year fixed mortgage at roughly 7.03% would have a principal-and-interest payment of about $2,670 a month. At 7.28%, the payment rises to roughly $2,740 around $70 more each month, before property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Compared with the 6.34% average rate available a year ago, the difference is considerably larger.

The increase can also reduce the price of the house a buyer can afford. Borrowers trying to keep their monthly payment within a fixed budget may have to make a larger down payment, buy a less expensive home or wait for rates to decline.

The housing market's rate problem

Higher mortgage rates have another effect: They discourage some existing homeowners from selling.

Millions of homeowners obtained mortgages when rates were considerably lower, and selling their homes could mean giving up a low-rate loan and replacing it with one above 7%. That so-called mortgage rate lock-in effect can limit the number of homes coming onto the market.

At the same time, higher borrowing costs can reduce demand because fewer prospective buyers qualify for a mortgage or can afford the monthly payment.

Freddie Mac's survey represents conventional, conforming home-purchase loans made to borrowers with excellent credit who put 20% down, meaning individual borrowers may receive rates that are higher or lower depending on their credit score, down payment, loan type and lender.

For consumers who are ready to buy, comparing offers may be particularly important when rates are volatile. Mortgage rates and fees can vary among lenders, and obtaining several loan estimates can reveal differences that translate into significant savings over the life of a loan.

The recent increase also means buyers should be cautious about assuming rates will quickly return to the levels seen earlier this year. As long as inflation concerns keep longer-term Treasury yields elevated, mortgage rates could remain a major affordability hurdle for the housing market.

Crude exports are approaching prewar levels, but disruptions to refineries remain an issue

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Oil shipments from the Persian Gulf have rebounded to near prewar levels, easing fears of a prolonged global crude shortage.

• U.S. gasoline prices have already begun falling, with the national average dropping below $4.40 a gallon after reaching record September levels.

• Drivers could see additional relief in the coming weeks, but disrupted gasoline and diesel shipments and continued Middle East tensions could limit the decline.

There may finally be some good news for motorists who have watched gasoline prices soar because of the conflict in the Middle East.

Oil shipments from the Persian Gulf have recovered to nearly their levels before the latest fighting involving Iran, according to industry reports. The recovery is easing one of the biggest concerns that sent crude oil and gasoline prices sharply higher: that disruption in the Strait of Hormuz would leave millions of barrels of oil unable to reach world markets.

Goldman Sachs estimates Persian Gulf oil exports have recovered to about 23.3 million barrels a day, roughly in line with average 2025 levels, according to Business Insider. Increased tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and alternative export routes have contributed to the recovery.

Oil markets are responding. Brent crude, the international benchmark that has a major influence on U.S. gasoline prices, fell about 1% Friday to roughly $101 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude dropped nearly 2% to about $91.

That doesn't mean $3 gasoline is just around the corner, but the improvement could take some of the pressure off prices at the pump.

Gas prices are already falling

AAA reported Friday that the national average price of regular gasoline had fallen to about $4.40 a gallon, down from $4.49 a week earlier. That's still substantially higher than the $4.12 average a month ago and $3.16 a year ago.

September was particularly painful for motorists. AAA said the month's average price was $4.33 a gallon, 50 cents above the previous September record set in 2023.

The combination of recovering Gulf oil shipments, somewhat lower crude prices and declining seasonal gasoline demand could push prices lower during October if those trends continue.

There is usually a delay between a decline in crude prices and what motorists see on gas station signs. The Energy Information Administration has estimated that about half of a change in crude oil prices typically reaches consumers within two weeks, with roughly 80% reflected within four weeks.

As a general rule, the EIA says a sustained $1-a-barrel movement in crude oil translates into about 2.4 cents a gallon in gasoline prices.

That means a sustained $10 decline in crude theoretically could eventually remove roughly 24 cents a gallon of upward pressure on gasoline, although other factors can substantially alter the result.

The problem isn't completely solved

There is an important catch.

While crude oil shipments have recovered dramatically, shipments of refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel have not. The Wall Street Journal reports that Middle East crude exports have nearly returned to prewar levels but refined-product shipments remain about 40% below normal.

That distinction matters to consumers. Crude oil has to be transported to a refinery, turned into gasoline or diesel and then distributed to filling stations. Refinery outages, high shipping costs and shortages of finished fuel can therefore keep gasoline prices elevated even when plenty of crude oil is available.

The problem is particularly apparent in diesel. AAA put the national diesel average at about $6.37 a gallon Friday, only modestly below the record $6.53 reached Sept. 22.

Refining constraints have become an increasingly important part of the current fuel-price shock. Reduced refining capacity and disruptions to Middle Eastern refined-product exports have kept margins high even as crude supplies have improved.

What happens next

For consumers, the return of Persian Gulf crude shipments is an encouraging development because it reduces the immediate threat of a severe worldwide oil shortage.

But it probably won't erase September's gasoline price increases overnight.

If Gulf shipments continue without major disruption and crude prices keep moving lower, motorists should see more of that decline work its way through wholesale markets and eventually to filling stations over the next several weeks.

The biggest wild cards remain the security situation around the Strait of Hormuz, the recovery of Middle Eastern refineries and the return of gasoline and diesel exports.

Metal bristles can break loose, stick to food and cause serious internal injuries if swallowed

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Walmart is recalling about 4.48 million Expert Grill metal wire bristle brushes because pieces of wire can detach and end up in food.

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission warns that swallowing a metal bristle can cause serious internal injuries that may require surgery.

• Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled brushes and contact Walmart for a full refund or store credit.

As the grilling season ends in much of the U.S., many consumers will be cleaning the grill surface before they put the grill away for the winter. They should make sure their grill brush hasnt been recalled for a dangerous defect.

Walmart is recalling more than 4.4 million Expert Grill barbecue brushes because metal bristles can break off and potentially be swallowed with grilled food.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall Oct. 1, saying small metal wire bristles can detach from the brushes and stick to the grill or food. If swallowed, the bristles can cause serious internal injuries that could require surgery.

About 4,477,655 brushes are included in the recall. No incidents or injuries have been reported, according to the CPSC.

Five products included in the recall

The recall covers five Expert Grill products, including individual grill brushes and a brush sold as part of a 10-piece grilling tool set.

The recalled products and model numbers are:

• EX5607031616002 Expert Grill 16-inch Steel Fiber Scrub Brush and Scraper for Grills

• EX5607031616003 Expert Grill Handheld Steel Fiber Scrub Brush with Ergonomic Handle for Grill Cleaning

• XG1310700206 Expert Grill 21-inch 3-head Grill Brush with Stainless Steel Bristles and Soft-Grip Handle

• XG1136178597003 Expert Grill Long Handle Grill Brush with Scraper, 17.7 inches

• XG1410700124 Expert Grill Grilling Accessories BBQ Grill Tools Set, 10 Pieces Stainless Steel Grill Kit.

The model number can be found on the product packaging or on a sticker or tag attached to the brush.

Depending on the model, the brushes were distributed between January 2021 and August 2026. They were sold at Walmart stores and online, including Walmart.com, for between $1 and $28. The products were manufactured in China and imported by Walmart.

What consumers should do

Consumers who have one of the recalled brushes should stop using it immediately.

Walmart is offering either a full refund or a credit that can be used at a Walmart store or Walmart.com. Consumers will be instructed either to return the recalled brush to Walmart or discard it.

Consumers can contact Walmart at 800-925-6278, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central Time Monday through Friday, or visit Walmart's recall information online.

The hazard associated with wire grill brushes can be difficult to detect because a loose bristle may remain on the grill grate and later become embedded in food. The recalled Expert Grill products illustrate why consumers using wire brushes should inspect both the brush and grill surface carefully before cooking.

The CPSC's recall number is 27-010.