From Holden Lewis @www.bankrate.com:

“The Federal Reserve raised a key short-term interest rate today, reassuring investors that major combat operations against inflation are not over.

The Fed’s Open Market Committee increased the target for the federal funds rate a quarter point, to 2.5 percent. The prime rate will rise to 5.5 percent. Consumer loans based on the prime rate—variable-rate credit cards and home equity lines of credit, for the most part—can be expected to rise in the coming days and weeks.

Short-term rates have gone up 1.5 percentage points since the end of June. In that time, the Fed’s rate-setting committee has met six times, and each time it raised the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point. In today’s after-meeting statement, the committee hinted that more rate increases are in store.”

What does this mean to you in a nutshell?

• Credit Cards: Credit cards with variable rates will raise their rates. Note: Folks with credit problems will be seeing higher interest rates!
• Money market mutual funds: Yields will increase.
• Money market accounts: Banks may reward depositors…but don’t count on it.
• Certificates of deposit: Yields on CDs may vary depending on the length of maturity
• Auto loans: Not affected
• Home equity lines of credit: A modest increase in the early years of a HELOC
• Home equity loans: Long term rates will not be affected
• Adjustable-rate mortgages: Interest payments could definitely increase
• Fixed-rate mortgages: Tied to long term rates, should not be affected

source: http://www.bankrate.com/nltrack/news/fed/how-soon.asp