By midafternoon the trickle turned into a torrent, with most callers demanding an answer to the same question: "How much have mortgage rates fallen today?"

Tim Roush, president of Veritas Funding, helped dispense the bad news - mortgage interest rates stayed put. "There were a few people who actually got angry when we told them rates hadn't changed." Since then, rates on 30-year loans have even crept up a bit.

To Roush and others in the mortgage business, the public's expectation that mortgage rates would fall after the Fed cut the federal funds rate to 4.75 percent is an example of consumers' inherent confusion about interest rates.

"There's this basic misunderstanding of long-term and short-term interest rates," Roush said. "We see it every time any type of rate is cut - the federal funds rate, the discount rate, the prime rate, you name it. The average person just hears that rates have dropped."

Many consumers - from the cash-strapped college student who relies on credit cards to homeowners who want to tap into their equity to fix up their properties - stand to benefit from the Fed's action. Rates on home equity lines of credit, many small-business loans, credit cards and adjustable-rate auto loans are tied to the prime rate, which moves in tandem with the federal funds rate. If the Fed cuts the latter, the prime rate drops and rates on all those types of loans drop, usually by a commensurate amount and usually within days or weeks.

But rates on fixed-rate first mortgages can go either way, much to the consternation of those looking to buy a home.

Bankrate.com, the nationally known Web site that tracks interest rates on a range of products offered by 4,800 financial institutions in all 50 states, notes that the Fed cut the federal funds rate 13 times from January 2001 to June 2003. Eight of those times, fixed rates on first mortgages fell. But five times, mortgage rates rose.

This is one of those times. Rates on 30-year mortgages, which before the rate cut had dipped to their lowest levels since mid-May, have since risen slightly, to an average of 6.42 percent, up from 6.34 percent the previous week, the mortgage company Freddie Mac reported.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.09 percent last week, up from 5.98 percent the previous week.

Sterling Jenson of Wells Fargo Capital Management of Salt Lake City expects mortgage rates in the near future to remain stable. "I don't see a dramatic move either up or down."

In most cases, longer-term rates such as 15- to 30-year first mortgages are affected by a number of different factors, including inflation. If inflation is a threat or perceived to be one, long-term rates will rise. If not, they fall or will remain stable.

Since the rate cut, inflation worries have resurfaced because rate cuts tend to stimulate consumer spending, which in turn can generate rising prices. The Fed lowered rates this time to give a boost to the U.S. economy, which some feared could be headed toward recession.

Jack Powers, a Draper retiree, is worried that the Fed's action will spur inflation. Powers said he'll benefit from the rate cut because he has a home equity line of credit. Yet he would gladly do without that break to avoid an inflation spike, which would decrease everyone's purchasing power.

"There is no such thing as a free lunch," Powers said of the Fed's action. "This is just crazy."

Just wanting a break

But for many consumers, inflation is a far-away worry. They are hoping for a more immediate type of relief from high debt loads that only a Fed rate cut can provide.

Those with credit card balances, for example, should see relief in the form of lower monthly payments within a month or so.

Chris Wharton, a second-year law student at the U., said he's glad for any interest-rate relief. Wharton depends on a high-rate credit card to help pay for food, books or anything else not covered with funds from his student loans.

He said even an interest rate break of $20 or $30 per month would help tremendously. "Any break I could get would be great since I've got all this debt."

Home equity borrowers also stand to benefit.

Craig Taylor of Kaysville just took out a line of credit from Barnes Bank, and his timing could not have been better. Barnes reduced its home equity rates a half percent on Sept. 20 in response to the Fed action. In addition, the bank offered Taylor a six-month introductory rate of 4.5 percent.

For people with home equity lines of credit, the savings of a half-point lower rate can over years represent hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

Consumers in the market for an auto loan or those holding adjustable-rate automobile loans tied to the prime rate also can expect lower payments.

Granite Credit Union intends to lower the interest on all of its adjustable-rate auto loans by a half-percent beginning Monday, when its third-quarter begins, said Jon Meier, vice president of lending.

"Most of our members still prefer fixed-rate automobile loans, and the interest rate on those haven't moved yet, although I expect that eventually will happen."

At least one of Granite's competitors is ready to move.

Mountain America Credit Union intends to institute a quarter-percent drop on Monday and intends to reset the interest rates on its home equity lines of credit.

Mortgage help unlikely

Help on the mortgage front just isn't as likely, though.

Many adjustable-rate first mortgages are tied mainly to treasury rates or LIBOR, which stands for London Interbank Offered Rate, a rate set by a group of large London banks, said Doug Stanger of Barnes Banking Co. in Kaysville.

Depending on several factors, such as when a homeowner took out the adjustable-rate mortgage, the loan rate may or may not fall. Some adjustable-rate loans adjust every six months or 1 year, while others adjust only every three or five years.

Rates on most new adjustable-rate loans are slightly lower now than they were before the Fed rate cut, but their rates are so close to fixed-rate 15-year and 30-year loans that most consumers will do far better taking out the fixed-rate loan.

On Friday, the Mortgage Co-Op was quoting a fixed 30-year loan at 6.25 percent (with an annual percentage rate of 6.375 percent with closing costs.) The company also was offering at the same rate a 5-1 adjustable-rate loan (which remains fixed for five years and then adjusts every year after that).

"Fixed rates are such a better choice right now," said Glen Ogden, president of the Utah Mortgage Lenders Association.

The biggest losers in the weeks and months after a Fed rate cut probably will be people with investments in money-market accounts and certificates of deposits - especially seniors who depend on those accounts for living expenses.

Many financial institutions have been offering Utahns CDs of various maturities in the 5 percent and higher range. Rates are expected to drop by about the same margin as the Fed rate cut - about a half percent.

George Hofmann of Zions Bank said there's no direct correlation between the Fed action and CD rates. But with the cut, banks are earning less on car loans, credit cards and home equity lines of credit, meaning they will pay out less on deposits.

Hofmann said consumers can be fairly certain that rates on CDs no longer will be climbing.

Bankrate.com says banks lost no time lowering CD rates last week, saying the average 1-year CD in Utah fell to 4.80 percent from 4.91 percent the previous week.

There's this basic misunderstanding of long-term and short-term interest rates. We see it every time any type of rate is cut - the federal funds rate, the discount rate, the prime rate, you name it. The average person just hears that rates have dropped.

Who wins and who loses

Some consumers will benefit from the Fed's recent interest rate cut, but others won't. The breakdown:

* WINNERS: Those with credit card balances, home equity lines of credit, in the market for a car loan or with an adjustable-rate auto loan. Those with home construction loans tied to the prime rate.

* LOSERS: Those who invest in money-market accounts and CDs will see rates decrease.