ijeab/Getty Images Among banking products, CDs and online savings accounts offer better yields. Corporate, municipal, and junk bonds offer higher rates than US Treasuries, at varying degrees of risk. The 21st century is developing into an era of steadily declining interest rates. At the beginning of 2000, the benchmark US federal funds rate hovered around 6%; as of December 2020, it stood at 0.09%. According to the Federal Reserve , which establishes monetary policy in the United States, rates will remain near zero through at least 2023. The interest rates lenders charge and that investments pay are pegged to the fed funds rate. So low interest rates have become a fixture in finance.