By Harold Brubaker
Inquirer Staff Writer

Savers cheered yesterday after the Federal Reserve decided to raise a key interest rate for the first time in four years.

Some others, however, worried about the potentially dampening effect on the economy or about the prospect of higher loan payments.

Milton Krain, a retiree from Narberth, applauded the news. "You're talking to a guy who is 80 years old," he said. "I'm beyond the investment stage."

Likewise, Betsy Teutsch of Mount Airy, who stopped by the Charles Schwab branch in Center City with her husband, said the uptick was good news.

"It was a little unnerving how low interest rates were for so long," she said. "When interest rates are that low, it discourages saving."

But J. Pattison, who owns a Philadelphia antiques business, said the possibility of higher interest rates concerned him.

"I think the low interest rates have been good for the economy," Pattison said during a visit to the Schwab branch. He thinks higher rates could cause the economy to slow again.

Some economists have suggested that interest rates are beginning a long-term rise.

"It's a little disconcerting," said David Astorino, a consultant with RHR International Co. in Center City.

The prospect of higher rates falls into a basket of troubles, such as terrorism and high oil prices, said Astorino, of Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County. "But does it preoccupy me? No."

Ralph Sagliocco, a construction worker from Parkesburg, Chester County, said he was not worried, because he had low rates locked up. His mortgage bears a 6 percent rate, he said at Suburban Square in Ardmore. "I suppose it could hurt construction."

But Virginia Steicher of Wilmington, who attends Widener University, said rising rates could be trouble for her. "On our student loans, it makes a big difference," she said. "I am in law school, and I borrow a lot of money."

At the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Delaware Valley Inc., client Joyce Jackson Ellis of Germantown said interest-rate increases would not affect her because she did not plan to take on any more debt. She has been paying off $10,000 in credit-card debt since 1995 with the help of a debt-consolidation plan. She has it down to $1,138.04 and expects to pay it off by the end of the year.

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