> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thewalkthrough.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The 7% mortgage is the smallest news this week - URL: https://thewalkthrough.ghost.io/the-7-mortgage-is-the-smallest-news-this-week/ - Published: 2026-09-30T17:39:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-30T17:39:27.000Z - Author: Rita Nowak Heating oil in Connecticut is up by half since June. | The Walkthrough No. 025 / Wed, Sep 30, 2026 Subject of file Two weeks of national news, sorted by the paper in your house each item will land on | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | Good morning. I read two weeks of news at the kitchen table on Tuesday night with the radio on. Somewhere around the heating oil story I stopped ranking it by importance and began sorting it by where each item would land in a house like mine. So this is a new thing for some Wednesdays. There are nine items in four piles, and the last pile holds the one I could not place. Denise's recalculation has not come. I said it would go first if it did, so this is the spot it would have taken. | | Where it lands | | Pile 1 The kitchen table, this month | | Heating oil is up by half since June Connecticut's energy department put home heating oil at an average of $5.91 a gallon [in its survey last week](https://ctmirror.org/2026/09/25/diesel-fuel-prices-in-connecticut-hit-record-high/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io), against $3.95 in late June. AAA recorded a national diesel record of $6.53 the same week, and the two fuels are close cousins at the refinery. My brother heats with oil and has not signed anything with his dealer yet. I have not told him what to do. I also still have not asked him about our father's rifle, which is a separate drawer. Lands on Your contract with the oil or propane dealer, if you have one. | | | | Mortgage rates passed 7% [Freddie Mac's weekly average](https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) for a 30-year fixed loan reached 7.03% on September 24, the first reading above 7% since January 2025\. If your rate is fixed, this changes nothing on your statement. Lands on Home equity lines, which usually float, and anyone planning to buy something smaller. | | | | People who switched home insurers paid less [ICE's September mortgage report](https://mortgagetech.ice.com/resources/data-reports/september-2026-mortgage-monitor?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) puts the average property insurance payment for a homeowner with a mortgage at $209 a month in the second quarter of 2026\. Those who changed carriers over the past year cut their payments by 6.6% on average. The figure is national, and it says nothing about what the new policies cover. I have never switched, and I have not checked what my own premium did this year. Lands on Your next renewal notice, and the declarations page behind it. | | Pile 2 The mailbox, before December | | The Social Security raise is announced October 14 [The adjustment for 2027](https://www.ssa.gov/cola/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) comes out after the September inflation numbers. Advocacy groups have published estimates in the mid-3% range. I am not adding a guess of my own. Lands on Your 2027 benefit notice, where the number to read is the one left after Medicare's deduction. | | | | Part B is projected at $209.50 [The Medicare trustees' June report](https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2026-news-articles/finance/medicare-report-estimates-future-part-b-premiums.-what-will-you-pay-in-2027-and-beyond/?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) projected the standard 2027 Part B premium at $209.50 a month, up from $202.90 in 2026\. CMS usually confirms the real figure in November, and some private forecasters budget higher because the trustees have come in low before. Lands on The same benefit notice, one line below the raise. | | | | The drug cap moves up $300 [CMS finalized both numbers](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2027-medicare-advantage-part-d-rate-announcement?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) in the spring, and I had not noticed until this week. The most anyone pays out of pocket for covered drugs in a Part D plan goes from $2,100 to $2,400 in January 2027, and the standard deductible from $615 to $700. Lands on Anyone who hit the cap in 2026\. The same prescriptions can cost up to $300 more in 2027 before the plan pays the rest. | | | | The flood program now ends when the budget does Congress cleared a stopgap funding bill at the start of September, so nothing shuts down at midnight tonight. The stopgap runs to December 11, and the National Flood Insurance Program's [authority expires that same day](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN10835?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io). In past lapses, new and renewal flood policies could not be written until Congress acted, and home sales in flood zones waited. California's insurance commissioner reminded people last week that flood coverage generally starts 30 days after it is bought. Lands on Flood policies renewing in December, and closings in a flood zone. | | Pile 3 Filed for later | | New Jersey and the machine that says no A New Jersey assemblyman [introduced a bill on September 14](https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/risk-compliance-legal/new-jersey-bill-targets-aipowered-insurance-claim-denials-590341.aspx?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) that would bar insurers from letting artificial intelligence make the final decision to deny a homeowners, auto or flood claim. It has not been sent to committee, and there is no Senate version. I left my job in 2023 when the company moved to estimating from photographs, so I read the bill twice. Lands on Nobody yet. I filed it because of 2023. | | Pile 4 No drawer | | Electricity averaged 19.6 cents The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the average price of electricity in U.S. cities at [19.6 cents a kilowatt-hour](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU000072610?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) in August 2026\. I tried to work out what that means for one loaf from my bread machine, which dates from 2004, and found the manual does not list its wattage. Lands on I could not tell. If you know how to measure one appliance against the meter, write to me. | | The money meter Fed funds target 3.75–4.00% Federal Reserve, Sep 16, 2026 30-year fixed mortgage 7.03% Freddie Mac PMMS, Sep 24, 2026 Inflation, 12 months 3.4% BLS CPI, Aug 2026 data Regular gasoline $4.48 AAA, Sep 24, 2026 | | What it actually costs Five minutes, and it only works before the contract renews itself. If you buy heating oil or propane on a contract, or electricity from a supplier other than your utility, find the paragraph about what happens when the term ends. In New York, [the Department of Public Service says](https://dps.ny.gov/how-shop-utility-services?ref=thewalkthrough.ghost.io) renewal terms and any early termination fee sit in the terms and conditions. Its sample agreement rolls a fixed price into a month-to-month variable rate if nobody acts. Rules differ by state, and the New York page covers electricity and gas suppliers, not oil dealers. Write the end date on the first page of the contract, in pen. | | One number 10.4% Average premium increase over the past year for homeowners who stayed with their carrier. ICE Mortgage Monitor, September 2026. | | Where I stand today After sorting the piles, I would move my own insurance renewal onto the kitchen table ahead of the oil. I am not sure of that order. The bread machine stays in the last pile. | | The piles are still on the table this morning, and the radio is on again. Tomorrow is a short one, from a job I went out on this month. Read the policy before you need it. — Rita | | Sources: CT Dept. of Energy & Environmental Protection heating oil survey (via CT Mirror, Sep 25, 2026); AAA; Freddie Mac PMMS; ICE Mortgage Monitor, Sep 2026; Social Security Administration; 2026 Medicare Trustees Report; CMS CY2027 Rate Announcement; Congress.gov CRS Insight IN10835; NJ Assembly Bill A5494; BLS average price data; NY Department of Public Service. Figures are national averages unless stated; rules differ by state. |