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Mortgage shoppers inclined to look for silver linings can find one in the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold steady with its low-rate policy. After a couple of weeks of worry that mortgage rates would continue climbing, they’ve actually fallen, though slight, and seem likely to hang around their current levels for some time.

If you’re shopping for a loan, there’s probably no point waiting for rates to fall significantly. Nor is there a reason to hurry, as rates aren’t likely to spike, either. That said, you can afford to take some time to shop carefully.

So, under today’s conditions, which mortgage types look most appealing?

For most borrowers, the 15 and 30-year fixed-rate loans are probably the best deals. Though rates are higher than the 50-year lows they hit early in the spring, they’re still very attractive by historical standards.

The 15-year fixed loan averages 5.191 percent, according to the BankingMyWay.com survey, while the 30-year loan is 5.705 percent. Both have fallen slightly over the past week.

Monthly principal and interest payments on every $100,000 borrowed would be $800.78 for the 15-year loan, $580.72 for the 30-year, according to the Mortgage Loan Calculator.

Though the rate on the 15-year loan is lower, the payment is higher because principal must be paid off in 15 years instead of 30. By paying the loan off in half the time, the 15-year deal would save you a bundle in interest costs. Total interest paid over the life of the loan would be $44,140, compared to $109,057 for the 30-year deal.

For many borrowers, the higher payments on 15-year loans are too much to handle, or make it impossible to qualify for a loan that’s large enough. For a look at that question, use the Maximum Mortgage Calculator.

One alternative: Get the 30-year loan and make extra principal payments when you can. You’ll pay a slightly higher rate than with the 15-year deal, but you’ll still save a fortune in interest charges by paying the loan off early, and you won’t have to make the extra payments when money is tight. The Mortgage Payoff Calculator will show you how this works.

But what about adjustable-rate mortgages?

Generally, they don’t offer enough up-front savings to offset the risk you’ll pay more when rates reset down the road.

The one-year ARM, for example, averages 4.99 percent. Monthly payment on $100,000 would be $536.21, about $45 less than the 30-year fixed loan. But that rate would last only 12 months. Afterword, the rate could rise considerably in annual resets. If it went 7 percent in five years, your payment could jump to $650, assuming you still owed about $92,000.

The typical one-year ARM can go up as many as six percentage points over its lifetime. So today’s 4.99 percent loan could someday charge nearly 11 percent. If that happened, you could try to refinance, but chances are the fixed-rate deals wouldn’t be as good as they are today.

In today’s market, adjustable-rate loans are suitable only for savvy borrowers who want to bet that interest rates will stay low and have the resources to make higher payments if it comes to that.

Keep in mind that the numbers cited here are averages. Using the shopping tool you find some better deals.

Bank of America (Stock Quote: BAC), for example, has a 30-year fixed loan at 5.375 percent, while Wells Fargo (Stock Quote: WFC) has one at 5.5 percent. Some smaller banks do even better.

— For more ways to save, spend, invest and borrow, visit MainStreet.com.