Rates · Federal Reserve H.15
Prime rate today
Banks set it 3 percentage points above the top of the Federal Reserve’s federal funds target range, so it changes when the Fed changes rates, and most variable credit card APRs move with it.
- Last change
- +0.25 pointSep 17, 2026, from 6.75%
- Highest
- 21.50%Dec 19, 1980
- Lowest
- 3.25%1955, 2008–2015 and 2020–2022
- Series
- Since 1955First published Aug 4, 1955
Prime rate changes since 2021
All 18 changes since 2021
What the prime rate means for your credit card
Most credit cards have a variable APR written as “Prime Rate + a margin”. When the prime rate moves, the APR follows, usually from the next billing cycle; the margin stays put.
At today’s 7.00%
Every card page on RateHerald works out today’s APR from the card’s margin and this rate.
11 cards whose terms state their margin over prime
Margins run from 12.74 to 21.74 points over prime, so at today’s rate their APRs run from 19.74% to 28.74%.
Questions people ask
What is the prime rate?
The rate banks use as the base for many variable-rate loans: credit cards, home equity lines of credit and some business and personal loans. The Federal Reserve publishes the rate most large banks post as the “bank prime loan rate”; it matches the Wall Street Journal prime rate.
Who sets the prime rate?
Each bank sets its own, but since the mid-1990s large banks have kept it 3 percentage points above the top of the federal funds target range, which the Federal Reserve’s policy committee sets at its eight scheduled meetings a year.
When does the prime rate change?
Usually the day after the Federal Reserve changes its target range. It last changed on Sep 17, 2026.
What is the highest the prime rate has been?
21.50%, set on Dec 19, 1980, when the Federal Reserve was fighting double-digit inflation. The lowest since the series began in 1955 is 3.25%: 1955, 2008–2015 and 2020–2022.
Does the prime rate affect my savings account?
Indirectly. Savings and CD rates follow the same Federal Reserve decisions, so they tend to fall when the prime rate falls, but banks set them freely.
Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (H.15), via FRED. Series since Aug 4, 1955.