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Federal Reserve H.15 • Wall Street Journal Benchmark

U.S. Prime Rate History (Last 10 Years)

Track the current U.S. Prime Rate, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate decisions, and every Prime Rate change over the past decade—the base index used to price Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs).

Current U.S. Prime Rate
7.00%
Effective since September 17, 2026
Fed Funds Target Range
3.75% – 4.00%
Prime = Fed Funds Upper Limit + 3.00%
Next FOMC Rate Decision
December 9, 2026
Auto-checked the day after FOMC votes

Latest FOMC Decision (October 28, 2026): The FOMC voted to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.75% – 4.00%. Therefore, the U.S. Prime Rate continues at 7.00%.

The next scheduled FOMC meeting and vote on short-term interest rates is December 9, 2026.

10-Year U.S. Prime Rate Changes

Listed from most recent rate change on top to oldest on bottom (31 changes over the last 10 years).

Newest → Oldest
Date of ChangeNew Prime Rate (%)Rate Move
September 17, 2026
Current U.S. Prime Rate
7.00%+0.25%
December 11, 2025
6.75%-0.25%
October 30, 2025
7.00%-0.25%
September 17, 2025
7.25%-0.25%
December 19, 2024
7.50%-0.25%
November 8, 2024
7.75%-0.25%
September 19, 2024
8.00%-0.50%
July 27, 2023
8.50%+0.25%
May 4, 2023
8.25%+0.25%
March 23, 2023
8.00%+0.25%
February 2, 2023
7.75%+0.25%
December 15, 2022
7.50%+0.50%
November 3, 2022
7.00%+0.75%
September 22, 2022
6.25%+0.75%
July 28, 2022
5.50%+0.75%
June 16, 2022
4.75%+0.75%
May 5, 2022
4.00%+0.50%
March 17, 2022
3.50%+0.25%
March 16, 2020
3.25%-1.00%
March 4, 2020
4.25%-0.50%
October 31, 2019
4.75%-0.25%
September 19, 2019
5.00%-0.25%
August 1, 2019
5.25%-0.25%
December 20, 2018
5.50%+0.25%
September 27, 2018
5.25%+0.25%
June 14, 2018
5.00%+0.25%
March 22, 2018
4.75%+0.25%
December 14, 2017
4.50%+0.25%
June 15, 2017
4.25%+0.25%
March 16, 2017
4.00%+0.25%
December 15, 2016
3.75%+0.25%
Source: Federal Reserve Board H.15 Selected Interest Rates (FRED Series: DPRIME, DFEDTARU, DFEDTARL).Dates reflect the official effective date (typically one business day after the FOMC vote).

10-Year Prime Rate Trajectory

Visualizing the full cycle from Jan 2016 through today (7.00%).

How the U.S. Prime Rate Impacts Homeowners

HELOCs Move Dollar-for-Dollar with Prime

Virtually all traditional and credit union Home Equity Lines of Credit calculate your variable rate as Prime Rate + Margin. Whenever the FOMC raises or cuts the Federal Funds target range by 0.25%, the U.S. Prime Rate moves by the exact same 0.25%—adjusting most active HELOCs within one to two billing cycles.

30-Year Fixed Mortgages Track Bonds, Not Prime

Contrary to popular headlines, 30-year fixed mortgage rates do not move automatically with FOMC votes. Fixed mortgages follow long-term Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) & 10-Year Treasury yields, which often price in expected Fed moves weeks ahead of time.

Comparing a Bank HELOC, Credit Union HELOC, or Blended Rate?

Test how a Prime-indexed HELOC blends with your low first-mortgage rate, or ask us to compare standalone HELOC margins, rate floors, and 55+ equity line options.

Blended Rate CalculatorRequest HELOC Review →
From Our Resource Library

HELOC & Prime Rate Strategy Guides

How Prime + Margin pricing, rate floors, and draw periods dictate your true cost of borrowing.

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Rakesh Jain
Rakesh Jain
Nov 4, 2026 • 4 min read
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