The Fed raised rates. Prime is 7.00% today.
What Changed
The Federal Reserve raised its target range by a quarter point on September 16, 2026, to 3.75% to 4.00%. The vote was 12 to 0, and the Fed's statement gave one reason: inflation remains elevated.
First hike since 2023.
A single quarter-point move changes no withdrawal rule, no tax bracket and no Medicare premium for 2026. Nothing here requires action.
But the rate on your own debts moved this morning. Bank of America, KeyCorp, BNY and M&T each raised their prime rate from 6.75% to 7.00%, effective September 17, 2026, per their own announcements.
Most home equity lines float at prime plus a fixed margin, so your rate rises on the date your agreement names, and nobody asks you first.
Variable-rate credit cards work the same way.
Savings accounts carry no such formula. Your bank reprices them when it chooses, and a CD you already own keeps its rate to maturity.
A quarter point adds $25 a year for every $10,000 you owe. A $60,000 balance costs you $150 more a year starting September 17, 2026.
Today's Habit
Find every debt you carry that floats with prime, and write down its margin.
A variable rate has two parts. The index is prime, which your bank sets and just raised to 7.00%. The margin is a fixed number on top, set the day you signed (the bank calls it the "margin" on one page and the "spread" on the next, which helps nobody).
Banks announced the new prime within hours of the Fed. None of them announced your margin.
And the margin doesn't move.
Once you know it, you can price any change in prime yourself, in the time it takes to open the bank's letter, without waiting for a statement.
You pay for today's change whether or not you read the letter. Each quarter point costs $25 a year per $10,000 you owe, so a $40,000 balance on a home equity line costs you $100 more a year from September 17, 2026.
But a zero balance costs nothing until the day you draw on the line. A credit card balance you pay in full each month costs nothing either.
- Pull your latest statement for each home equity line, credit card and variable-rate loan.
- Find the APR. A "V" or the word "variable" beside it means it floats.
- Find the formula, "Prime + X%," on the statement or in your account agreement under Documents.
- Write down X, plus the date your agreement says a rate change takes effect.
- Add X to 7.00% for your new rate. Multiply your balance by 0.0025 for the yearly cost of today's change.
A margin loan or a securities-backed line may use a different index, often the firm's own base rate or SOFR. The same arithmetic works once you find it.
You're done when you have one line per account: lender, balance, margin, new rate, effective date. The Fed's next decision is due October 28, 2026. If prime moves again, your list prices the change in a minute.
That's the whole habit.
Scam Alert
The call comes from your bank's fraud desk. Or from the FTC, or from Social Security. And the caller ID matches, because scammers can fake it.
The story is a crisis already underway: someone is using your account, or your Social Security number is tied to a crime. Then comes the rescue. Move your savings to a "safe" account, pull cash for a courier, or buy gold and hand it over.
Every version ends there.
It aims at you because you guard your money. Reports to the FTC from people 60 and older who lost more than $100,000 to impostors rose nearly sevenfold from 2020 to 2024.
The tell is the instruction to move money. The FTC says it will never tell you to transfer money to protect it. But no legitimate caller needs you to, either.
Hang up. Call the number printed on your card or statement, never the number the caller gives you, and tell whoever answers what the caller asked for.
Then report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, even if you didn't lose a dollar.
On the Calendar
October 15, 2026: Medicare Open Enrollment opens. A new plan must receive your enrollment request by December 7, 2026. Coverage starts January 1, 2027. Compare plans at Medicare.gov/plan-compare.
October 28, 2026: The Fed announces its next rate decision, closing its October 27–28 meeting.