My 2nd week with a new bank. They want me to get their HELOC program up and going. They tried in the past but didn't feel comfortable. I need to update the hysterical, I mean historical, examples. Anyone have a good source for obtaining prime rate changes. I want to go all the way back to 1989. Thanks in advance for any help! TJ

We have a chart on our web site going back to 1990 - Prime Rate history

Try me.

Try me 2.

Try me 3.

thanks to both Andy and CubDave!!!

If your product uses the WSJ prime, you really ought to go to the library and print copies of the actual WSJ pages where your historical rates appeared. Nothing else is totally reliable.

You can also go out to the Federal Reserve website at federalreserve.gov/releases/H15/data/b/prime.txt and choose business. You will find daily prime rates from August 1955 to date. The last time I printed the report it was 193 pages.

Once again, if your product calls for the WSJ prime, the Fed is not a source.

Mr. Insley, where then, does the WSJ get their prime rates if not from the Fed?

Isn't it an average of several banks? I don't have a copy but it used to explain it in fine print in that section. And as a nit picker, I was always specific, "the prime rate as quoted in the WSJ" as they don't have "a prime" per se.

Andy - this was on the HSH site:

The prime rate is defined by The Wall Street Journal as "The base rate on corporate loans posted by at least 75% of the nation's 30 largest banks."

The prime rate does not change at regular intervals. It changes only when the nation's "largest banks" decide on the need to raise, or lower, their "base rate." In some years, the prime changed weekly. However, years may go by without a change in the prime rate.

To be exactly right, you should even go so far as to check the edition of the WSJ. There are (or used to be) different editions in different parts of the country & if the western edition uses averages of large banks there and not in other parts of the country, then you can have differences. Most important, however, is to go to the same source that will be stated in your HELOC agreement. If it says the "highest prime rate published in the Money Rates section of the WSJ published on the 15th day of the preceeding month", for example, that's the only place you can obtain authoritative rates for your plan.

Wow. I never knew they would vary the prime they publish in NY from Dallas.

But it is good to see I still have some memory left. Thanks for the quote, Chris.

We used to log the actual rate from the WSJ manually to keep track of it (my old bank).

We kept copies of every issue with rates that we used as index values. In the event a customer or examiner challenged our servicing or preap disclosures, we wanted to be able to provide copies of the actual publications--not compilations by third parties.

Bringing this one back from the past because the title is appropriate to my question.

Okay, I have looked in the commentary and I am throwing in the towel. With regards to the 15 year historical example, does everyone's disclosure read from 2002-2016 or does it now need to read 2003-2017?

Reference: §1026.40(d)(12)(xi)

NP, when did you update you disclosure?

If you last updated it in 2016 it would be the former. Updated it in 2017, the latter.

Makes sense. Thanks.

Reviving a VERY old thread. What is everyone using as their source for the WSJ prime rate history?

Pretty good source here - you can download an excel spreadsheet: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PRIME

Perfect! Thank you!