Interest rates
How one rate set by the Fed reaches your card, your savings and your mortgage.
Fed target today 3.75–4.00% since Sep 17, 2026
Slide the Fed's rate up or down and see a year of your borrowing and saving change.
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4 things to know
Costly mistakes
Keeping $10,000 at the average savings rate$368/yr
InsteadUse an FDIC-insured high-yield savings account or Treasury bills for cash you won't spend soon.
Saving at 4% while a card charges 22%$1,099/yr
InsteadThat is the yearly cost on $6,000. Keep a small emergency fund, then pay the card down.
Reading a card's APR as its true cost25.05%
InsteadInterest is added daily, so a 22.36% APR really costs 25.05% a year on a carried balance.
Waiting for a Fed cut to buy a house6.18→6.19%
InsteadMortgage rates barely moved through 1.75 points of cuts. Watch the 10-year Treasury instead.
"No interest if paid in full" promosall back interest
InsteadMiss by a dollar and deferred interest is charged back to day one. Divide the balance by the promo months and pay that.
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How often interest is added changes what a rate is worth.
The rate starts at the 3-month Treasury bill, close to what high-yield savings pay.
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Every number, worked out
Today's published rates in dollars: a card balance, and the same $10,000 parked in two places.
| A credit card balance | |||
| 1 | Card APRAverage on accounts paying interest, Federal Reserve G.19, August 2026 | 22.36% | |
| 2 | Daily periodic rate | Line 1 ÷ 365 | 0.06126% |
| 3 | Average daily balance this cycle | 5,000.00 | |
| 4 | Interest for a 30-day cycle | Line 3 × line 2 × 30 | 91.89 |
| 5 | Yearly cost with daily compounding (APY) | (1 + line 2)365 − 1 | 25.05% |
| $10,000 of savings for a year | |||
| 6 | At the national average savings rateFDIC, Sep 2026 | $10,000 × 0.37% | 37.00 |
| 7 | At the 3-month T-bill yieldTreasury, Oct 8, 2026 | $10,000 × 4.05% | 405.00 |
| 8 | Left on the table | Line 7 − line 6 | 368.00 |
| After inflation | |||
| 9 | Inflation, last 12 monthsCPI, Aug 2026 | 3.35% | |
| 10 | Real return at the average savings rate | (1 + line 6 rate) ÷ (1 + line 9) − 1 | −2.88% |
Sources (7)
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: FRED economic data (all live rates on this site)
- Freddie Mac: Primary Mortgage Market Survey (30- and 15-year averages, via FRED MORTGAGE30US and MORTGAGE15US)
- Federal Reserve Board: Consumer Credit (G.19): credit card and auto loan interest rates (FRED TERMCBCCALLNS, TERMCBAUTO48NS)
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: National rates and rate caps (national savings average, via FRED SNDR)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index (via FRED CPIAUCSL); October 2025 was not collected during the federal shutdown
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Credit card interest rate margins at all-time high: the average margin over the prime rate rose from 9.6 points in 2013 to 14.3 in 2023 (Feb 22, 2024)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (12 CFR 1030): Regulation DD (Truth in Savings), Appendix A: Annual Percentage Yield Calculation