Prime Went 6.75% to 7.00%: Which Statement Your Card APR Changes On

The next morning the banks moved prime. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, KeyCorp, Huntington, Fifth Third and Truist all raised the prime rate from 6.75% to 7.00%, effective Thursday, September 17.

Prime is the number that matters to a cardholder. The federal funds rate is a target range for overnight lending between banks that you never touch; prime is what a card agreement typically names.

A reasonable thing to do on September 17 was to open the app and look at the APR. A lot of people did, saw exactly the rate they saw on September 15, and concluded their issuer had not moved.

A variable credit card APR is an index plus a margin. Regulation Z requires the index to be publicly available and outside the issuer's control; prime is the index most consumer cards name, though not the only one permitted. The margin is a fixed number of percentage points your issuer set when it approved you, so the agreement reads something like: your variable APR is the prime rate plus 15.40 percentage points.

The margin does not move when the index moves. It was set from your file at approval and ordinarily stays put for the life of the account.

The second figure describes you if you are carrying a balance: accounts assessed interest are the accounts that actually paid interest. The all-accounts average is dragged down by cards paid in full every month. Other trackers measure other things, and their numbers are not Fed numbers. LendingTree put the average APR quoted on a new card offer at 23.82%, above either G.19 figure because new offers are priced off current conditions.

Work backwards from 22.15% with prime at 6.75% and the implied average margin is 15.40 points. Add the quarter point to the index and the same card prices at 7.00% + 15.40% = 22.40%. The index moved. The margin did not.

An index change does not reprice your card on the day the index changes. Under the most common card terms the issuer applies a new index value from the first day of a billing cycle that begins after the index moves. Your cycle is the period between statement closing dates, roughly a month long, fixed to your account rather than to the calendar.

Under the common pattern two delays stack: the wait until your current cycle ends, anything from a day to a full month depending on where September 17 fell inside it, and then the wait until that new cycle closes and produces a statement. Only then does interest at the new rate appear on paper.

So no single date repriced every card in the country. The eight banks above set their own prime effective September 17; what each issuer does with that follows its own disclosed terms.

Advance notice is a separate question. An increase resulting from a disclosed index rising is exempt from the 45-day advance-notice requirement that applies when an issuer raises a rate at its own discretion, so notice is generally not required by law solely because the index moved. That does not mean nobody will tell you: issuers may still communicate a change, and it appears in the interest charge disclosures on your statement either way.

Take two cardholders whose agreements both follow the common pattern, and one index move.

Cardholder A has a statement that closes on the 7th of each month. On September 17 she is in the middle of a cycle running from September 8 to October 7. Prime moved inside that cycle, so the old rate governs all of it. The first cycle that begins after the index change is October 8 to November 7. Her APR changes on October 8. The first statement showing interest at the new rate is the one closing November 7, due in early December.

That is roughly eight weeks between the announcement and the first dollar at the higher rate appearing on a statement.

Cardholder B's statement closes on the 19th. On September 17 he is two days from the end of a cycle running from August 20 to September 19. His next cycle begins September 20, so his APR changes then and shows up on the statement closing October 19.

Same hike, same effective date for prime, potentially the same issuer, and three weeks apart in when it lands, for no reason but which day of the month their accounts cycle on. Your own answer needs two inputs: your statement closing date, and the rate-adjustment terms that tell you whether your card works this way at all.

Check it the long way. At 22.15%, the G.19 average for accounts assessed interest, a $5,000 revolving balance costs 0.2215 x $5,000 = $1,107.50 in interest over a year. At 22.40%, which is that same card after the index move, it costs 0.2240 x $5,000 = $1,120.00. The difference is $12.50.

Card interest is actually computed daily, so check it that way too. A 22.15% APR is a daily periodic rate of 22.15 divided by 365, or 0.060685% a day. Cardholder A's October 8 to November 7 cycle is 31 days, 24 of October plus 7 of November. On a $5,000 average daily balance it costs $5,000 x 0.00060685 x 31 = $94.06. At 22.40% the daily rate is 0.061370% and the same cycle costs $5,000 x 0.00061370 x 31 = $95.12. One cycle, $1.06.

Scale it: the annual cost is your revolving balance times 0.0025, so $25.00 on $10,000, and nothing on a balance you clear in full.

That arithmetic is worth sitting with, because the proportion is the real story.

Split the annual bill into its two parts. At 22.40%, a $5,000 revolving balance costs $1,120.00 a year. The index accounts for 0.0700 x $5,000 = $350.00 of that. The margin accounts for 0.1540 x $5,000 = $770.00. The two add back to $1,120.00, and the quarter point everybody wrote about moved $12.50 of it.

A margin of 15.40 points against an index move of 0.25 points is more than sixty times the size of the thing in the headline, and it does most of the work every month.

Dispersion across products is larger still. Experian, drawing on Curinos data, has reported quoted card APRs spanning 7.90% to 34.52%, a 26.62-point spread, more than a hundred times the size of the move. On $5,000 held for a year that is $395.00 at the bottom against $1,726.00 at the top, with the G.19 accounts-assessed-interest average of $1,107.50 between them.

If you have been waiting for a reason to move a balance or ask for a lower rate, it was always the margin. The index move only made you look.

A fixed-rate balance is not repriced by an index change. Some cards, including many credit union cards, carry fixed APRs not tied to an index at all. Those did not change on September 17 and will not change because prime changed. They change only when the issuer changes them.

A promotional 0% APR balance is not repriced either. Most 0% rates run for a stated number of billing cycles and are not indexed, so a prime increase during the promotion does not reach them. What matters there is the expiry date, not the Fed. When it ends the balance falls to the go-to rate in the offer, which if variable reflects whatever prime is then.

For most people the honest answer at the bottom of that list is: not much. Carry $1,500 and this hike costs $3.75 a year. What deserves attention is the balance itself and the margin charged on it.

Prime went from 6.75% to 7.00% on September 17, 2026, the day after the FOMC raised its target range 25 basis points, 12-0. Your variable card APR follows, and that arithmetic is simple: whatever your rate was, add 0.25 points. What almost nobody gets right is the when. Not September 17. Not the day the number changed in your app. Under the most common terms, from the first day of a billing cycle beginning after the index moved, which puts the first statement a full cycle after that. Regulation Z permits other schedules, so your agreement is the authority rather than any article.

1. Did my credit card APR change on September 17, 2026?

Probably not on that day. Prime moved from 6.75% to 7.00% effective September 17, but under the most common card terms an issuer applies a new index value from the first day of a billing cycle that begins after the index changes. Regulation Z permits other adjustment schedules, so the rate-adjustment terms of your own cardholder agreement are the authority for your card.

2. When does the higher rate actually show up on my statement?

Under the common pattern, one full billing cycle after your rate changes. If your statement closes on the 7th, the new rate starts October 8 and first appears on the statement closing November 7. If it closes on the 19th, it starts September 20 and appears on the statement closing October 19. Check your agreement, because other schedules are permitted.

3. How much does 25 basis points cost on a $5,000 balance?

About $12.50 a year. Twenty-five basis points is 0.0025 as a decimal, and 0.0025 x $5,000 = $12.50, which is roughly $1.04 a month. Checked against the Federal Reserve G.19 average of 22.15% for accounts assessed interest: $5,000 costs 0.2215 x $5,000 = $1,107.50 a year before the move and 0.2240 x $5,000 = $1,120.00 after it, a difference of $12.50.

4. Does the increase apply to my existing balance or only to new purchases?

Under standard variable-rate card terms it applies to the whole balance carried at that variable rate, existing and new alike, from the first day of the cycle in which it takes effect. That is why an index-driven change works differently from an issuer choosing to raise your rate.

5. Does this affect a 0% promotional balance?

Generally no. Most 0% promotional rates are set for a stated number of billing cycles and are not indexed to prime, so an index move during the promotion does not reach them. What matters is the expiry date and the go-to rate stated in your offer.

6. Will my issuer send a notice before the rate changes?

Advance notice is generally not required by law solely because a disclosed index rose. That kind of increase is exempt from the 45-day advance-notice requirement that applies when an issuer raises a rate at its own discretion. Your issuer may still choose to tell you, and the change will appear in the interest charge disclosures on your statement either way.

7. Why is my APR higher than the Federal Reserve average?