The Fed held. Prime stays at 7.00%. Your fixed loan rates still have a decision in them.

The Federal Reserve left its target at 3.75 to 4.00% on October 28, so the prime rate stays at 7.00%. Loans priced off prime do not move this month. Fixed-rate loans do. They price off Treasury yields, and those kept moving with or without the Fed.

What does the hold change for loans?

The prime rate follows the Fed's target. With the target unchanged, prime is unchanged at 7.00%, and so is every loan that resets off it: home equity lines, variable-rate credit cards, and prime-based business lines. The vote and the rest of the decision are in the deposit read.

Two clocks. One waits for the Fed. One does not.

Moves with the Fed's target

Prime, and what resets off it: home equity lines, variable-rate credit cards, prime-based business lines.

Moves with Treasury yields

Fixed-rate loans: mortgages, auto loans, fixed-rate business loans. Priced on every new loan you write.

What this suggests. This month's loan pricing decisions sit on the fixed-rate side. The variable side waits for the next decision, on December 9.

Where do loan rates sit?

Rate	Level	As of
Prime rate	7.00%	Oct 27
30-year fixed mortgage, national average	7.24%	Week of Oct 29
15-year fixed mortgage, national average	6.60%	Week of Oct 29
60-month new car loan, commercial banks	7.54%	August
Credit cards, all accounts, commercial banks	21.19%	August
5-year Treasury	4.85%	Oct 28
10-year Treasury	5.05%	Oct 28

Sources: Federal Reserve H.15 (prime); Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (mortgages); Federal Reserve G.19, August 2026, preliminary (auto and cards); US Treasury par yields (Treasuries). All 2026.

A year ago the 30-year mortgage averaged 6.17%. It now sits more than two percentage points above the 10-year Treasury.

What this suggests. The national averages are where a borrower's comparison starts. Where your rate sits against the lenders in your own market is what decides whether the loan books with you.

How do the two sides of the sheet meet?

In August, the 60-month new car loan averaged 7.54% at banks. On October 19, the national rate on a 60-month certificate was 1.41% (FDIC). One is what a loan earns. The other is what the money to fund it can cost.

What this suggests. A loan rate and a deposit rate set in separate meetings can each look right and still miss the plan together. Price them against each other.

What should your committee ask this month?

Where do our auto and mortgage rates sit against the lenders in our market?
Which of our loans reset with prime, and which reprice only on new volume?
What does a change earn or cost on the loans we expect to write this quarter?
Does our funding plan match the loans we want to grow?
When do we look again?

Leaving a loan rate alone is a decision too. Price it like one.