Interest Rates in the United States

Legal Materials

The Bank Rate Monitor posts current interest rates for U.S. mortgages, home equity loans, bank CDs, credit cards and consumer loans based on surveys of lending institutions. Most data can be viewed nationally or by city/region. Consumer Action and CardWeb do credit card rates.

The Federal Reserve’s Statistical Release H.15, “Selected Interest Rates” lists many interest rates, including Federal funds rate, CD rates, Eurodollar Deposit rates, prime rates, discount rates and U.S. government securities rates. The Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors posts H. 15s back to the mid-1990s (www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/data.htm).

Historical interest rates for Treasury Securities set at Treasury actions are posted on TreasuryDirect.gov. Commercial Paper and market rates for Treasury Securities are included in the H. 15s published by the Federal Reserve.

Add-on Interest Rates: Add-on interest rates are calculated at the beginning of a loan, rather than over the term of the loan. There are tables that translate add-on rates into the “simple interest” equivalents and vice versa. One source for these tables is theRate Translator booklet sold as PUB #825 by the Financial Publishing Company.

Auto Loans: See “Automobiles.”

Compound Interest: See “Future Value.”

Consumer Credit: Federal & state laws regulating the interest rates on consumer credit are republished in CCH’s Consumer Credit Guide, which is available as a looseleaf, on Lexis (CCH;CCHFIN) and on CCH’s subscription-based Intelliconnect. See also “Usury.”

Foreign: Foreign countries’ interest rates going back about five years are published in the IMF’s International Financial Statistics.

Mortgage Rates: Mortgage-related rates are posted by HSH Associates, Bank Rate Monitor, QuickenMortgage “Real Estate.”

Municipals: Interest rates for municipal bonds and other municipal securities, including auction rate securities and variable rate demand obligations, are available on EMMAas well. See also “Municipal Bonds.”

Taxable Equivalent Yields: What’s a tax-free interest rate worth? You can figure the taxable equivalent using calculators posted by CNN/Money, Morgan Stanley and others.

Interest Rate on Judgments

For Federal judgments, the interest rate on judgments is determined by 28 USC §1961 for Civil cases, 40 USC 258a for Condemnation cases or 18 USC 3612 for Criminal cases. Information on calculating the interest due under these sections is posted on thePost Judgment Interest Rates page of the Federal Judiciary web site.

Treasury Rates: All three USC sections rely on the interest rates paid on U.S. Treasury securities. Formerly, the key figure was the interest rate paid on the 52-week Treasury bill. Starting December 28, 2000, the key figure became the “weekly average 1-year constant maturity Treasury yield” (P.L. 106-554).

The current rate is posted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or you can look it up in the Federal Reserve’s latest H.15 Release.

Historical rates are posted back to 1982 by the Northern District of Texas and theFederal Reserve. Historical rates are also published in West’s Federal Civil Judicial Procedure and Rules, following 28 USC 1961 . Alternatively, you’re supposed to be able to get the historical interest rates by calling the clerk at any U.S. district court.

State Rates: State post-judgment interest rates are generally determined by a section of the state’s statutory code. For example, New York rates are prescribed by CPLR §5004 and Ohio rates are prescribed by ORC §1343.03. You can find the pre and post judgment interest rates for all 50 states at AICPA’s Pre And Post Judgment Interest Analysis Matrix. If that doesn’t work, check the index of the relevant state statue or search an online edition for the terms “interest” and “judgment.”

See Also

Automobiles
Applicable Federal Rates
Future Value
Interest Rate on Judgments
LIBOR Rate
Money Rates
Present Value
Real Estate
Usury
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Interest Rates
United States District Courts

Financial Institutions Regulatory & Interest Rate Control Legislation (Federal Legislation)

This section introduces, discusses and describes the basics of financial institutions regulatory & interest rate control legislation. Then, cross references and a brief overview about Federal Legislation is provided. Finally, the subject of Banking Law in relation with financial institutions regulatory & interest rate control legislation is examined. Note that a list of cross references, bibliography and other resources appears at the end of this entry.

The United States Interest Rates Laws

Overview of the United States's law with regard to interest rates, usury regulations in the United States and the maximum amount of interest a lender may charge a borrower in the absence of a contract, and penalties in the United States for unlawful interest rates. With cross-references to additional information and resources on related topics in the United States.