Prime Rate in Canada (and When It Changes)

The prime rate today

Each bank sets its own prime rate. In both 2025 moves, the major banks changed theirs by exactly the same amount as the Bank of Canada. The figures above are from each institution's own page as of the "Last checked" date on this page. After a rate decision, check your lender's site: a change usually shows up there within a day.

Today's prime sits 2.20 percentage points above the policy rate (4.45% minus 2.25%). That gap is a bank choice, not a rule, but it has held through the 2025 moves.

Next Bank of Canada decisions

The Bank of Canada announces its policy rate eight times a year, on dates fixed in advance. Every announcement is at 9:45 a.m. Eastern time.

The October 28 decision comes with the Monetary Policy Report, the Bank's quarterly forecast. In 2027 the reports come with the January, April, July and October decisions. The full schedule, including the summary of deliberations published two weeks after each decision, is on our Bank of Canada rate announcement dates page.

How the prime rate follows the Bank of Canada

The policy rate is the rate the Bank of Canada wants big financial institutions to charge each other for one-day loans. When it rises or falls, the cost of money for banks moves with it, and banks pass that on through their prime rate — the reference rate for many variable-rate loans.

The pattern in 2025 shows how quickly it happens:

So the decision is announced on a Wednesday morning, banks issue their own notices the same day, and the new prime applies from Thursday. When the Bank holds the rate, as it did on September 2, 2026, prime stays where it is.

What the prime rate moves

• Variable-rate mortgages: priced as prime plus or minus a set margin, for example prime − 0.50%. With adjustable payments, your payment changes when prime does. With fixed payments, the split between interest and principal changes instead.
• Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and personal lines of credit: usually prime plus a margin, and the interest charged changes from the date prime changes.
• Some student loans and business loans are tied to prime. Check your loan agreement for the reference rate.
• Savings accounts and GICs are not tied to prime by contract, but high-interest savings rates tend to follow Bank of Canada moves too.

Fixed-rate mortgages are not tied to prime. They follow longer-term bond yields, which can move before or after a Bank of Canada decision, so fixed rates can change even when prime does not.

Your lender's "mortgage prime" or "base rate" may have a different name or level from its general prime rate. The number that matters is the one written in your agreement.

Canadian prime versus US prime

Canadian banks also publish a US-dollar prime rate for US-dollar loans. TD's US Prime Rate is 7.00%, effective September 18, 2026, which follows the US Federal Reserve rather than the Bank of Canada. If you see a much higher "prime rate" quoted in a US news story, it is the US rate, not the one used for Canadian mortgages and lines of credit.

Working out what a change would cost

A rough rule for a variable-rate loan: every 0.25 percentage point change in prime changes yearly interest by about $250 for each $100,000 you owe (0.25% of $100,000). On a $400,000 balance, that is about $1,000 a year, or roughly $83 a month, before the effect of paying the balance down.

Real payments depend on your margin, amortization and how often interest compounds under your contract. Your lender's statement shows the exact rate charged. This page explains how the rate works; it is not advice on whether to choose a fixed or variable mortgage.