Federal Reserve · Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Fed minutes show the discount rate rose with September’s hike
The File desk · Oct 14, 2026, 10:53 AM UTC
Status
Confirmed as the Federal Reserve’s minutes, released Oct. 13, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. They record meetings already held. They are not a new rate decision.
- Confirmed
On Sept. 16 the Board raised the primary credit rate from 3.75 percent to 4 percent, effective Sept. 17, the same day the federal-funds target rose to 3¾–4 percent.
- Confirmed
On Aug. 17 and Sept. 9 the Board left the primary credit rate at 3.75 percent. Some Reserve Banks had asked for 4 percent.
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday published minutes of three meetings about the discount rate, the rate on routine loans the Fed makes to banks. The meetings were Aug. 17, Sept. 9, and Sept. 16. At the last of those, the Board raised that rate from 3.75 percent to 4 percent, effective Sept. 17, alongside the quarter-point increase in the federal-funds target. At the two earlier meetings it left the rate at 3.75 percent, even though some regional Fed banks had asked for 4 percent. Tuesday’s release is the record. It is not a new decision about rates.
The press release is dated Oct. 13, 2026, for release at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. It says the Board’s process for the discount rate is separate from the Federal Open Market Committee’s process for the federal-funds target. The funds target is the range the Fed sets for the rate banks charge one another for overnight loans. The primary credit rate is the rate on ordinary short-term loans the Fed itself makes to banks that are in sound shape.
On Aug. 17, directors at ten Reserve Banks had asked to keep the primary credit rate at 3.75 percent. Directors at Kansas City and Cleveland had asked for 4 percent. The Board approved 3.75 percent. No one at that meeting argued for a change. Vice Chair Jefferson was absent. Chairman Warsh, Vice Chair for Supervision Bowman, and Governors Waller, Cook, Powell, and Barr voted for the action.
On Sept. 9 the header of the minutes says the existing rate and formulas were approved. The Sept. 16 entry says that at the Sept. 9 meeting the Board took no action on requests from Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Kansas City to raise the rate.
On Sept. 16, in a joint meeting with the rate-setting committee, the committee raised the funds target by a quarter point, to 3¾–4 percent, effective Sept. 17. To support that, the Board raised the rate paid on reserve balances from 3.65 percent to 3.9 percent, and raised the primary credit rate from 3.75 percent to 4 percent, effective the same day, for the Reserve Banks whose directors had requested the increase. The minutes say there was consensus for the quarter-point increase.
The next time the Fed could change the funds target is still the meeting on Oct. 27–28. Tuesday’s minutes do not do that.
What is still unknown or disputed
- The full vote line for Sept. 9 and Sept. 16. This desk used the Aug. 17 vote and the Sept. 16 narrative in the minutes.
- Whether any director’s request after Sept. 16 is pending. These minutes stop at Sept. 16.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
Minutes of the Board’s discount rate meetings on August 17, September 9, and September 16, 2026
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System · October 13, 2026
For release at 2:00 p.m. EDT. The minutes cover Board meetings on August 17, September 9, and September 16, 2026. The discount-rate process is distinct from the Federal Open Market Committee’s federal-funds target.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20261013a.htm
Source 2
Discount-rate minutes PDF
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System · October 13, 2026
On Sept. 16 the Board approved an increase in the primary credit rate from 3.75 percent to 4 percent, effective Sept. 17. On Aug. 17 it approved the existing 3.75 percent rate.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/files/monetary20261013a1.pdf