Prime Rate In Canada Today: 4.70% After The October Hike

Prime rate in Canada is 4.70% from October 29, 2026. RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank and CIBC each raised it 25 basis points from 4.45% after the Bank of Canada lifted its overnight target to 2.50% on October 28. Prime sits 2.20 points above that target. Variable mortgages and prime-linked credit lines follow it; fixed mortgages do not.

The number matters because almost every variable quote written in October was written against the old 4.45%. A rate posted as 3.55% was prime minus 0.90 at the time. The discount did not change on October 29. The rate under it did. This page lays out who moved, how prime got here since 2021, what it drives and what to ask a lender or broker to price now.

Prime Rate By Bank, Effective October 29, 2026

Each of the five largest banks published its change on October 28, 2026, effective the next day. National Bank was reported by the Financial Post to be moving with them. Banks set their own prime, but in practice the big ones move together within hours of a Bank of Canada decision.

Credit unions and monoline lenders each have their own prime, and a few do not track the big banks exactly. Check the one in your contract. The line that matters is the one written in your mortgage agreement, not the one on the evening news.

Prime Rate History In Canada Since 2021

The Bank of Canada publishes the chartered-bank prime series (V80691311) weekly. The table shows the week each change appeared. It starts just before the 2022 hiking cycle, runs through the July 2023 peak of 7.20%, the long cutting run that followed, and ends at the new 4.70%.

Two things stand out. Prime stood at 4.70% in July 2022 on the way up and again in September 2025 on the way down, so today's number is not unusual by the standards of the last five years, only by the direction. And the October 2026 move is the first increase in the series since the July 2023 peak. For a borrower who took a variable mortgage after mid-2024, October 29 is the first time prime has gone up rather than down. The dollars are modest, but the direction is new.

Prime Rate Versus The Overnight Rate

The Bank of Canada does not set prime. It sets the overnight target, which is 2.50% after October 28, with a Bank Rate of 2.75% and a deposit rate of 2.45%. Banks then set prime on their own, and for years it has stayed 2.20 points above the target. That is why a 25 point move in the target produced a 25 point move in prime, 4.45% to 4.70%.

The spread is a convention, not a law. It was 2.20 before this hike and it is 2.20 after. If a bank ever changed it, a variable rate would move for a reason that has nothing to do with the central bank. For the full account of the decision, see the October 28, 2026 policy rate hike. The next announcement is December 9, 2026, and the announcement date list shows the 2027 schedule.

What Prime Rate Drives

Three products follow prime directly. The first is a variable-rate mortgage, quoted as prime minus or plus a discount. The second is a home equity line of credit, usually quoted as prime plus a margin that sits in the agreement. The third is an unsecured personal line of credit, also prime plus. Fixed mortgages price off the 5-year Government of Canada bond yield plus a lender spread, which is why a fixed rate can rise before a hike and sit still after one.

Here is what a 25 point move does in dollars on a $100,000 prime-based line, at flat prime with simple monthly interest and no margin: about $370.83 a month in interest at 4.45%, about $391.67 at 4.70%. A difference of $20.83 a month. On a variable mortgage it is bigger because the balance is bigger. On a $500,000 balance amortized over 25 years, prime minus 0.90 goes from 3.55% to 3.80%, and the payment from $2,509.57 to $2,576.17.

Variable Mortgage Payments At The New Prime

The table restates the same discount against the old and new prime. These are the figures a variable borrower is looking at on the first statement after October 29, assuming the lender passes the full 25 points through and the discount does not change.

Moving a full 25 points adds roughly $66.61 a month on this balance, no matter which of the three discounts it is. The discount decides the starting point. Prime decides the movement. Deeper discounts come from the lender or broker pricing the file, and the board shows the spread of what borrowers reported; see variable mortgage rates for the rows.

Prime Rate Forecasts, Attributed

No page should forecast prime in its own voice, and this one does not. These are the views banks and reporters have published since the hike. BMO expects another 25 point increase in January 2027, which would take the overnight target to 2.75% (Financial Post). Desjardins expects one more hike, with timing that depends on data. CIBC sees one more increase as likely and does not expect the target to go above 2.75% (Reuters).

If the 2.20 spread holds, a move to 2.75% would put prime at 4.95%. That is arithmetic on a published view, not a prediction. Before the hike, a September 2026 summary from wowa.ca listed end-2027 policy rate calls of 3.25% from RBC, 3.00% from Scotiabank, 2.75% from CIBC, and 2.25% from TD and BMO. Those were written when the next move was assumed to be down. The Bank of Canada itself said another increase may be needed and that it will proceed carefully. For the longer attributed list and what forecasts cannot tell you, see the mortgage rate forecast page.

Reading A Prime Change On Your Own Statement

The change does not always show up the same day in the same way. On an adjustable-rate mortgage the lender recalculates the payment and sends a notice, and the new amount starts on the next payment date after the effective date. On a variable mortgage with a fixed payment the dollars stay put, so the first sign is a statement showing more interest and less principal in each payment. On a home equity line, interest accrues daily on the balance at the new rate from October 29, and the effect lands in the next monthly interest charge.

It helps to know three things before the notice arrives: the lender's prime on the date the contract was signed, the discount in writing, and the rate shown on the last statement. If prime minus the discount does not equal the statement rate, something else is in the contract, such as a rate floor or a premium for a particular feature. The payment formula guide shows how to rebuild a payment from the rate so the new figure can be checked, not just accepted.

What To Ask A Broker About Prime

The useful question is not what prime is. It is what discount a lender will give you off it. Two quotes of 3.80% and 3.60% could be prime minus 0.90 and prime minus 1.10, or they could be written against different prime numbers in different weeks. Ask for the discount, not just the rate, and ask whether the quote was written against 4.45% or 4.70%.

Then ask for the contract terms that sit beside the discount: whether the payment adjusts with prime or stays fixed while the amortization stretches, whether the lender allows a conversion to a fixed rate, and what the break fee is (usually three months' interest on a variable). To have a licensed mortgage broker price the discount rather than just quote a rate, request cheaper rates and say it is the prime-minus figure you want compared. If you are weighing a variable against a fixed after the move, fixed or variable after a rate hike sets out the tradeoff with payments.

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