Personal loans at commercial banks carried an average rate of 11.86% on a 24-month term in the Federal Reserve’s most recent reading, and that reading is for May 2026. The central bank’s September 8 consumer credit statistical release shows the same May snapshot for new car loans and credit cards, while rate entries for June and July are blank. Balances in the same release run two months later than the rates beside them, a mismatch that matters for anyone using the numbers.
What the G.19 says about a 24-month personal loan
The Federal Reserve Board’s G.19 Consumer Credit release, dated September 8, 2026, lists the 24-month personal loan at commercial banks at 11.86%. The period attached to that figure is May 2026. The personal loan and new car loan rates come from a survey published once per quarter, so the June and July columns for those series read “n.a.” rather than a fresh number. The 11.86% is therefore the latest published value, not a monthly average that has been updated through the summer.
The release is a statistical table, and no Fed official is quoted in it. The attribution is to the Board itself: the figure is the Board’s own, as printed in the table of finance company and commercial bank interest rates. The next G.19 is due on the fifth business day of the month, which would put the next update in early October, and a newer quarterly reading could replace 11.86% when it arrives.
Car loans and credit cards from the same May snapshot
The 60-month new car loan at commercial banks stands at 7.14% for May 2026, per the same release. Credit card rates sit far above both installment loans. The all-accounts credit card rate is 20.94% for May, and the rate on accounts assessed interest, meaning cardholders who carried a balance and paid interest, is 22.15%.
The gap is large: a card balance priced at 22.15% costs roughly twice what a two-year personal loan at 11.86% does, using the Fed’s own figures. The tables do not say how many borrowers hold a personal loan instead of carrying card debt, and the release does not describe borrowers’ reasons for choosing one or the other, so that comparison stays a comparison of averages. Individual offers can run well above or below an average that blends many banks and many credit profiles.
Finance companies appear separately in the release. The new car loan rate there reads 6.3% for June 2026, with July unavailable, which shows the table mixes reporting dates across series.
What an 11.86% average implies in dollars and points
The spread between products is the clearest thing the table offers. The 24-month personal loan at 11.86% sits 4.72 percentage points above the 60-month new car loan at 7.14%, and 10.29 points below the 22.15% charged on credit card accounts assessed interest. Those differences come straight from subtracting the Federal Reserve’s published May figures; the release does not publish the spreads itself.
As a purely illustrative calculation, not a figure from the release, a hypothetical $10,000 borrowed for 24 months at a flat 11.86% annual rate with monthly compounding would carry a payment near $470 a month and total interest near $1,282. The same amount at a different rate would change both numbers, and an actual lender’s quote also depends on fees and the applicant’s credit profile, which an average cannot capture.
Two reference periods in one release
Total consumer credit outstanding reached $5,186.2 billion in July 2026, marked preliminary and presented in seasonally adjusted billions of dollars. That balance sits in the same release as rates dated May, so the document carries two clocks. A reader quoting the release should attach “July 2026” to the balance and “May 2026” to the loan rates, since a single date for everything would misdescribe one of them.
The practical consequence is that the 11.86% cannot be treated as today’s price of a personal loan. A bank that quoted a rate in September or October could be above or below it, and the Fed’s table is silent on June through September. Lenders’ own disclosures, which carry an annual percentage rate for a specific applicant, remain the only figure that applies to a particular loan.
The policy rate behind consumer borrowing costs
Consumer loan prices follow the Fed’s policy rate loosely rather than mechanically. The Federal Open Market Committee’s September 16, 2026 statement set the federal funds target range at 3.75% to 4.00%. That decision came after the May reading in the G.19, so the 11.86% predates it.
Whether the next quarterly reading moves will depend on data the Board has not yet published. For now the record consists of two Federal Reserve documents: a G.19 dated September 8 that puts the 24-month personal loan at 11.86% for May 2026, and an FOMC statement dated September 16 that holds the policy target at 3.75% to 4.00%.
Debt collectors and frozen accounts, handled on paper
Borrowers who fall behind on a loan or card sometimes face collector letters or a creditor freezing a bank account, and the first response often has to happen within days. A step-by-step kit can lay out what to send and what to keep.
The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit includes the debt-validation steps and a protected-funds and dispute log, so a reader can answer a collector’s letter and record which deposits are protected.
Open the debt-validation steps and dispute log for collector letters →
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
