Where can you find the historical prime mortgage rates?

J.P. Morgan Chase and FedPrimeRate.com offer historical charts for the prime rate. This is the rate that serves as the most common benchmark for setting rates for home equity lines of credit and credit cards. Mortgage rates also tend to fluctuate with the prime interest rate.

As of 2015, the prime rate is 3.25 percent and has been the same since Dec. 16, 2008. The Federal Reserve lowered the rate from 8.25 percent gradually down to that level as a response to the economic recession of 2007 and 2008. The record high for the U.S. prime rate was 21.5 percent in December 1980.