Shelly Warding

Shelly Warding is a rising personal finance expert who strives to help consumers improve their finances by making money easy to understand.

Joined: November 14, 2023
Articles: 43

Budget, Personal Loans

How the U.S. Prime Rate Is Set: From the Fed Funds Rate to Your Loan

Illustration of the Federal Reserve building connected by arrows to a row of commercial bank towers, representing how the federal funds rate flows to the bank prime lending rate

The U.S. prime rate is 6.75%, but the Fed does not set it. Here is how banks derive prime from the federal funds rate and what it means for your loans.

Shelly Warding
June 9, 2026

Budget, Personal Loans

ADP Says Private Payrolls Rose 122,000 in May, Pointing to a June Fed Hold

A bright modern open-plan office adjoining a busy logistics warehouse where office staff work at computers and warehouse workers in safety vests move boxes and operate a forklift, illustrating broad private-sector hiring across industries

Private employers added 122,000 jobs in May, ADP reported June 3, a broad-based gain that reinforces the case for the Federal Reserve to hold rates at its June 16-17 meeting and keep prime at 6.75%.

Shelly Warding
June 3, 2026

Budget, Personal Loans

Q1 GDP Revised Down to 1.6% as Profit Growth Stalls Before June Fed Meeting

Modern American downtown financial district at dusk with a large digital economic ticker board, conveying a slowing U.S. economy after the Q1 2026 GDP revision.

U.S. GDP grew just 1.6% in Q1 2026, revised down from 2.0%, as corporate profit growth stalled and inflation stayed hot, keeping the Fed on hold and prime at 6.75%.

Shelly Warding
May 31, 2026

Budget, Personal Loans

Warsh Takes Office as Fed Chair, Signals Slower Cut Path Before June 17 FOMC

Wide cinematic photograph of the Marriner S Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington DC at golden hour with dramatic side lighting on the white marble neoclassical facade tall fluted columns casting long shadows the eagle and seal above the central pediment an American flag at the entrance and a dignified institutional mood

Kevin Warsh was sworn in May 22 as the 11th Fed chair after the closest Senate vote in modern history. His first FOMC is June 16-17 and markets now price a 65% chance of no cuts in 2026. Here is what changes for borrowers and savers.