Why does Harbor Mutual quote from the current rate sheet and not a saved one?

What changed between the two sheets?

One row, for one example. The withdrawn prior consumer loan rate sheet gave 6.24% APR for a top-credit-tier 60-month new auto loan. The current consumer loan rate sheet, effective this quarter, gives 5.49% APR for that same term and tier. The current-quarter product change bulletin records the replacement and says the change applies to the quoted term and tier only.

That is a narrow change. It is also exactly the kind of change a saved copy hides. A representative who kept the prior sheet in a folder, or a script that quoted it, would be out by three quarters of a percentage point without noticing anything wrong.

Why is a saved copy not a source?

Because a copy has no date attached to the moment you read it. The call guide puts it plainly: a saved script is not a source unless it has been checked against the effective sheet. A printed page, a snippet in a shared folder and a number remembered from last quarter all share the same weakness. They were true once.

The current sheet is the reference for today's quote. The withdrawn sheet is retained for the audit trail and marked superseded. Keeping a document does not make it current, and the bulletin says so in as many words: do not treat a search result's age or a familiar title as proof it is current.

What does the desk do on a rate call?

The member-services call guide gives the order.

1. Name the member's question and the product.
2. Confirm the term and the documented credit tier. Never guess the tier from the member's name, address, accent or relationship with staff. The fair-lending checklist, our fictional Harbor Control F-8, asks for the authorised assessment instead.
3. Open the current rate sheet and state the applicable APR with its source and effective version.
4. Explain what remains conditional. A quote is not loan approval.
5. Record which version was used.

What if the member has the old sheet?

Name it. The withdrawn sheet's own text tells us how: correct the version reference and explain the change without blaming the member. The member did nothing wrong by saving a page. We simply say that the current quarter's sheet replaces the one they have, and that the rate for their example is now 5.49% APR, subject to confirmed eligibility.

What if the row is missing?

Decline to guess. The rate sheet is explicit: do not infer another tier's rate from this row. If the term or tier the member asks about has no row, we say what is missing and send the question to lending before any written offer. We never average the two sheets or extend a row by analogy.

Why does this matter beyond one number?

Because the habit is the product. A member who hears a rate from us should be able to ask which sheet and which effective date it came from and get a plain answer. Our member-help page says the same thing to members directly: the current sheet governs, and a withdrawn copy should be named, not silently reused.

The habit also protects the desk. When a disputed rate reaches Compliance, Harbor Disclosure Rule D-4 asks for a dated source. A representative who recorded the version they quoted has that source. One who quoted from memory does not.

What are we still fixing?

A stale script. The shared call material still carried the 6.24% APR line, and removing it is an open action on the current-quarter product readiness project, with the lending desk as the counterparty. Until it is gone, the rule is the one above: the script is not the source. The sheet is.

Q&A

The questions members and new colleagues ask most about our rate quotes are answered below.

Last updated 1 October 2026.