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SIGNATURE DENNIS J MCDONNELL
TITLE PRES, CEO & TRUSTEE
Peat Marwick LLP
Peat Marwick Plaza Telephone 312 938 1000
303 East Wacker Drive Telefax 312 938 0449
Chicago, IL 60601-9973 312 938 3959
The Board of Trustees and Shareholders of
Van Kampen Merritt Prime Rate Income Trust:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of
Kampen Merritt Prime Rate Income Trust (the "Fund") for the year
ended July 31, 1995, we considered its internal control structure,
including procedures for safeguarding securities, in order to
determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the requirements
of Form N-SAR, not to provide assurance on the internal control structure.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and
maintaining an internal control structure. In fulfilling this
responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required to
assess the expected benefits and related costs of internal control
structure policies and procedures. Two of the objectives of an internal
control structure are to provide management with reasonable, but not
absolute, assurance that assets are safeguarded against loss from
unauthorized use or disposition and that transactions are executed in
accordance with management's authorization and recorded properly to
permit the preparation of financial statements in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles.
Because of inherent limitations in any system of internal control
structure, errors or irregularities may occur and not be detected.
Also, projection of any evaluation of the structure to future periods
is subject to the risk that it may become inadequate because of changes
in conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and operation
may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the internal control structure would not necessarily
disclose all matters in the internal control structure that might be material
weaknesses under standards established by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in which the design or
operation of the specific internal control structure elements does not reduce
to a relatively low level the risk that errors or irregularities in amounts
that would be material in relation to the financial statements being audited
may occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the normal
course of performing their assigned functions. However, we noted no matters
involving the internal control structure, including procedures for safeguarding
securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as
of July 3l, 1995.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management and
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
September 15, 1995
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