President Donald Trump on Friday pushed a one-year cap of 10% on credit card interest rates, reviving a campaign pledge that he said could save Americans tens of billions of dollars. The proposal drew immediate opposition from banking and credit card groups, including the American Bankers Association and allied organizations.
In his social media post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” and said he hoped the cap would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office. The story said Trump was not clear whether the cap would take effect through executive action or legislation.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said he talked with Trump on Friday night and would work on a bill with the president’s “full support.” Marshall said the effort is aimed at lowering costs for families and reigning in credit card companies he described as “greedy.”
Banking groups argued that the plan would most hurt poor people at a time of economic concern, warning it could curtail or eliminate credit lines and steer consumers to high-cost alternatives such as payday loans or pawnshops. In a joint statement, the American Bankers Association and allied groups said, “If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives.”
The debate sits against a backdrop of high borrowing costs and rising credit card balances. The story said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that about 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges. It also cited New York Federal Reserve figures saying Americans’ credit card debt was about $1.23 trillion in the third quarter of last year.
The Associated Press report also said average credit card interest rates were between 19.65% and 21.5%, noting the range had come down as the central bank lowered benchmark rates but remained near highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. It contrasted that with the average rate being roughly 12% a decade earlier.
Economists and policy researchers cited by the story have argued that a cap could reduce consumer costs without fundamentally breaking the credit card business. Researchers who studied Trump’s pledge after it was first announced found Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest each year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same research found the industry would take a major hit but would still be profitable, even as credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.
Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator and an author of research discussed in the story, said a 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures. Shearer said that “the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels,” according to the report.
Shearer’s research also highlighted potential downsides tied to risk-based lending. The story said his research showed a 10% interest rate cap would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have already introduced and discussed caps on credit card interest rates. The story said Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Josh Hawley released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, aiming to build momentum for their proposal using Trump’s campaign pledge. It also said Sanders raised concerns hours before Trump’s post, saying Trump had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.
The report said Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Anna Paulina Luna have proposed similar legislation. It added that Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent target of Trump and that Luna is a close ally of the president.
The story said the White House did not respond to questions about how Trump seeks to cap the rate or whether he had spoken with credit card companies about the idea.
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