Trump proposes one-year 10% cap on credit card interest but offers no details

President Trump on Friday called for a one-year cap limiting credit card interest rates to 10 percent but offered no details on how he would enact such a policy, which would typically require congressional or regulatory action. The proposal revives a campaign pledge Mr. Trump made in September 2024, but his administration has not pursued similar consumer protections: officials killed a Biden-era rule that would have capped credit card late fees at $8 and sought to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without congressional approval.

Russell T. Vought, who has served since early last year as the bureau’s director, halted bank exams, ended dozens of lawsuits against financial companies, sought to fire more than 90 percent of the agency’s staff and said he hopes the bureau will be eliminated "within the next two, three months," though litigation has so far prevented that.

The average credit card interest rate is slightly under 20 percent, according to Bankrate.com, and credit card lenders make $130 billion a year off interest and fees, a 2024 consumer bureau estimate says. Senators Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley backed a 10 percent cap and introduced a bill last year that did not move without administration support, and industry groups opposed limits, writing that "study after study have shown that even modest government price controls raise costs rather than lowering them." Mr.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Russell Vought, Credit Card Interest, Bernie Sanders, Josh Hawley