Catenaa, Saturday, January 10, 2026- President Donald Trump on Friday called for a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, saying the American public is being “ripped off”.
“Please be informed that 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 even more, which festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. AFFORDABILITY!” he wrote on social media.
Trump called for the cap to come into effect on January 20, the first anniversary of his return to the White House. But he did not specify how a cap might happen, including whether he was calling for voluntary participation from credit card companies or looking for government mechanisms to enforce his proposal.
The cost-of-living issue has become a source of increasing frustration for many Americans and a political liability for Trump and Republicans.
Years of accumulated inflation have heaped on price pressures, and Trump blamed his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for high credit card rates.
But supporting caps on credit card rates represents something of an about-face for Trump, whose administration last year ditched an $8 credit card fee limit imposed by the Biden administration.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the time estimated that the Biden administration’s action would save families more than $10 billion a year by cutting fees from an average of $32.
The Bank Policy Institute said in a report last year that “while the proposed cap is a well-intentioned effort to reduce the high debt burden some households are facing, it would harm consumers’ access to card credit.” The group also said such a move could force card issuers to reduce cardholder benefits, including lucrative rewards tied to purchases.
Credit card interest rates represent a significant portion of financial institutions’ revenue. Capping those rates could backfire, resulting in significantly stricter lending standards and making credit unavailable to lower-income people or those with lower credit scores.
