Experts React to Trump’s 10% Credit Card Interest Rate Proposal

The credit card world is still trying to interpret exactly what President Donald Trump’s call to place a 10% cap on credit card interest rates for a period of one year will mean to the industry and its stakeholders. 

To help bring clarity to credit card issuers, the CardRates team reached out to financial experts for assistance in deciphering what may come next for the industry.

“Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%,” Trump wrote on social media platform Truth Social late in the evening on January 9.

The timing of Trump’s post didn’t give credit card companies much of a window to prepare for a cap on rates, and the medium he used to make his announcement may have caught some issuers off guard.

“This is happening very quickly in a sort of unconventional way, starting with a social media post,” Jeremy Barnum, Chief Financial Officer at JPMorgan Chase, said in response to the call for an interest rate cap, according to a Bloomberg report.

But credit card issuers that are concerned about what steps they need to take at this point to comply with a potential interest rate cap may be getting ahead of themselves.

President Trump wants the credit card interest rate cap he has proposed to take effect for one year.

“Something many institutions have seemingly forgotten over the past year is that Trump’s social media posts are not equivalent to legislative action,” Tiffany Funk, Co-Founder and President at flight booking engine point.me, told us. 

“There’s no reason for a bank to ‘comply’ with this latest missive, and every reason to insist something like this go through a properly considered legislative process,” she added.

Comments such as the ones Funk shared with us led us to seek out information regarding how exactly a cap on card interest rates could transition from the idea stage to implementation. 

Shmuel Shayowitz, President and Chief Lending Officer at Approved Funding, told us that, while an interest rate cap on credit cards may be possible to implement, doing so would require significant legal and regulatory maneuvering and would need to include congressional legislation.

Any formal plans that seek to install a cap on credit card interest rates are likely to face heavy opposition from credit card companies. Shayowitz told us that credit card issuers and national banks would move to challenge a cap in court, and the groups could argue that it violates federal laws and disrupts existing agreements.

“I doubt that it would get passed as there would be immediate injunctions and lengthy court battles,” Shayowitz said. “That said, the Trump team is highly skilled and experienced, and they have proven that they are willing to think creatively and outside the box to impose their objectives.”

Smaller credit card issuers may benefit from the arguments that their larger competitors bring forth to try to prevent an interest rate cap from moving forward.

After JPMorgan’s recent earnings call, Barnum said that “everything’s on the table” when it comes to blocking the proposal, according to the New York Times. 

Citigroup’s Chief Financial Officer, Mark Mason, also signaled that his company isn’t in favor of Trump’s plan to place a cap on card interest rates. 

Leading credit card companies such as JPMorgan Chase may seek to block Trump’s proposed interest rate cap.

In a call with reporters after Citigroup reported on its fourth quarter earnings, Mason said that the company wants to play a part in Trump’s efforts to boost affordability for consumers in the U.S. But an interest rate cap on credit cards isn’t something Citigroup could or would support, Mason said, according to Bloomberg.

All else being equal, a cap on card interest rates could bring financial relief to some cardholders in the U.S. But some consumers may benefit from evaluating whether they are using their credit cards to maximize their household finances. 

Credit card issuers have a golden opportunity now, while Trump’s cap proposal is receiving national attention, to educate their cardholders about the benefits of responsible credit use.

Brad Stroh, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of digital personal finance company Achieve, told us that consumers need real pathways to get out of debt.

“Temporary fixes help, but long-term consumer protection requires systemic change — not short bursts of political theater,” Stroh said. 

New regulations requiring a cap on credit card interest rates are far from a sure thing at this point. But some issuers may want to begin exploring what levers they can pull to make up the income they may lose should a cap on interest rates move forward in 2026.

Stroh told us that a cap, even if it lasts for only one year, would force issuers to reevaluate their lending practices as well as their marketing strategies. And Funk said she believes that an interest rate cap could lead issuers to adopt tighter standards around credit and rein in the credit limits they offer to certain groups of customers.

“Issuers are constantly evolving their underwriting frameworks to ensure they’re attracting and retaining profitable customers,” Funk told us. “If a card product or customer pattern is losing money, we should expect issuers to adjust.” 

Mike Johnson (R-LA), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, recently raised some issues over the plan to cap card interest rates, according to Axios. And he pointed to the unfavorable consequences a cap could have on borrowers as a factor that is fueling his concern.

A cap on card interest rates may cause issuers to reduce the value of the rewards programs and promotions they offer.

“The negative secondary effect is that they would just stop lending money, and maybe they cap what people are able to borrow at a very low amount,” Johnson explained in regard to what steps credit card companies may take if the cap moves ahead.

Issuers that extend promotional offers and rewards programs to borrowers can also consider whether cutting back on some of those perks would help them should a rate cap cause their interest income to drop.

Funk told us that she believes issuers may also move to raise other charges, such as annual and late fees, to maintain profitability.

Some think that a cap on credit card interest rates won’t become a reality anytime soon. But Brian Riley, Director of Credit Advisory Services and Co-Head of Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, told us that credit card companies must be prudent in how they react to the news of a potential cap.

“It’s not something to be taken lightly,” Riley said. “Because if this is the law, then it’s the law. And these are banks that are federally insured institutions, so they will be compliant.”