Trump wants credit card interest capped
Group of credit cards on computer keyboard with VISA and MasterCard brand logos. Getty Images
President Donald Trump announced Friday he wants a limit on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.
What we know:
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Friday night about reviving a campaign pledge to cap credit card interest rates. He wants a one-year, 10% cap on interest rates.
What they're saying:
"We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump blamed the Biden administration for allowing rates to rise as high as 30%.
What we don't know:
Trump was not clear in his post whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation.
The White House did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.
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Dig deeper:
One Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his "full support." Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to "lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."
Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced a bill in February 2025 that would cap credit card interest rates at 10%, but the changes would sunset on Jan. 1, 2031, making it nine years longer than the proposal outlined by Trump.
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The other side:
Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street and the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and to support his second-term agenda.
Credit card interest rates
By the numbers:
Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%.
Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s.
The Source: Information in this article was taken from a Jan. 9, 2026, Truth Social post. Background information was taken from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Detroit.