President Donald Trump’s call for a 10 percent credit card cap never took effect. He announced it on Truth Social on January 9, 2026, with a January 20 effective date, but no executive order was signed, no federal agency moved to enforce it, and no legislation passed. As of mid-2026, average credit card interest rates still sit between roughly 21 and 25 percent, and only one small issuer has voluntarily aligned its cards with the proposal.1Senate Banking Committee. Warren Questions Banking Regulators on Lack of Progress
The Announcement and the Deadline That Passed
On January 9, 2026, Trump posted that he was “calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%,” effective January 20, 2026. He accused credit card companies of “ripping off” American consumers and cited “AFFORDABILITY!” as his reason.2Politico. Trump Says He Will Temporarily Cap Credit Card Rates The post named no legal mechanism, cited no statutory authority, and described no enforcement plan.3CNN. Trump Calls for Cap on Credit Card Interest Rates
January 20 came and went. No regulation was issued, no bank voluntarily lowered its rates, and no agency announced enforcement. By April 2026, Senator Elizabeth Warren said the promise had been broken and that “big banks have predictably refused to act,” with cardholders still facing rates near 25 percent.1Senate Banking Committee. Warren Questions Banking Regulators on Lack of Progress
Why a President Cannot Cap Rates Alone
Analysts said almost immediately that the announcement had no clear path to implementation. Tobin Marcus of Wolfe Research told CNBC he was “not aware of an authority that they can use to do this unilaterally in any kind of a sweeping way,” and suggested the January 20 date may have been meant to pressure banks into voluntary compliance rather than to trigger a formal rule.4CNBC. Trump Credit Card Rate Cap Enforcement Path Risks
Setting interest rates on consumer credit products is not among the powers the Constitution or federal statute grants to the president. Congress could pass a cap, and federal banking regulators could in principle be directed to enforce one, but the Trump administration was simultaneously working to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency most equipped to regulate credit card terms. The financial industry also has a long record of defeating CFPB rules in federal court.
The Bills in Congress
Trump’s announcement did not arrive in a vacuum. In February 2025, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Josh Hawley of Missouri had introduced S. 381, the 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act. The bill would amend the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit credit card interest rates above 10 percent through January 1, 2031. Creditors who knowingly violated the cap would forfeit all interest on the debt, and consumers would gain a private right of action to recover interest and fees within two years of a violation. Enforcement would fall to the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission.5Congress.gov. S.381 – 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act
A companion bill, H.R. 1944, was introduced in the House on March 6, 2025, by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.6Congress.gov. H.R.1944 – 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act Neither has moved. S. 381 was referred to the Senate Banking Committee in February 2025 and has seen no hearings, no markup, and no vote. The House bill sits in the Financial Services Committee in the same posture.7Congress.gov. S.381 – All Congressional Actions
Hawley tried a shortcut in May 2025, offering the rate cap as an amendment to the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin regulation bill. The amendment was not adopted, and the GENIUS Act passed the Senate 68–30 in June 2025 without it.8America’s Credit Unions. GENIUS Act Clears Senate Without Rate Cap Amendments
Republican leadership was cool to the idea from the start. Speaker Mike Johnson advised the House to “think about and investigate” the proposal cautiously, warning of “negative secondary effects.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the cap would “deprive an awful lot of people of access to credit.” Representative Rich McCormick of Georgia called it a “price control” with “unintended consequences.”9The Hill. GOP, Trump Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Warren, a frequent Trump critic, spoke to the president by phone on January 12, 2026, and told him Congress could pass the cap “if he will actually fight for it.”10NBC News. Trump Credit Card Interest Rate Cap
How the Banking Industry Responded
The industry mobilized on day one. The American Bankers Association warned that a rate cap would push consumers toward “less regulated, more costly alternatives,” and five banking trade groups issued a joint statement echoing that warning.11PBS. Banks Balk as Trump Pushes for Cap on Credit Card Interest Rates12BBC. Dimon Calls Credit Card Cap an Economic Disaster
JPMorgan Chase led the corporate opposition. On January 13, 2026, CFO Jeremy Barnum said on the bank’s quarterly earnings call that a 10 percent cap would be “very bad for consumers, very bad for the economy,” and that JPMorgan’s card business “would be a business that we would have to significantly change.”13Bloomberg. JPMorgan Says Everything on Table to Fight 10% Credit Card Cap Eight days later, CEO Jamie Dimon called the proposal an “economic disaster” at Davos, arguing it would cut off credit access for 80 percent of Americans.12BBC. Dimon Calls Credit Card Cap an Economic Disaster
Credit unions, which typically charge lower rates than banks, also opposed the cap. America’s Credit Unions formally lobbied against S. 381 and H.R. 1944, arguing that “price controls do not eliminate the cost of credit — they simply shift it.”14America’s Credit Unions. Rate Caps and Fees The Defense Credit Union Council, which represents credit unions serving military families, warned that a rigid federal cap would force credit unions to “tighten underwriting standards or scale back credit card and small-dollar lending altogether.”15DCUC. DCUC Responds to POTUS Proposal for 10% Credit Card Interest Rate Cap
The One Company That Complied
Exactly one issuer aligned with the president’s call. On January 14, 2026, financial technology company Bilt Rewards announced three new credit cards with interest rates capped at 10 percent APR for 12 months on new purchases: a no-annual-fee cash-back card, the Bilt Obsidian at $95 per year, and the Bilt Palladium at $495 per year. CEO Ankur Jain described the cards as a response to a “bipartisan call for a solution” to the cost-of-living crisis.16CBS News. Bilt Credit Card 10 Percent Interest Rate Cap No major bank followed.17Bloomberg. Bilt Unveils Credit Cards Capped at 10% After Trump’s Demands
Warren’s April Letters to the Regulators
On April 28, 2026, more than three months after the cap was supposed to take effect, Warren sent letters to Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould, and FDIC Chairman Travis Hill. She asked whether the regulators planned to take any enforcement action against banks ignoring the proposed cap, or whether they viewed the directive as “fake and unnecessary to enforce.” She set a May 11, 2026, deadline for written responses.1Senate Banking Committee. Warren Questions Banking Regulators on Lack of Progress The agencies have not publicly announced any enforcement plans.
Why Federal Rate Caps Are So Hard to Impose
The United States once had a patchwork of state usury laws that kept most credit card interest rates below roughly 18 percent. That system collapsed after the Supreme Court’s unanimous 1978 decision in Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp., which held that a bank is “located” in the state where it is based, not where the cardholder lives. The ruling let card issuers export the interest rate laws of their home state to borrowers nationwide.18PBS Frontline. Cap Rates
Banks quickly moved their credit card operations to states with the most permissive laws. South Dakota and Delaware eliminated their usury caps outright, and by 2003, nearly three-quarters of credit card loans in the country originated from states containing just 4 percent of the population.19Jotwell. The Rise of Credit Cards and the Fall of the New Deal Order No federal interest rate cap has been enacted since. Senator Sanders introduced a 15 percent cap in 2009; it was defeated 33–60 on the Senate floor.18PBS Frontline. Cap Rates
Where Rates Stand Now
As of mid-2026, the average credit card interest rate sits around 21 to 25 percent, depending on the source. The Federal Reserve reported 20.97 percent as of November 2025, while Forbes Advisor’s database of more than 250 cards put the average at 25.32 percent in March 2026.20Federal Reserve Economic Data. Commercial Bank Interest Rate on Credit Card Plans21Forbes. Average Credit Card Interest Rate The Sanders-Hawley bill remains stalled in committee with no scheduled hearings. No executive action has been taken. Aside from Bilt’s three new cards, cardholders looking for a 10 percent rate will not find it on offer from any major issuer.