NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump told the credit card industry a week ago that it must comply with his demand to cap interest rates at 10% by Jan. 20. In the final days, consumer groups, politicians and bankers are still unclear about the White House’s plans and whether Trump is still serious about the idea.
So far, the White House has not provided any details about what will happen to credit card companies that don’t lower card rates. White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said the president “expects” credit card companies will comply with his request to cap interest rates on credit cards at 10%.
“I’m not outlining to you the specific consequences, but that’s certainly what the president expects and demands,” she said Friday.
A researcher who studied Trump’s proposal when he first proposed it during the 2024 presidential campaign found that if credit card interest rates were capped at 10%, Americans would save about $100 billion a year in interest. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry will take a significant hit, it will remain profitable, although credit card rewards and other benefits may be reduced. The administration expanded on the study and posted it on an official White House Twitter page.
Bank lobbyists have spent much of the past week scrambling to figure out the White House’s plans for their industry, but they have been left in the dark. This year and in past years, Republicans and Democrats have introduced bills in both chambers of Congress, but Republican leadership in both chambers has been lukewarm to the idea of passing laws capping interest rates.
The Dodd-Frank Act, the law sweeping the financial industry passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, explicitly prohibits at least one federal bank regulator from setting usury limits on loans.
Absent a law or executive order, this could just be Trump using political pressure to force the credit card industry to do what he wants, as he has done with other industries. For example, Trump’s demand that pharmaceutical companies lower drug prices resulted in pharmaceutical industry CEOs pledging to do what he asked. Trump has also asked chipmakers and technology companies to move production to the United States, leading companies such as Apple to pledge to build more manufacturing capacity domestically.
Wall Street has little appetite for an all-out war with the White House, especially since banks have benefited from the industry-friendly, deregulatory agenda the Trump administration has delivered so far. Another round of major tax cuts was spurred by the Big Beautiful Act signed into law in July. Last year, deregulation prompted companies to take on deals, which brought a steady stream of investment banking revenue and fees to the big banks.
When it comes to credit card rates, the message from bank lobby groups and bank executives is twofold: They’re delaying the cap but also offering to work with the White House.
JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Barnum said in a call with reporters on Tuesday that the industry is willing to use all available resources to prevent the Trump administration from capping those rates. JPMorgan Chase is one of the largest credit card companies in the United States. Its customers hold a combined $239.4 billion in balances with the bank, and it has significant co-branding partnerships with companies including United Airlines and Amazon. JPMorgan Chase also recently acquired the Apple Card credit card portfolio from Goldman Sachs.
Citigroup Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason told reporters on Wednesday that the cap was “not something we can or will support,” saying it would limit credit to consumers and harm the economy. But at the same time, Mason said, “Affordability is a big issue and we look forward to working with the government to address it.”
Trump took further aim at the credit card industry when he approved a bill in Congress that could negatively impact the amount banks make from merchants every time a customer swipes their card.
Not all companies are waiting for Trump’s next move.
Fintech company Bilt launched a new set of credit cards this week and said it would cap interest rates on new purchases by customers to 10% for a year. While Bildt’s move is actually a promotional rate that other credit card companies have used in the past, it could provide an example of how the credit card industry can accommodate the White House’s demands without fundamentally disrupting its business model.
“If (credit card interest rate caps) are going to be implemented, we would rather be at the forefront,” Bilt CEO Ankur Jain said in an interview earlier this week.