Can Trump lower your credit card interest? Experts weigh in

It didn’t take long for the fur to fly over President Donald Trump’s proposal for a yearlong, 10% credit card interest rate cap, announced on January 9. His post, which noted a current card environment where rates stand between 20% and 30%, called for the cap to kick in on January 20, 2026.

For the short term, industry experts say the proposal, if it gets a green light, would be a net positive for consumers.

However, some within the industry point to potential downsides. “A blanket 10% cap on credit card interest would reduce access to credit for millions of higher-risk consumers and push pricing risk elsewhere in the system,” said David Johnson, CEO and Founder of Vervent, a credit card and loan servicing company in Boulder, Co. “History shows hard caps don’t eliminate demand; they reshape it, often toward less transparent, less regulated alternatives.”

These 3 impactors could hit hardest

Credit card consumers can expect some immediate dividends and some restrictions if the Trump credit card cap sees the light of day.

A big savings bounce

According to a recent Vanderbilt University study, A 10% cap would save Americans $100 billion.

“Steep credit card interest rates are hitting Americans already facing higher prices across the economy,” said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, which produced the study. “Proposals to cap credit interest rates enjoy support on both sides of the aisle, and contrary to industry claims, could return tens of billions of dollars to Americans without significantly impeding access to credit cards or popular rewards programs.”

The U.S. credit card sector is so financially sound “that it could rein in interest rates, save billions for Americans and small businesses, and still make profits,” Shearer added.

A card rewards hit

The same study showed that credit card companies could ride out the one-year rate cut by taking away some consumers’ favorite plastic perks.

A 10% cap on credit card rewards would trigger a $27 billion reduction in rewards for customers with FICO scores of 760 or lower.

“However, as the analysis points out, credit card borrowers at these levels would save more than triple in interest than the reduction in rewards, and borrowers with higher credit scores would keep their rewards,” the Vanderbilt study stated.

Reduced revenues, and fewer paths for people with low scores

Credit card companies' financial machinations would lead to losses, likely affecting U.S. credit card consumers with weaker credit scores.

“Credit card revenue comes in two forms: the cost of providing financing, known as interest revenue, and everything else, known as non-interest revenue,” said Brian Riley, director of credit payments at Javelin Strategy & Research.