Credit card interest rates are too damn high, according to an unlikely combination of politicians who’ve recently drawn attention to the subject.
Money experts agree credit card debt can be a major challenge for many card users. At 20.1 percent, the average credit card interest rate imposes a steep penalty in the form of interest charges for people who carry debt on their cards.
President Donald Trump talked about capping credit card interest rates on the campaign trail in the fall of 2024. And now a recent bill introduced in Congress proposes to turn that campaign promise into law. Senators Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., recently proposed legislation that would cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent for five years after the bill is enacted.
It’s worth taking notice when politicians from complete opposite sides of the aisle agree on something that has potential to make a big impact for millions of Americans. But is such a cap even possible — and if so, how would it really affect consumers?
I recently spoke to Chi Chi Wu, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, and Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate, to get some expert insight as well as advice on how to deal with high card rates, regardless of whether the bill passes.
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https://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/news/credit-card-interest-rate-cap/#possible