US President Calls for 10% Credit Card Interest Cap, Banks Push Back (pbs.org) 309
President Donald Trump revived a campaign pledge Friday night by calling for a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a proposal that banking groups immediately opposed despite the industry's heavy donations to his 2024 campaign and support for his second-term agenda.
Trump posted on Truth Social that he hoped the cap would be in place by January 20, one year after he took office, though he did not specify whether it would come through executive action or legislation.
Americans currently pay between 19.65% and 21.5% interest on credit cards on average and carry roughly $1.23 trillion in credit card debt, according to the New York Federal Reserve. Researchers found that a 10% cap would save Americans roughly $100 billion in interest annually. The American Bankers Association warned that such a cap "would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives."
Further reading: How Trump's proposed cap on credit card rates could reshape consumer lending.
Trump posted on Truth Social that he hoped the cap would be in place by January 20, one year after he took office, though he did not specify whether it would come through executive action or legislation.
Americans currently pay between 19.65% and 21.5% interest on credit cards on average and carry roughly $1.23 trillion in credit card debt, according to the New York Federal Reserve. Researchers found that a 10% cap would save Americans roughly $100 billion in interest annually. The American Bankers Association warned that such a cap "would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives."
Further reading: How Trump's proposed cap on credit card rates could reshape consumer lending.
Hand out (Score:3, Insightful)
Cheeto Benito, his hand outstretched.
Cross his palm with silver and your future will brighten.
Re:Hand out (Score:4, Interesting)
This proposal will never happen. Never. The banks will soon show up with their buckets of cash and suddenly Trump will be off invading some other country, and will have completely 'forgotten' about this.
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Headline is right- reshape consumer lending indeed- causing a near instantaneous collapse of consumer spending.
Maybe this is the right thing for the country. Maybe it's not. Frankly, if Trump supports it, it probably isn't.
Re:Hand out (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe this is the right thing for the country. Maybe it's not. Frankly, if Trump supports it, it probably isn't.
Carrying a balance on a credit card with an interest rate that high is a death spiral for personal finances. At 19% interest it does not take long for a small loan to become extremely unaffordable. I don't have any idea of a cap on interest rates would result in more responsible spending, or if it would encourage *more* spending since the monthly payment seems lower. But even at 10% interest, carrying credit card debit is very dangerous to your personal finances.
Of course, the REALITY is that most people know this and don't want to carry a credit card balance. But they get put in that situation because of job loss, or serious illness, or both, or because of chronic low wages and salaries and high housing costs (which turns any minor issue, such as a tire blowout, into a financial crisis). (Of course, there are a few people who get into this situation through out-of-control spending, but that's a minority of those who carry a credit card balance.)
With that in mind, what would be good for the country? More affordable housing. Higher wages. Medicare for all.
Credit card debit is a symptom of the disease, but our leaders seem uninteresting in curing the disease.
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Maybe this is the right thing for the country. Maybe it's not. Frankly, if Trump supports it, it probably isn't.
Carrying a balance on a credit card with an interest rate that high is a death spiral for personal finances. At 19% interest it does not take long for a small loan to become extremely unaffordable. I don't have any idea of a cap on interest rates would result in more responsible spending, or if it would encourage *more* spending since the monthly payment seems lower. But even at 10% interest, carrying credit card debit is very dangerous to your personal finances.
I can't remember the last time I saw a credit card interest rate below 10%, despite exceptionally good credit and always paying off my cards at the end of the month (except the Apple card 0% interest purchases, which get auto-paid in monthly chunks).
There seems to be a huge disconnect between the interest rate and the risk. It looks very much like the credit card companies do not want to be in the loan business at all, and should just turn everything into debit cards plus a monthly statement and chargeback
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There seems to be a huge disconnect between the interest rate and the risk. It looks very much like the credit card companies do not want to be in the loan business at all, and should just turn everything into debit cards plus a monthly statement and chargeback protection. But then it wouldn't be a credit card.
Frankly, go fuck yourself.
Who the fuck are you to dictate what credit options are available to me?
I like my credit cards. I like putting my $16k vacation on plastic and paying for it over a few months.
The issue is subprime lending, not lending via credit cards.
Re:Hand out (Score:5, Interesting)
There used to be laws capping the interest rates credit cards could charge. anything higher was considered loan shark rates.
Now when it is brought up again they make it sound like something new and they would never survive without 20%+ interest rates.
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Carrying a balance on a credit card with an interest rate that high is a death spiral for personal finances. At 19% interest it does not take long for a small loan to become extremely unaffordable. I don't have any idea of a cap on interest rates would result in more responsible spending, or if it would encourage *more* spending since the monthly payment seems lower. But even at 10% interest, carrying credit card debit is very dangerous to your personal finances.
And yet, I managed just fine when I was younger when I was money-constrained.
And in fact, most people do.
I agree that for some classes of people, this is a dangerous game to play. Perhaps it's better to target subprime lending practices rather than some ham-handed dumbfuckery like a price control^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H capped interest rate.
Of course, the REALITY is that most people know this and don't want to carry a credit card balance. But they get put in that situation because of job loss, or serious illness, or both, or because of chronic low wages and salaries and high housing costs (which turns any minor issue, such as a tire blowout, into a financial crisis). (Of course, there are a few people who get into this situation through out-of-control spending, but that's a minority of those who carry a credit card balance.)
Some people are put in that position because of job loss, etc. Some people are in that position because they're just poor, and they want to fake it until they make
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The income to cost of living ratio has gotten way out of hand. Seriously, the cheapest rent on a one bedroom apartment is upwards of $2500 in many places, and that's without utilities. Do you think you could afford that if you were making even $30,000/year(with taxes taken out)? We aren't even talking about a NICE apartment either. The cost of electricity, oil or natural gas, a car so you can actually get to your job(not everyone lives right on a bus or rail route that has both ends near the job).
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Giving these people a means of destroying their lives and making them perpetual debt slaves is immoral. The only reason that anyone is giving these people loans is precisely beca
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I guess you didn't see the news story that they're suing him for half a million dollars that he hasn't paid them?
Re:Hand out (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is this different than when AOC proposed the same legislation? The US 'usury' rate caps have nearly doubled since the 1980's. The current rates would be immediately illegal and have been getting pushed higher by these companies operating at 50 percent profits.
Re:Hand out (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is this different than when AOC proposed the same legislation?
The answer is in the question:
legislation
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Aside from the legislation part, it's because she's the one who proposed doing this. Anything she proposes is verboten according to Republicans.
That, and if by chance a bank or two does do this (they won't, but hear me out), the Russian asset will get to claim he did it, not her. Because everything is about him.
Also, if this would happen, it would be used as a political point. "See? I lowered your rates. You owe me. Elect who I say to elect."
Here's a better question: if he wants banks to lower the interes
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I didn't solicit whataboutisms.
You originally *posted* a whataboutism, and now you have the gall to complain about whataboutisms. Frigging hypocrite.
Re: Hand out (Score:5, Interesting)
Here [slashdot.org] is the slashdot article where AOC's 10% cap was discussed. Interesting to look at the comments and observe the very different community reaction to the identical proposal with different name attached.
Re: (Score:3)
It's basically the same overreaction
It only seems like an overreaction if you have had your head completely up your ass since before his first presidency. Try paying attention to what's actually happening sometime.
Re:Hand out (Score:4, Funny)
Cheeto Benito, his hand outstretched.
Shaka, when the walls fell. [ref [wikipedia.org]]
He'll claim this: (Score:4, Insightful)
that he solved the 'affordability crisis' by making it cheaper for people to go into perpetual debt.
I love the poorly educated (Score:2)
I love the poorly educated
Because you would have to be pretty naive - financially, at least - to carry credit-card debt.
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Sure, call it naivety or lack of education. To some extent that's valid. Certainly it was for me 37 years ago when I got my first card. But there are a whole lot of reasons, many of them external, that lead down that path as well. Otherwise knowledgeable and educated people looking for a stopgap during employment disruption need bridges, for example. If you're broke and your child is hungry, staring down incurring a future interest burden is less concerning than the immediate reality.
Like anything else... i
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On the other hand, I don't actually know what happens in such situations. (By good fortune and prudence, I've never carried a balance more than a few weeks.) Presumably the issuer asks for the entire debt to be paid off immedi
Re:He'll claim this: (Score:4, Insightful)
Zero accountability is exactly why most shut the fuck up real quick-like when bitching about what they can and cannot afford.
Zero accountability for one side of the debt, but not the other. It shouldn't be the government's job to make sure loans get repaid, but we routinely bail out lenders and set up systems where the most risky loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Lenders don't have to even bother checking borrower's ability to repay, which in theory is what lenders are supposed to do in our system.
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It's not up to the President of the United States to dig people out of their debt. If you feel it is, I dare you to force an audit of that debt pile first.
The primary responsibility of any government is to support people's ability to have their basic rights and needs met, which includes food, housing, and health. And if its policies are not achieving those aims, then yes, it is up to the president (and Congress, and states, and I would add neighbors).
Impulsivity does play a role in debt, and can be a problem for some people across all age groups and demographic groups (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijcs.12570). But, what puts you at high
With all those tariffs killing the economy... (Score:5, Insightful)
He's got to find a way to put money back in the people's pockets. And he can't go back on the tariffs or he'd have to eat crow.
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Taking less give the belief that the amount not taken is then left in their pockets to spend but anyone who carries CC debt such that this would make much of a difference will be underwater so much that it only slightly increases the distance between them and the bottom of the lake.
But it would give Donald Trump a good number to spin to his voters.
LoB
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He's got to find a way to put money back in the people's pockets. And he can't go back on the tariffs or he'd have to eat crow.
The plan is to take the tariffs off in time for the economy to bounce back around election time. There is no rush to appease the masses until it is time for them to vote.
I wonder what the real impacts would be. (Score:4, Insightful)
It was only literally 18mons ago that we saw rates on things like HELOCs and 30 year mortgages in the 8.5% range.
certainly it isn't going to be sustainable to have unsecured debt and secured debt in such a tight range. Clearly when prime rates are in that range it would be impossible to profitably extend unsecured credit at 10% at least on the default rates that are currently common in the credit card space.
So would we see a lot of lenders closing consumer credit card accounts, and not offering them to anyone with a less that stellar FICO score?
Re:I wonder what the real impacts would be. (Score:5, Insightful)
That is exactly what would happen. This is another Trump idea that sounds good when you say it but anyone who puts any thought into it finds very quickly it is a terrible idea. Everything he says is about getting people to like him. He says something like this so people will say "that will help me, Donald Trump is a good guy and on my side". Meanwhile, if it happens, most of those same people will have their credit cards cancelled or not be able to get a card to begin with. He can then say it is all the banks faults not his. Trump is nothing but optics, once you look past the words and actually at how things works, everything falls apart.
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I find it laughable that a guy who has mainly extended his inherited fortune via strategic bankruptcies considers himself even remotely competent to manage the US (and world) economy.
I'd laugh if I were young. Unfortunately I'm near retirement age, and I'm seriously wondering how screwed I am thanks to the orange imbecile.
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I find it laughable that a guy who has mainly extended his inherited fortune via strategic bankruptcies considers himself even remotely competent to manage the US (and world) economy.
I'd laugh if I were young. Unfortunately I'm near retirement age, and I'm seriously wondering how screwed I am thanks to the orange imbecile.
I find it laughable the people have come to expect the person elected to execute the operations of our legislation, to be a CFO who manages the US (and world) economy. One person's tweets, executive orders, or operational directives should never be given so much control over commerce. Regardless of which party.
The job was never supposed to be what people now want it to be.
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In 2016 and early 2017, his brilliant plan for dealing with the US debt was to simply let it default and declare bankruptcy, discharging the debt and starting over. He figured that this would mean the US would have little to no debt left over and wouldn't have to worry about the interest anymore. Fortunately, enough people told him that doing so would crash the national and global economies and turn the US into an economic pariah for generations. He hasn't really brought it up since.
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Everything he says is about getting people to like him.
Not anymore. Now it is about how can he line his pockets. This is just a ploy to get the finance industry to donate more to his "campaign."
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Considering how much credit card debt people are saddling themselves with, wouldn't having cards cancelled and/or not issued be a good thing? Do you want to be hopelessly in debt? If you're not hopelessly in debt, your credit score will reflect that, and you'll be able to continue using credit cards responsibly. What's the downside?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Why is "everyone gets a free pony" such a terrible idea? Doesn't everyone like ponies? And these ponies are even better: they're free!
Now quit your leftist whining and tell me what address to write on this pony box. We spent a fuckton of tax money (double the market value) on this and I want to get your pony shipped out ASAP because feeding these things is costing a fortune.
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Half century mortgage plans. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/12... [npr.org]
Price too low = no supply (Score:5, Insightful)
Want a credit card? Then the bank must charge enough interest to pay for the costs associated with it and the defaults by people who don't pay back what they borrowed. If they don't, then lots of people won't have credit cards anymore.
Re:Price too low = no supply (Score:5, Insightful)
If they don't, then lots of people won't have credit cards anymore.
Which probably wouldn't be a bad thing overall.
Re:Price too low = no supply (Score:5, Interesting)
Which probably wouldn't be a bad thing overall.
Probably eventually, but in the shorter term we are talking about adding a lot new friction to the economy. ACH and debit would certainly replace a lot of the transaction processing but you'd be removing an easy source of credit from a population where there has been a near zero savings rate for decades.
Take the credit card away and you turn needing a new transmission into a lost job.
Re: Price too low = no supply (Score:2)
> That would be an immediate drastic reduction in demand, which would crush small businesses and large alike.
You havent sold that counterpoint. Crushing existing exploitative businesses and optional purchases is the point, but it cettainly wouldnt be immediate.
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It would hit most businesses, exploitative and not. The US economy's backbone is effectively credit cards. Take those away, and a lot of people that use them as bridges between paychecks are going to have a hard time.
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- Down with credit card sheep!
Re: Price too low = no supply (Score:2)
Yes lots of people who were not supposed to have credit card to begin with.
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Okay. Show us the costs associated with offering lines of consumer credit.
Re: Price too low = no supply (Score:2)
Yes you need a credit card. You cannot rent a car or stay in a hotel without one. My cell phone company does not accept any payment other than credit cards. Pay in full every month avoids paying interest but the credit card companies still collect obscene merchant fees.
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Most hotels and rental car companies accept debit cards connected to the credit networks, but they will put a lock on a certain amount of funds for incidentals. For cars and hotels, this is typically $300.
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If I'm outside of the UK, I usually use a debit card for that, because I can have one in the currency of the country I'm visiting and it usually works out cheaper than foreign transaction fees on a credit card. That generally works just fine.
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You absolutely can rent a car or stay at a hotel without a credit card. There are companies in both businesses that will happily put holds on a debit card. My phone company gives me a credit for paying my bill with a debit card instead of a credit card.
True, it's more convenient to use a credit card, but lack of convenience doesn't mean it's impossible to function without one.
another great idea! (Score:4, Insightful)
Very short term thinking (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Very short term thinking (Score:5, Informative)
Frankly, I think most of you don't really get it.
This is strictly about the midterm elections in November. Trump and the GOP know they're in trouble. Right now, Trump is coming up with stupid ideas, hoping to mollify enough of the electorate between now and November so the GOP doesn't get slaughtered in the house. There will certainly be more crazy ideas coming from him in the next month or two.
And, frankly, if none of that works (and it probably won't - the guy really isn't that bright)... I fully expect we'll start hearing Trump float truly dangerous garbage - trying to invent made-up crises so he can use ICE, Border Patrol, and the National Guard to suppress non-GOP participation in the next election.
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Credit card companies won't. It's not Visa an MasterCard issuing the debt. The banks will write it down, which will affect their bottom line and the results of their stress tests. They'll rein in credit lines, making it harder for people to do the things they want and need to do.
Price Controls (Score:3)
Re:Price Controls (Score:4, Insightful)
Remember we had to vote against Harris because she wanted anti-price gouging measures and those were declared un-American and Socialist (but they would have been actually voted on)
Here we get potential worse price controls and done via executive fiat because in this admin everything has to be run through the WH. I don't even think Trump considers that Congress is a thing.
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There are price controls today on wages for H2A visa workers. The problem is that these prices are below market rate. This causes undocumented workers to demand higher wages than documented ones. This is bad for big ag, so the donor class really needs them to get documented.
Re:Price Controls (Score:4, Interesting)
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Call it price controls or whatever, but I think the government needs to step in when the market fails.
I don't disagree, but I'm not seeing evidence that this is actually a market failure (at least to the degree of slashing rates to 10% being a proportionate response). From what I've seen interest rates on credit cards are over 20% around the world.
I obviously can't prove that a global cabal of bankers isn't colluding to set that rate at an artificially high level internationally, but it seems more likely that it's simply the price of offering unsecured debt to the general public.
won't be a boon for airlines (Score:5, Insightful)
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Then like the FAA downsizing and the loss of highway funds to California, this is a third way Trump is helping to increase demand for high speed rail. I hope he keeps it up!
This is a good thing (Score:3, Insightful)
If the low interest rate is legally mandated then the risk profile changes. Maybe it will result in banks not giving people with crap credit ratings credit cards if they can't monetise them and result in better spending management.
Fantastic way to throw economy into recession (Score:3, Insightful)
The Orange Doofus cares not for unintended consequences. Cap credit card rates at 10%? Sure, then banks will stop extending credit to millions of people with marginal credit ratings. "Sorry, but we're canceling your credit card... we can't price your risk appropriately."
That leads to much less consumer spending, which leads to recession. Or worse, makes people who can't qualify for a credit card use less-regulated, dodgier and more expensive credit products.
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Bernie Sanders and AOC proposed the same cap. What was their goal in proposing the same thing?
queue the busy lines at credit card companies (Score:2)
Come February when tens of millions of people get credit card statements still showing 29.95% interest, those 1-800 #s will be swamped with calls about how its illegal to charge more due to Trump. Then, many will stop paying until its "corrected" causing many banks to make a decision to charge fines to Trump's supporters and enrage them and him even more, or to submit and lose control of their business.
Also, where is my "dividend" check for DOGE and the tariffs?
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As long as people aren't talking about the Epstein files then I think Trump will think this is fine.
He'll cause a bank run (Score:2)
Sounds good at face value (Score:2)
It means most people aren't going to be offered credit cards. Maybe that's OK, but it sure is damn convenient to be able to put expensive car repairs on credit. Or buy your kids new shoes any day of the week instead of only Friday night, after you get paid.
Proof (Score:2)
That paying the king doesn’t result in good fortune. You just got branded as a sucker that will pay out some more.
Guitar Center's credit card (Score:2)
I was looking at their special financing just to see the terms and they are charging crazy rates - Purchase APR is 34.99%. Penalty APR 39.99%. I don't think I've ever seen rates that high, but I've never really looked for them either. My post-college debt was paid off long ago. There should be a cap on rates. 10% is probably too low, but miss a payment by one day and you're now burdened with a 40% penalty rate? In the case of Guitar Center, I think the penalty rate is retroactive on the full financed amount
what does this comment mean? (Score:2)
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Credit card companies base their rates on the risk that you will default. If you are too risky and they can't raise the rates, they'll just drop you and cancel your card.
Alternatives include "payday loans" (which can have APRs of around 400%) and of course your friendly neighborhood loan shark. And I'm sure the silicon valley oligarchs are ready to go with some kind of fintech crypto-usury scam.
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"The American Bankers Association warned that such a cap "would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives." what are the alternatives that consumers will be driven toward? and why?
Pay day loan services. Various other predatory lenders. And loan sharks never completely disappeared.
Are we sure this guy is "far right?" (Score:3)
I haven't yet seen any activities by President Trump, which are to the right of LBJ. Another example, right here. Every fucking news item, if it isn't about his personal dishonesty and corruption, then it's about his far-left politics, which for some reason, are called far-right. WTF.
I am starting to disapprove of the Soviet Union's Communist Party renaming themselves as America's Republican Party. Why didn't the existing trademark holders object?! They should have fought back against the hostile takeover.
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Trump has always been a populist pushing to appeal to a very conservative base rather than an actual conservative. That his occasional left wing policy goals are immediately embraced by his base is a testament to how much of a cult he's running.
I REALLY got a kick out of the idea he floated recently about eliminating corporate home ownership though. That is such an incredibly left wing proposal I have my doubts even he can push that through the rest of the party without watering it down so much it won't mak
Bribe for the midterms (Score:5, Insightful)
A limit on credit card interest rates for just one year isn't going to solve any problems this country has. Clearly this is just Trump trying to boost Republican standing before the midterms using what is essentially the credit card company's money.
Allow enforcement of state usury laws (Score:2)
There used to be reasonable limits on interest rates, but when credit card companies were allowed to violate state usury laws by setting up shop in a friendlier state, the laws became moot.
If he really wanted to bring those rates down, this could be a first significant step.
People can't figure out if he's (Score:2)
...a capitalist or socialist. Perhaps "meddle-ist" is most appropriate: he likes to stick his fingers into where whim takes them.
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Only those who don't know what socialism is. Hint: he isn't one since he is not advocating for the workers owning the means of production.
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He's a puppet and does what his handlers (The Heritage Foundation) tell him. Case in point reading a memo out loud that was telling him to stop rambling and get back on topic. https://people.com/trump-reads... [people.com]
"Go back to Chevron," Trump read from Rubio's note. "They want to discuss something. Go back to Chevron."
Baffling (Score:2)
OK so the banks will make up for lost interest by charging more fees... I don't see the point of this. You shouldn't have any credit card debt to begin with, regardless of the interest rate. This isn't helping people so much as giving them more rope. There are more subtle ways of helping people get out of debt traps like this.
She can't (Score:2)
Trump can say this all day long. But she has no legal authority to do so.
Payday Loans (Score:2)
As bad as 20% credit card interest is, the alternative is far worse: payday loans. If credit card interest were capped at 10%, the net result is that only people with strong incomes/credit scores would be offered credit cards. Those people typically don't actually need credit- they just want the convenience and perks.
Those without access to credit cards would still seek credit because they typically need credit. They don't have savings to deal with unexpected expenses or a job loss and high interest credit
This is a horrible idea (Score:2)
Re:drive them to less regulated/more costly? (Score:5, Insightful)
"LOL, I'm sure people would see that they now have a 10% cap on their CC interest rate and jump to one with an interest rate more than 10%.
If you are a high risk debtor you would not end up with a 10% capped CC: you would end up without CC altogether since creditors would deem the risk not adequately covered at a 10% cap.
That's what would drive these high risk debtors to "unregulated, more costly alternatives", since I doubt they suddenly would become eligible for better forms of credit, or not need the credit altogether.
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They would driven by the fact they want credit but now cannot get it from a major credit-card company.
Like if you can't get a car loan from your bank or a major dealer you end up at a buy-here-pay-here place which charged you 38% interest and massive penalties.
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They would when the lender stops authorizing new charges. Which read their contract, they certainly can do.
Re:Free market (Score:4, Insightful)
Ah yes, the free market at work.
Republicans have never cared about the free market. It's only a talk point that holds zero water when looking at historical voting records and executive orders. (Fun fact: they don't care about states rights either.)
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Their spin doctors like political convenience. And American voters appear to have very short term memories, so the behavior continues.
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Sure we can bring that back but that legislation changed a lot of rates and other things as well, worth considering what else in there should be undone.
Tax Reform Act of 1986 [wikipedia.org]
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Unsecured vs secured debt. Own a home, get a HELOC and the rate is way less.
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My credit rating over 800 and my credit cards charge around 25% interest. It doesn't matter because I never carry a balance but there's no justification for the rates to be that high as I'm obviously not a credit risk.
It doesn't matter what your credit score is if you don't pay back your card on time every month. That is a strong recent indicator that there is a problem that your past history doesn't accurately reflect.
If you are actually responsible with your credit cards, who cares if the interest is 25000%? You'll never be charged it anyway. That isn't a reason for society to allow companies to prey on the less fortunate, but anyone with strong credit shouldn't care what their credit card interest rates are.
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My credit rating over 800 and my credit cards charge around 25% interest. It doesn't matter because I never carry a balance but there's no justification for the rates to be that high as I'm obviously not a credit risk.
A lot of CC companies do not price the interest rates based on your particular credit rating for their cards (one rate for everyone with that card). Those that do, and offer lower rates, are very selective about who can get their card. With a 800+ credit rating, you should look around for a company with a lower rate (which you will never use, but it is the principal of the thing?).
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I'm in the same position. But if you never pay interest, why do you care what the interest rate is?
My bank lets me set things up so the credit card balance is paid in full automatically on the due date. So I really don't care what the interest rate is because I will never forget to pay the balance.
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Cards with lower interest rates will generally have lower or no rewards. If you are someone who always pays off the balance in full, that is not the card you want to pick. You want to pick the one with the best rewards regardless of interest rate.
Re:Paying interest rates exceeding 16% ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Paying over 18% virtually guarantees bankruptsy.
Not true. I got a 24% interest used car loan when I was in my early 20s with no credit history. I refinanced it after a year (I had credit history then) to somewhere around 10%, and the loan for my next car was closer to 3-4%.
While I would like there to be a better way than what I went through (and I now know there is, but didn't back then), it still can work to get temporary large interest loans for very specific reasons. Keeping a 20+% interest loan for years is a recipe for disaster though.
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> Meanwhile Amex are advertising cards at 98%.
The highest credit card rates are around 36%, and those are for people who have incredibly bad credit. Amex certainly isn't issuing 98% APR cards.
Re: (Score:3)
The student loan scenario at least was along the lines of something many think should be government funded *anyway*, however a lot of us still didn't like that forgiveness was on the table without some durable plan moving forward. Maybe forgiveness as part of a package to largely convert higher learning to have credibly funded public options, but by itself it was a problematic concept that only rewarded the people that couldn't have known it was coming, and inherently impossible to plan around.
This is just