President Donald Trump wants credit card interest rates capped at 10%. At least one company has already moved to do so.
Bilt Rewards announced a new suite of credit cards on Wednesday called “Bilt 2.0,” which will offers new cardholders 10% interest rates for their first year.
Bilt is known for allowing users to earn rewards on rent and mortgage payments without the related fees associated with other credit cards.
The company unveiled three cards, including:
- The Bilt Blue Card, with no annual fee;
- The Bilt Obsidian Card, with a $95 annual fee;
- The Bilt Palladium Card, with a $495 annual fee.
After one year, interest rates for new cardholders will increase to between 26.74% to 37.47%, depending on the card.
Trump called for the 10% cap in a Truth Social post on Friday, saying that he will “no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more.”
For now, any action taken by credit card companies is voluntary. Trump can’t make the change by himself — he’ll need an act of Congress in order to do so.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri have introduced a bill to cap credit card interest rates at 10% for a period of five years. Trump also called Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Monday to discuss the issue.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson has thrown cold water on the idea, saying that Trump “probably had not thought through” the potential downsides of the policy, including the possibility that credit card companies would “just stop lending money” or “cap what people are able to borrow at a very low amount.”
Business leaders have offered mixed reviews of Trump’s proposal, with some making the same argument as Johnson.
“An interest rate cap is not something that we would, or could, support, frankly,” Citi’s chief financial officer, Mark Mason, said on a call with reporters. “At the end of the day, I think an interest rate cap would restrict access to credit to those who need it the most, and frankly would have a deleterious impact on the economy.”
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