Months After Trump Announced His January 20 Cap on Credit Card Interest Rates, Warren Questions Banking Regulators On Their Lack of Progress

Months After Trump Announced His January 20 Cap on Credit Card Interest Rates, Warren Questions Banking Regulators On Their Lack of Progress

"The President's deadline is long past, the big banks have predictably refused to act, and Americans still face average credit card interest rates of roughly 25 percent."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to Michelle Bowman, Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Jonathan Gould,Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and Travis Hill, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), pressing the bank regulators to confirm if enforcement actions against big banks currently violating the President's purported 10 percent cap are forthcoming - or if these agencies view the President's directive as fake and unnecessary to enforce. The President called for a "one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%," to be effective on January 20, 2026, and said banks that fail to comply with his directive would be in violation of the law.

In her letter, Senator Warren noted that prior to, and following, President Trump's credit card rate cap announcement, these agencies have done nothing to crack down on excessive credit card interest rates.

"Instead, in recent months, your agencies have teamed up with banks and loan sharks to overturn a state law that would protect consumers from exorbitant credit card costs," wrote the Senator. "Specifically, in February 2025, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation pulled legal support for Colorado's new law that would place limits on how much interest a lender can charge on credit cards and other financial products, including payday loans."

The Senator concluded by addressing the agencies' lack of action: "(Y)our agencies have slashed a host of rules intended to reign in banks' risky behavior. Big banks have responded by rewarding executives with massive compensation packages and juicing shareholder dividends, instead of lowering credit card interest rates."

The Senator requests written responses on plans for enforcing President Trump's credit card interest rate cap by May 11, 2026.

Previously, Senator Warren has written to the Administration on their failure to utilize the tools of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to lower credit card costs for Americans.

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