Nearly half of US households in 2022 carried credit card debt, according to the most recent survey of consumer finances by the Federal Reserve.

It found that those with a balance owed, external more than $6,000 (£4,454) on average – which, with interest rates around 20%, translated into roughly $100 in monthly charges.

The idea of capping credit card rates has won support from an unlikely coalition of lawmakers, uniting those on the far-left, such as Bernie Sanders, with populists that back Trump’s MAGA agenda.

But the path to bringing the proposal into force is unclear.

Similar plans have languished in Congress. The administration has also pushed to reduce the role of agencies that have regulated such issues in the past.

“Begging credit card companies to play nice is a joke,” Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren said on X., external

“I said a year ago if Trump was serious I’d work to pass a bill to cap rates. Since then, he’s done nothing but try to shut down the CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]”.

Analysts said executive action by the White House would likely meet with legal challenge from the industry, which has had success in the past fighting regulation in the courts.

A joint statement from five US banking bodies said they shared the president’s goal “of helping Americans access more affordable credit”.

However, they added that the proposed cap would “reduce credit availability and be devastating for millions of American families and small businesses who rely on and value their credit cards, the very consumers this proposal intends to help”.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives.”

Early last year, Sanders and fellow US senator Josh Hawley had introduced bipartisan legislation which aimed to cap interest rates on credit cards at 10% for five years, but it has yet to make it into law.

In April 2025, the Trump administration moved to throw out a regulation capping credit card late fees at $8. The rule had been brought in by President Joe Biden’s administration as part of a crackdown on “junk fees”.