Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned President Donald Trump’s sincerity in wanting to make credit cards more affordable in a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) acting director Russ Vought.
Trump expressed support for capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent for one year in a Truth Social post. The announcement was met with pushback from the financial services industry but has garnered bipartisan support from lawmakers.
“Capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent, just like President Trump campaigned on, is a simple way to provide meaningful relief to working people. Let’s do it,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said after the introduction of the “10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act” in February 2025. The bill was never brought to the floor for a vote.
Despite the post, Warren indicated she is unconvinced that Trump truly cares about credit card affordability in her letter to Vought.
“President Trump called for ‘a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10 percent’ … while Congress considers legislation to address the issue, your own actions are directly undermining the President’s stated goals,” Warren wrote. “Either President Trump is not serious about making credit cards more affordable or you are insubordinately disregarding his direction. Under your leadership, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken steps to make it easier – not harder – for big banks and credit card companies to rip off Americans.”
She cited the CFPB’s own data, indicating that the average annual percentage rate (APR) for credit cards has reached the highest level since 2015, with credit card borrowers paying interest rates approximately 8.8 percentage points higher than necessary for institutions to cover default losses.
“In other words, banks and credit card companies are hoarding profit while Americans struggle to keep up with rising interest payments,” Warren wrote. “The CFPB was designed to help protect consumers from financial exploitation, and it has a key role to play in reducing credit card costs for Americans. Yet rather than use the CFPB’s authorities to their fullest extent, you have prioritized dismantling it.”
The letter listed five recommendations for how the CFPB could work to bring down credit card costs, including the following:
- Rein in credit card late fees.
- Stop surprise interest charges.
- Resume Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act supervision.
- End rewards bait-and-switch tactics.
- Review thousands of unaddressed credit card complaints.