House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters on Tuesday that Congress should look into President Donald Trump’s proposal to impose a 10% interest rate limit on credit card debt, but the legislators also need to consider “negative secondary effects.”
The House should “think about, investigate” the president’s plan that was floated late Friday, Johnson said, according to Reuters reporting. However, the lawmakers should also analyze the potential for “unintended consequences,” he said.
One possibility is that banks could “stop lending money, and maybe they cap what people are able to borrow at a very low amount,” Johnson commented.
Trump is calling for a 10% cap for a year, starting Jan. 20, 2026, the one-year anniversary of the beginning of his second term. He didn’t say how he would do that. Johnson said it would require legislation.
Credit card stocks sank on Monday after the news. On Tuesday afternoon trading, they were still mostly down, but not as steeply. Bread Financial Holdings (BFH) stock gained 0.1%, Synchrony Financial (SYF) fell 0.8%, Capital One Financial (COF) slipped 0.3%, American Express (AXP) fell 0.7%, Citigroup (C) fell 0.9%, and Bank of America (BAC) declined 1.0%.
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