Sanders says Trump broke his promise to cap credit card rates
Banks are posting billions in quarterly profits while cardholders pay 25 to 30 percent, year after Trump pledged 10 percent ceiling
WASHINGTON (MNTV) — Senator Bernie Sanders has accused President Donald Trump of abandoning his promise to cap credit card interest rates, leaving millions of Americans paying rates two and three times the limit he pledged while the banks charging them post record quarters.
Writing on social media, Sanders said Trump had failed to deliver the temporary 10 percent cap he announced in January — a measure Trump said would take effect on the first anniversary of his second inauguration and run for a year to ease pressure on households.
It never arrived. Federal Reserve data put the average rate on card accounts carrying assessed interest at 22.15 percent in May, and Sanders pointed to cardholders paying between 25 and 30 percent while major lenders cleared billions in profit last quarter.
Americans are carrying roughly $1.25 trillion in card debt as of the first quarter of 2026 — just off the record set at the end of 2025 and far above where it stood five years ago.
Research from the Urban Institute finds more people revolving balances because they cannot pay them off, and consumer advocates note that cards are increasingly covering groceries and other essentials rather than discretionary spending. The debt is not extravagance; it is the gap between wages and the cost of living.
Sanders and Republican Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation in 2025 to cap card rates at 10 percent for five years. It has gone nowhere. Banking groups oppose mandatory limits, arguing caps would tighten credit and push borrowers with thin options out of the market altogether.
Meanwhile the results keep coming in strong.
JPMorgan Chase Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said consumers and small businesses have stayed resilient, with spending growth running above last year’s levels — resilience that looks rather different from the borrower’s side of a 29 percent APR.
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