Rate Caps and Fees
Price controls do not eliminate the cost of credit. They simply shift it. America’s Credit Unions advocates against legislation to impose a 10% credit card rate cap and bills to mandate changes to the credit card processing system.
Blanket caps could undermine this proven system and produce unintended consequences. Instead, targeted, data-driven solutions that promote competition, transparency, and financial education while preserving access to fair, affordable credit should be pursued.
America’s Credit Unions opposes:
- The 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act (S. 381), which would create an all-in annual percentage rate (APR) cap for credit cards.
- The Credit Card Fairness Act (S. 3660), which would codify an $8 cap on credit card late fees. America’s Credit Unions has consistently maintained that such a rule would create increased costs for all cardholders and reduced access to affordable credit. The industry vocally opposed a similar proposal from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to cap credit card late fees at $8, which was ultimately vacated by the bureau as part of an April 2025 legal settlement. The CFPB’s own data showed that such a cap would harm the 74% of consumers who pay their credit cards on time by forcing issuers to increase costs to offset delinquencies for those late- or non-paying users due to the significantly reduced late fee penalty.
Access handouts with key data to support advocacy efforts: