So, here's what happens if/when Trump forces banks to lower credit card interest rates...

[PeaceWave]

Those high rates aren't there simply to pump up bank profits. The revenue from those high rates also covers anticipated defaults. Can high rates themselves lead to defaults? Yes, of course. But, if you aren't paying your full balance by the due date, then you along with the bank are participating in digging the hole you eventually find yourself in.

All of this said, if/when Trump forces banks to lower credit card interest rates, the response of the banks will be to immediately scrutinize all accounts deemed to be at a higher risk of default. As such, if you have a lower credit score (think sub 700), if your debt to credit ratio is deemed high (think 50+% of your credit limit being used) or if your reported income is deemed low relative to your existing credit limit, the banks will move to either cancel your card(s), limit your card(s) credit limit or boost your card(s) minimum payment due. For many folks, one or more of these moves by a credit card company can create an immediate financial hardship.

Feel free to say NO, none of this will happen and that everything will be hunky-dory. Some of us remember the kind of stunts credit card companies pulled during the "Great Recession" when they felt their bottom lines being threatened by revenues not being able to keep up with defaults.

[Wiz Imp]

1. I think you're right. It doesn't have to be that way. Capping Credit Card interest rates

can be done without necessarily creating all those problems. But Trump and Republicans, if they do it, will surely do it in a way to hurt the most people.

[durablend]

7. Banks will yank back most credit lines for the proles

And Republicans will yell "LOOK WHAT THE DEMOCRATS DID TO YOU!!!!"

[House of Roberts]

2. We went through this in the Bush Recession of 2009-2010.

Credit limits got lowered to the amount owed, accounts were closed to new charges, and credit scores dropped.

[yaesu]

3. I remember chase increased their minimum payment which broke their TofS they lost a pretty big class action over it

They can try but they will get sued for changing the rules mid game. Also, CC debt is unsecured so you can walk away at the cost of a few grand lawyer fee and a lower credit score for a couple of years.

[PeaceWave]

8. That case resulted in a $100 million settlement brokered by a firm here in San Francisco.

I personally got caught up in that mess. At the time, Chase was pitching a credit card product that was similar to a short term loan with a good interest rate. Under that card, I had a $300 minimum monthly payment - which Chase then tried to raise to a $900 minimum monthly payment. When I called Chase on it, I got this completely whackadoo customer service agent who told me "Unfortunately, I can't really sympathize with your situation since I'm blessed not to have any debt." I could live to be a 100 years old and never want so much to climb through a telephone line and wring someone's neck.

[Prairie Gates]

4. A Post about how we are Powerless to the Credit Card companies

And that they are not really taking massive profits but merely mitigating their risks, and that if you carry a balance, you're really to blame then, aren't you?

In other words, three paragraphs of garbage capitalist claptrap.

[S/V Loner]

5. This is all about the mid term elections...

They are trying to come up with something people will like so they can run on it. There is a reason it is only for a year. Just long enough to keep some seats and then it goes away.
Just another con job.

[allegorical oracle]

6. Or the corporations can start charging annual fees, again, to use their cards. Back

in the mid-70s, as a single female, I could not get a credit card without a card-holder's co-signature. Most card holders were males. I had a fulltime job as a journalist but that didn't matter. My boss, a male, co-signed for me...as long as it had a fee... so I paid $30/yr for my first card. Paid that for years until cards started accepting female customers. Finally got another card that didn't have an annual fee in the early 1980s.