Mark Cuban mocks Trump for going too far on credit card interest rates

Cuban, a longtime Trump antagonist, tore into the former president ahead of Trump’s scheduled economic speech in Savannah, Georgia, later Tuesday afternoon. Cuban previously endorsed Harris’ candidacy and discussed ideas with her policy team.

“They have a whole policy team. I know when I’ve had conversations with them, you know, it always comes back to, let’s talk to the policy team responsible for healthcare, responsible for venture capital, responsible for startups—whatever it is—and I get a response serious, well-studied,” Cuban said. “That’s the antithesis of what Donald Trump does. He says things that tend to be ridiculous, if not crazy.”

During a rally last week in New York, Trump floated the idea of ​​temporarily capping credit card interest rates at “around 10 percent.” He would need Congress to pass such a law, but it is part of his broader campaign to work-class voters.

“While working Americans catch up, we’re going to put a temporary cap on credit card interest rates,” Trump said on Sept. 18. “We can’t let them earn 25% and 30%.”

Cuban pointed out that Trump’s plan goes beyond that of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who in May 2019 proposed capping credit card interest rates at 15 percent in legislation he worked on with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

“I mean, literally, Bernie Sanders suggested a cap of only 15%. So now you’ve got Donald Trump involved in price caps and price controls to a greater degree than self-described socialist Bernie Sanders,” he said Cuban. “And I think that says so much about how far Donald has gone in his socialist and communist tendencies, right? I know that sounds funny and a little off, but it’s true.”

In response, the Trump campaign said Cuban “has no idea what he’s talking about.”

“If they really looked at her failed record as vice president and listened to what she has to say, they would know that her policies will destroy our country and the American Dream for working families,” said Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung. in a statement to Business Insider. .

While Trump’s suggestion caught some conservatives off guard, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Republican, proposed an 18 percent cap last fall. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, often considered the voice of classroom Republicans, slammed the idea as “a price control on credit.”

“Why do Messrs. Trump and Sanders think it’s useful to limit access to credit and send people to the pawnbroker or the leg breaker? Card companies could respond by raising fees, which is what happened with free checking after Democrats deregulated debit fees in 2010,” the board wrote.

Experts said credit card companies would likely respond to an interest rate cap by making it more difficult for some people to access credit.

“There’s no doubt that with a 10% cap rate, card issuers will be shedding credit while they figure out how to continue to make money in this new normal,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, for CNN.

Interest rates are extremely profitable for credit card companies. A 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that in 2022 credit card companies charged Americans $105 billion in interest and more than $25 billion in fees.

Trump’s campaign defended his proposal, pointing out that credit card debt is at an all-time high. According to the New York Federal Reserve, Americans have $1.14 trillion in credit card debt. The interest rates Americans are paying on this debt are also higher now than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Under Kamala Harris, credit card debt is at an all-time high because wages haven’t kept up with inflation,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement. “That’s why President Trump has promised to cap interest rates at 10 percent to provide temporary and immediate relief to hard-working Americans who are struggling to make ends meet and can’t afford high interest payments on top of skyrocketing mortgage costs , rent, food and gas. .”