Hassett said on Friday that large U.S. banks might be able to provide credit cards to some Americans who have long lacked access to credit but have stable incomes, through voluntary means.
According to Zhitong Finance, Kevin Hassett, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and Director of the National Economic Council, stated on Friday that major U.S. banks could potentially provide credit cards to some Americans who have long lacked access to credit but possess stable incomes on a voluntary basis. This initiative aims to align with President Trump’s policy goal of ‘reducing the cost of living.’
Just a week ago, Trump publicly urged banks to cap credit card interest rates at 10%. This proposal faced widespread opposition this week from bank executives and industry lobbying groups, who argued that such a measure would be difficult to implement and could negatively impact consumer spending and the financial system.
Against this backdrop, Hassett proposed a more moderate and narrowly targeted alternative. During an interview, he noted that banks could focus on individuals who “have not fully utilized financial leverage, primarily due to a lack of access to credit, but whose income levels and stability are sufficient to support a credit line.”
Hassett remarked, “These individuals do not have much financial leverage, not because they pose high credit risks, but because they lack access to credit; however, they have adequate income and stability, making them worthy of credit support.”
He further pointed out that advancing this initiative may not necessarily require legislation. “Our expectation is that legislation may not be mandatory, as banks might voluntarily introduce new ‘Trump Credit Cards’ to serve the relevant population.”
Market observers believe that these remarks may signal that the White House is scaling back its efforts to enforce comprehensive, mandatory reforms in the credit card industry. Previously, the industry had widely warned that enforcing a 10% interest rate cap could lead banks to close numerous customer accounts rather than continue lending under low-rate conditions.
This week, several banks explicitly stated during their fourth-quarter earnings disclosures that if required to issue cards at a 10% interest rate, the most practical response would likely involve scaling back credit card operations rather than broadly reducing rates to benefit customers.
Hassett made the above comments while responding to the question of whether banks would be forced to impose an interest rate cap. Analysts noted that mandating such a cap would likely require new legislative support from Congress.
He also revealed that the government has communicated with “chief executives of several large banks,” some of whom believe that the president’s stance on affordability has a certain degree of practical grounding.
However, as of now, the concept of the “Trump Credit Card” remains at the conceptual stage. A leading…
Read More: The 10% interest rate cap faced opposition from the U.S. banking industry,
