President Trump's call for a nationwide 10% cap on credit card interest rates sounds straightforward enough: lower rates, happier consumers. But here's the thing about price controls—they tend to create ripple effects nobody saw coming. And according to industry experts, this particular proposal could reshape everything from your travel rewards to which Americans can even get a credit card in the first place.

Your Points Are in Danger

Let's start with the part that'll hit your wallet directly. Dave Grossman, founder of Your Best Credit Cards, told MarketDash that credit card rewards would likely be among the first things to go. If banks can't price risk appropriately through interest rates while interchange fees stay the same, they'll need to make up that revenue somewhere else.

The result? A "K-shaped" divergence in consumer finance. "You could imagine a bifurcation of rewards where they get limited to those with premium cards and premium annual fees," Grossman explained. Translation: if you're not paying $500-plus annually for an elite card, your points might evaporate. The rich get richer with better perks, while everyone else watches their cash-back disappear.

Airlines Might Need Another Bailout

Here's where it gets interesting. The airline industry isn't just adjacent to credit card economics—it's completely dependent on it. Grossman put it bluntly: "Keep in mind that the airline industry is ties to the rewards industry. Without the sale of miles to banks, airlines could need a bailout."

That's not hyperbole. U.S. airlines have built entire business models around loyalty programs and co-branded credit cards, generating tens of billions in ancillary revenue that sometimes exceeds actual ticket profits. These partnerships are strategic lifelines, not nice-to-have extras.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) pulled in about $2 billion from its American Express loyalty partnership in Q3 2025 alone—a 12% jump year-over-year, with nearly all of it coming from spending on Delta co-branded cards. American Airlines (AAL) was sitting on roughly $3.7 billion in loyalty program liability as of Sept. 30, representing the massive volume of miles issued through card partnerships. And United Airlines (UAL) reported $3.49 billion in "other revenue" driven largely by co-branded credit card spending, according to its annual filing.

If banks suddenly can't afford to buy miles at current rates because their credit card margins got sliced in half, that revenue stream dries up fast. And airlines without that cushion? They start looking fragile again.

The People This Is Supposed to Help Get Hurt Most

John Garner, founder and CEO of Odynn, told MarketDash that subprime and near-prime borrowers—the folks with less-than-perfect credit—would feel the squeeze first. "A 10% APR cap sounds great at first, but the downsides hit fast," Garner said. "This isn't leveling the playing field—it's shrinking it."

Think about it from a bank's perspective: if you can't charge enough interest to offset the risk of lending to someone with a 620 credit score, you just... don't lend to them. Jennifer Doss of CardRatings.com warned that restricting credit card access would actually hinder upward mobility by limiting consumers' ability to build credit. Worse, it could push people who still need financing toward payday loans and other costlier, less regulated options with fewer consumer protections.

Mike Taiano of Moody's Ratings did note one silver lining: a temporary one-year cap would likely cause less pullback from issuers compared to a permanent restriction. But even short-term disruption could leave lasting scars.

Price Controls: A History of Backfiring

Economists have been skeptical of price controls for, well, centuries. Thomas Aiello, Senior Director of Government Affairs at the National Taxpayers Union, didn't mince words: "Government-imposed price controls do not work." Setting prices below market rates, he argued, "leads to shortages, squeezes the cost bubble toward some other portion of the economy, and imposes a deadweight cost on society."

The big banks aren't thrilled either. Citigroup Inc. (C)'s outgoing CFO Mark Mason and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon have both expressed disapproval of Trump's proposal. Taiano from Moody's said it would be a credit negative for major card-issuing banks, squeezing net interest income, slowing loan growth, and reducing volume-based revenues. The exact impact would vary depending on each bank's business model and risk tolerance, but nobody's expecting good news.

So here we are: a policy designed to help consumers could end up eliminating rewards for the middle class, destabilizing airlines, and cutting off credit access for the people who need it most. Sometimes the best intentions create the messiest outcomes.