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

Cuban, a longtime Trump opponent, lashed out at the former president ahead of Trump’s scheduled economic speech in Savannah, Georgia, later Tuesday afternoon. Cuban previously supported Harris’ candidacy and has discussed ideas with her policy team.

“They have a whole policy team. I know when I’ve talked to them, it always goes back to, let’s talk to the policy team that’s responsible for health care, responsible for venture capital, responsible for startups — whatever it may be — and I get a serious, well-researched answer back,” Cuban said. “That’s the opposite of what Donald Trump does. He says things off the top of his head that tend to be ridiculous, if not insane.”

At a rally in New York last week, Trump floated the idea of ​​temporarily capping interest rates on credit cards at “about 10%.” He would need Congress to pass such a law, but it fits into his broader campaign effort to reach working-class voters.

“While working Americans are catching up, we’re going to temporarily cap interest rates on credit cards,” Trump said on Sept. 18. “We can’t let them earn 25% and 30%.”

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

“I mean, literally, Bernie Sanders proposed a cap of only 15%. So now you have Donald Trump who is more involved in price caps and price controls than self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders,” Cuban said. “And I think that just speaks volumes about how far Donald has gone with his socialist and communist leanings, right? I know it’s funny and a little out of hand, but it’s true.”

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

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

While Trump’s suggestion surprised some conservatives, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Republican, last fall proposed an 18% limit. The Wall Street Journal editorial board, often seen as the voice of establishment Republicans, criticized the idea as “a price control on credit.”

“Why do Messrs. Trump and Sanders think it is beneficial to restrict access to credit and instead send people to pawnbrokers or legbreakers? Credit card companies could respond by raising fees, as happened with free checking accounts after Democrats regulated debit card pass-through fees in 2010,” the board wrote.

Credit card companies are likely to respond to an interest rate cap by making it harder for some people to get credit, experts say.

“There’s no question that with a 10% rate cap, card issuers are tightening credit restrictions as they figure out how to continue making money in this new normal,” Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, told CNN.

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

Trump’s campaign defended his proposal, pointing out that credit card debt is at a record high. According to the New York Federal Reserve, Americans have $1.14 trillion in credit card debt. The interest rates Americans are paying on that 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 as wages fail to keep pace with inflation,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. “That’s why President Trump has pledged to cap interest rates at 10% to provide temporary and immediate relief to hardworking Americans who are struggling to make ends meet and can’t afford the high interest payments on top of the skyrocketing costs of mortgages, rent, groceries and gas.”