(Yahoo)
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced on Thursday a plan to rein in the profit banks can collect from consumers, proposing to cap credit card interest rates at 15%.
“Despite the fact that banks can borrow money today at less than 2.5% from the Federal Reserve, the average credit card interest rate today for consumers is a record-breaking 17.71%,” the Vermont Senator and freshman Queens Congresswoman said in a statement about the plan.
The plan is meant to contain credit card rates that are well above other benchmarks. The average annual percentage rate (APR) on new credit card offers rose to another record high of 17.73%, according to CreditCards.com — a full percentage point higher than it was a year ago despite interest rates that are near historic lows.
Consumers with less-than-perfect credit scores are being offered especially high interest rates, and Bankrate points out that even borrowers with good credit are paying over 17%, on average. Read more
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