Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM) stock rose 3% Monday morning after President Donald Trump called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10% starting January 20.
The proposal, announced on Trump’s Truth Social platform, could benefit buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and personal loan providers while negatively impacting traditional banks and credit card companies.
Major banks saw their shares decline in premarket trading, with Citigroup (NYSE:C) tumbling 4%, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) falling 3%, and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) dropping 2.5%. Credit card lenders were hit even harder, as American Express (NYSE:AXP) shed 4.8%, Capital One (NYSE:COF) fell 8%, while consumer finance firms Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) and Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) slumped between 10.5% and 11.6%.
Mizuho’s Dan Dolev wrote, “President Trump’s tweet on Truth Social demanding a one-year 10% cap on credit card interest rates could have major positive ramifications for BNPL and personal loan providers like AFRM, UPST, SOFI, XYZ & PYPL.”
Analysts suggest the proposed cap could drive consumers with lower credit scores toward alternative lending options as traditional banks might tighten lending standards. Beneficiaries could include Affirm, Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST), SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI), and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), which offer BNPL services or personal loans.
According to Evercore ISI’s Sarah Bianchi, implementing such a cap would likely require legislation, as the National Bank Act currently allows credit card companies to charge interest at the maximum rate permitted by the laws of the state where the bank is located.





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