Do sampled US cards offer a standard purchase APR at 10% or less?

What is the 10% cap proposal?

Legislative status checked October 20, 2026: S. 381 remains at the introduced stage and has not become law. Its latest recorded action is referral to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on February 4, 2025. Official bill-status record. This study models a hypothetical cap; it does not describe a cap currently in force.

The 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act (S. 381) would limit the APR on any credit card to 10%, including all finance charges, until January 1, 2031. Senators Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley introduced it on February 4, 2025, and it was referred to the Senate Banking Committee; a companion bill, H.R. 1944, is in the House. The text we quote is the bill as introduced.

The bill’s sunset date and the President’s proposed duration differ. In January 2026 the President called on Congress to pass a cap for one year:

How far is each issuer’s lowest rate from 10%?

Even each issuer’s best rate, for its strongest applicants, is above 10%. The closest are Navy Federal Credit Union (10.24%), Huntington Bank (13.74%), Alliant Credit Union (13.99%).

What is the modeled interest difference in each state?

On the end-2025 balance per adult with a credit report, held unchanged for a year, the historical difference between 22.30% (November 2025) and 10% is $535 nationally: most in Alaska ($646) among the 50 states, least in Mississippi ($373). The rate is the same national average everywhere, so the order follows each state’s card debt per person.

Historical illustration, not observed or forecast savings. The same balance is held for a full year, with no repayments or new spending. Balances include people who pay in full; actual savings depend on interest-bearing balances, APRs and repayments. It does not model changes to fees, rewards or access to credit under a cap.

What do supporters and opponents estimate?

The two most cited estimates point in opposite directions. Neither is ours, and each comes from a side of the debate; we quote both so you can read them at the source.

Savings for borrowers

Lost access to credit

What our data adds: whichever estimate is closer, a 10% cap would apply to every card we track, because none of them is priced at or below it today.

Is there already a cap on any credit cards?

Yes, for federal credit unions. Their law sets a 15% ceiling, which the NCUA, their regulator, has raised to 18% under a temporary extension:

The 9 federal credit union cards we track (Navy Federal Credit Union and PenFed Credit Union) all have a highest rate of 18% or less. Of the other cards, only the TD First Class℠ Visa Signature® Credit Card (TD Bank, 16.74%) stays within 18%.

Every sampled card’s standard purchase APR against 10%

All 137 cards, lowest rate first. “Points above 10%” is how far each end of the published range would have to fall to meet the cap.

Not included, because the issuer’s page we checked doesn’t give a rate we can quote: Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express; Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express; Discover it® Secured Cash Back; PenFed Gold Visa® Card.

How we calculated it

• Card rates are each sampled card’s standard purchase APR range as its issuer publishes it, in the table of rates and fees (the Schumer box) that federal law requires. We save a dated copy of each issuer’s terms and check every figure against it automatically; every card is re-checked weekly. Intro rates, balance transfer and cash advance rates are left out of the comparison: an intro rate lasts a set number of months and then the standard rate applies. The 39 cards with an intro purchase rate of 10% or less are counted in the findings.
• The lowest rate in a range goes to applicants with the strongest credit; the highest to the weakest. Most rates are variable and move with the prime rate.
• State figures use the New York Fed’s card debt per person (balances on Equifax credit reports divided by people aged 18 and over with a credit report, end of 2025) times the Federal Reserve’s average APR on accounts charged interest, 22.30% in November 2025, the survey nearest that date: simple interest for a year, and the same balance at 10%.

Read the state figures as an illustration of scale, not a bill. The balances include amounts paid in full each month, which are never charged interest, so for many people the saving is zero and for those carrying more it is larger. The rate is a national average (how the Federal Reserve measures average credit card APRs). And they assume the same balances under a cap, which is what both sides dispute: whether issuers would lend as much at 10%.

Our cards are those we list, not every card in the US; the 137 with a published APR range come from 28 issuers, including the largest. See how we choose and check cards.

Use this data

Every card (CSV) · Every state (CSV) · The chart (PNG, 1200 × 630) · The infographic (PNG, 1200 × 4660). Free to use with credit under CC BY 4.0.

Cite this page

BestCreditCards, “Do sampled US cards offer a standard purchase APR at 10% or less?”, updated October 22, 2026, https://bestcredit.cards/credit-card-interest-rate-cap.

Embed the infographic

The whole study in one image: every card, every issuer, every state, both sides’ estimates and the sources. It is drawn from the same data as this page and redrawn when the figures change.

<a href="https://bestcredit.cards/credit-card-interest-rate-cap"><img src="https://bestcredit.cards/credit-card-interest-rate-cap/infographic.png" width="1200" height="4660" style="max-width:100%;height:auto" alt="Infographic: none of the 137 US credit cards BestCreditCards tracks has a standard purchase APR at or below 10%; the lowest is 10.24%. A historical, constant-balance scenario gives an annual interest difference of $535 using end-2025 balances and November 2025 APRs; not observed savings. Charts of every card, every issuer and every state."></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://bestcredit.cards/credit-card-interest-rate-cap">BestCreditCards</a>, from card issuers’ published rates and Federal Reserve data.</p>

Embed the chart

<a href="https://bestcredit.cards/credit-card-interest-rate-cap"><img src="https://bestcredit.cards/credit-card-interest-rate-cap/chart.png" width="1200" height="630" alt="None of the 137 US credit cards BestCreditCards tracks has a standard purchase APR at or below 10%: a chart of every card's lowest rate, all above the 10% line; the lowest is 10.24%"></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://bestcredit.cards/credit-card-interest-rate-cap">BestCreditCards</a>, from card issuers’ published rates.</p>

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