10% Credit Card Rate Cap Stalled? Credit Unions Stop at 18%

On a Friday night in January, Dana in Columbus read that President Trump wanted a 10% cap on credit card interest starting January 20. She had $7,400 on a bank card charging 27.49%, and she did the math on her phone right there: at 10%, her interest would drop from about $170 a month to about $62. So she waited for the cap to show up on her statement.

It's the end of September. Her APR is still 27.49%.

The 10% credit card rate cap never arrived, and there's no sign it will soon. What most of the coverage skipped is that a legal cap on card interest already exists. It's 18%, it's been in place since 1987, and it applies to every federal credit union in the country. If you're carrying a balance on a high-rate card, that older, quieter cap is the one worth your attention this fall.

Whatever happened to the 10% cap?

Trump's post on January 9 called for a one-year 10% cap. It was a request to the card industry, and it didn't come with any legal teeth. As CNBC reported at the time, it wasn't clear how the White House could enforce a cap without Congress, and bank insiders warned of "devastating" side effects for borrowers.

Congress has a bill that would do it. The 10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act (S. 381 in the Senate, H.R. 1944 in the House) was introduced in February 2025 by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley. It would cap card APRs at 10% until 2031, and a lender that knowingly broke the cap would forfeit all the interest on the debt. According to Congress.gov, the Senate version was read twice and sent to the Banking Committee, and it still hasn't made it out.

So as of today, there is no general federal cap on credit card interest. The one standing exception is the Military Lending Act, which limits rates to 36% for active-duty service members and their covered dependents. That protection matters, but 36% is well above what most cards charge anyway.

Meanwhile, rates haven't budged much. Bankrate's weekly average card APR was 19.61% on September 23, 2026, up a hair from 19.56% the week before. And the Federal Reserve's G.19 report puts the average rate on accounts that were charged interest at 22.15% in the second quarter of 2026. That second number is the one to watch if you carry a balance, because it's what people like Dana pay.

The rate cap that already exists

Federal credit unions play by different rules than banks. The Federal Credit Union Act limits them to a 15% interest rate on loans, credit cards included. The law lets the National Credit Union Administration raise that ceiling temporarily, for up to 18 months at a time, when market rates have been climbing. The NCUA set it at 18% on May 15, 1987, and it has renewed the 18% figure ever since.

The latest renewal came on February 6, 2026. The NCUA extended the 18% ceiling through September 10, 2027, according to the agency's own press release. America's Credit Unions, the industry's trade group, counted it as the 25th time the ceiling has been kept at 18%.

In practice, the cap reaches further than you'd guess. Take Navy Federal Credit Union, the country's largest. As of September 30, 2026, its card APRs run from 10.24% to 18.00% depending on credit, per the disclosures on its Platinum card page. Its cash advance APR is 18%. Its penalty APR, the rate that kicks in if you fall more than 60 days behind, is also 18%. On a lot of bank cards, both of those rates sit well above the purchase APR, so it's worth pulling up your own card agreement to compare.

The gap shows up in broad averages too. The NCUA's quarterly rate survey, drawn from S&P Global data, found that on December 26, 2025, the average classic (non-rewards) card charged 12.58% at credit unions versus 15.27% at banks. Those are advertised rates on basic cards, so they run lower than Bankrate's figure, which includes pricier rewards cards. The direction is still clear.

What 18% versus 27% is worth

Go back to Dana. She has $7,400 at 27.49% and she's paying $250 a month. At that pace, I ran the numbers and she'd need 51 months to clear it and would pay about $5,111 in interest along the way.

Move the same balance to a card at 18% and keep paying $250. She's done in 40 months and pays about $2,457 in interest. That's roughly $2,650 saved and nearly a year of payments she never has to make.

Even if she had to pay a 3% balance transfer fee ($222), she'd still come out way ahead. Some credit union cards skip that fee entirely. Navy Federal's Platinum card, for example, charges no balance transfer fee and currently offers a 0.99% intro APR for 12 months on balances moved in the first 60 days.

To be fair to the 10% crowd, 10% would be better still. At that rate, Dana would finish in 35 months and pay about $1,133. But 10% is a bill in committee. The 18% cap is a card she could apply for this week.

The catches

The cap is a ceiling, and your rate could land right on it. Someone with fair credit might get approved at exactly 18%. That's still a big step down from 27%, but it isn't the 10.24% on the ad.

You have to be a member first. Every credit union has a "field of membership," which might be your employer, where you live, your military service, or a partner organization you can join. Navy Federal, for instance, is limited to the military, the Defense Department, veterans, and their families. Plenty of other credit unions are easier to get into, and the NCUA's Credit Union Locator (mapping.ncua.gov) lets you search by address.

The cap covers federal credit unions only. State-chartered credit unions follow their own state's rules, and those vary. The word "Federal" usually appears in the name of a federally chartered one, but the safest check is the NCUA's "Research a Credit Union" tool, which shows the charter type.

Rewards are usually weaker. If you pay your card off every month, APR doesn't matter to you at all, and a bank card with better cash back probably wins. The 18% cap helps people who carry a balance.

And the ceiling isn't permanent. The NCUA revisits it every 18 months. If it ever let the temporary ceiling lapse, the law would drop back to 15%, which would be lower still. It's worth noting that the February extension was made by a board with only one sitting member, Chairman Kyle Hauptman, after the two Democratic members were fired and sued over it. I don't expect that to change the cap, but a one-member board is unusual, so keep an eye on it.

How to make the switch without denting your credit

Start with a phone call to your current issuer. Ask for a lower APR, and mention that you're looking at a credit union card capped at 18%. Sometimes that's enough to get a few points knocked off, and it costs you nothing.

If the bank won't move, find a federal credit union you can join. Look for one that offers prequalification, which uses a soft credit check and doesn't affect your score. Navy Federal and many others do this. Only submit a full application once you know roughly what rate you'd get.

When you're approved, move the balance with a balance transfer rather than paying the old card off with cash you'd otherwise keep as a buffer. Then leave the old card open. Closing it cuts your total available credit, which pushes up your credit utilization and can knock your score down right when you're trying to rebuild.

Last, stop adding new charges to either card until the transferred balance is gone. A lower rate helps only if the balance keeps shrinking.

Bottom Line

The 10% cap is stuck in a Senate committee. The 18% cap has been law at federal credit unions since 1987 and now runs through September 10, 2027. If you carry a balance above 18%, you can use it today.

Here's what to do this week:

1. Find your current APR on your latest statement. If it's above 18% and you carry a balance, you're a candidate to switch.
2. Call your issuer and ask for a lower rate. Write down what they offer.
3. Search the NCUA Credit Union Locator for a federal credit union you're eligible to join, and run its card prequalification (soft pull only).
4. If the credit union offer beats your bank, transfer the balance, keep the old card open, and set an autopay amount that clears the debt in under three years.