Published:
Visa
V and Mastercard MA may have a bigger problem than President Trump’s proposal to cap credit-card interest rates at 10% for a year.
The two companies run networks for payment processing, but they don’t actually lend to consumers the way American Express AXP, Capital One COF and Synchrony Financial SYF do. That means that under Trump’s rate-cap scenario, the companies could see lower spending volume if lenders opt to tighten credit access. But they wouldn’t have to dramatically alter their business models like the lenders might have to.