National Taxpayers Union on Monday announced the launch of a major advertising campaign warning voters about the effects of credit card price controls on affordability and access to credit for many consumers.
The campaign will reach audiences through targeted digital advertising, highlighting how government-mandated price controls would increase consumer costs and harm the very families they are intended to help.
“Price controls on credit will backfire onto the vast majority of card holders with disastrous consequences,” said Brandon Arnold, Executive Vice President of National Taxpayers Union. “It’s no secret Americans feel the pressure of high costs. This is not the solution.”
Recent weeks have seen increasing congressional interest with the poorly named Credit Card Competition Act, as well as calls for a 10% cap on credit card rates. Implementing these policies would cause significant disruptions to the consumer credit market, leading card issuers to tighten underwriting standards, eliminate popular rewards programs, and introduce new or higher fees to offset lost revenue, according to research by NTU.
“These policies would disproportionately harm consumers who rely on credit cards to manage cash flow, build credit, or respond to emergencies,” Arnold said.
The advertising campaign builds on NTU’s recent letter to lawmakers and continued advocacy urging Congress to reject credit card price control proposals and instead pursue policies that promote competition, innovation, and affordability through free markets rather than federal mandates.
NTU has fought these types of price controls for years. In 2011, the organization warned against Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) anti-competitive “Durbin Amendment” that resulted in the demise of free checking accounts. The Durbin Amendment spawned many similar regulatory efforts in the states, and NTU has been at the forefront of the effort to defeat them through public education and advocacy.
National Taxpayers Union is the only free-market organization for taxpayers that unites effective advocacy with useful research about how to limit taxes, spending, and regulation at every level and branch of government—state, federal, administrative, and judicial.