Key Points
- Banks quickly raised interest rates to record levels and added new monthly fees on credit cards last year when a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule threatened a key revenue source for the industry.
- Now they’re far more reluctant to reverse those steps, even after bank trade groups succeeded in killing the CFPB rule in federal court last month.
- Synchrony and Bread Financial, two of the biggest players in the business of issuing branded credit cards for the likes of Amazon, Lowe’s and Wayfair, are keeping the higher rates in place, executives said in recent conference calls.
