The average credit-card interest rate is now just over 21%, up from about 15% a decade ago. Additionally, as credit-card companies continue to charge high interest rates, more cardholders in debt become delinquent — and that could push the US economy closer to recession. Advertisement'The highest credit-card rates we've ever seen'Until 1978, most states had laws capping interest rates for credit cards and consumer products. Lowering the current high interest rates, and the profits that come with them, has become a priority across the aisle. Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate, described the feedback loop of high prices and high interest rates as "a tough cycle to break."

---

Persons: Lana Linge, it's, Linge, isn't, Adam Rust, Bruce McClary, TransUnion, Austan Goolsbee, Rust, You've, you've, Antoinette Schoar, Schoar, David Silberman, GOP Sen, Josh Hawley, Hawley, Democratic Sen, Elizabeth Warren, Michele Raneri, Ranieri, Ted Rossman Organizations: Consumer Federation of America, Federal Reserve, National Foundation, Credit, Federal Reserve Bank of New, New York Fed, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Louis Federal Reserve, Federal, Financial, MIT, Center for Responsible Lending, Lawmakers, GOP, Democratic, Reserve, TransUnion Locations: overspending, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, South Dakota, Delaware