You hit the nail on the head. That “pinch” your cousin is feeling is the exact friction point playing out across the entire country right now.
It really comes down to a brutal tug-of-war between two massive economic forces:
The Debt Trap: Average credit card APRs are stuck near historic highs of 19.4% to 19.8%. For an average household carrying a balance, that high carry cost is quietly wiping out their disposable income just to pay off interest on basic necessities.
The Policy Backlash: While proposed interest rate caps (like the 10% temporary cap) aim to save consumers $100 billion annually, banks are already fighting back. To protect their margins, issuers are tightening lending standards, cutting credit limits, and slashing rewards programs.
It’s a classic economic vice: consumers are suffocating under high interest rates on older debt, while simultaneously facing restricted access to liquidity as banks brace for stricter regulations.
I actually just read a piece highlighting exactly how bad this systemic squeeze is getting for the average borrower. (I’ll drop the article link in the reply below).
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