Credit card debt interest rates could be capped by new bill

The newly-introduced Interest Rate Reduction Act would limit what lenders can charge for credit card debt, as well as all other consumer loans, to just 15 percent, according to the bill's author, New York Representative Maurice Hinchey. Currently, Hinchey says companies can increase rates with too little warning or justification.

"Many hardworking Americans are using credit cards to make ends meet in this recovering economy, but credit card companies are finding new ways to squeeze the middle class despite significant reforms in the last Congress," Hinchey said.

This is the second bill designed to limit interest rates on credit card debt that Hinchey has introduced, the report said. In the past, he has also authored one that attempted to cap rates at 18 percent.

Many in the credit card industry believe the government has already done too much to limit revenues from consumers' credit card debt, including restricting fees and altering rules for rate changes.