New York, Jan 12, 2026, 17:23 EST — After-hours
- Capital One shares fell about 6% as investors weighed a proposed 10% cap on credit-card interest rates
- A U.S. judge granted preliminary approval to Capital One’s revised $425 million depositor settlement
- Focus shifts to any policy steps by Jan. 20 and Capital One’s Jan. 22 earnings report
Capital One Financial Corp shares were down 6.4% at $233.20 in after-hours trading on Monday, after sliding as low as $221.68 earlier in the session.
The drop put the spotlight back on a political risk traders had mostly parked: U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for a one-year cap on credit-card interest rates at 10%. For card-heavy lenders, interest on revolving balances is the business — and it is hard for investors to model a headline that big, even if it never lands.
Wall Street analysts noted the plan’s legal path looks narrow. “It would take an Act of Congress” for a rate cap to stick, UBS Global analysts wrote, while J.P. Morgan’s Vivek Juneja warned in a note that a cap “could push consumers towards more expensive debt” outside banks. Investors now turn to bank earnings starting Tuesday for any read-through on credit demand and credit quality, as the average credit-card rate in November stood at 20.97%, according to Federal Reserve data cited in the report. (Reuters)
The selloff hit other consumer lenders and payments names tied to card spending, with investors broadly marking down stocks exposed to credit-card yield and fees. (Financial Times)
Separately, a federal judge granted preliminary approval to Capital One’s revised $425 million settlement with depositors who said they were short-changed on savings-account rates. The updated deal also requires Capital One to raise rates on 360 Savings accounts to match its higher-yielding 360 Performance Savings accounts — a change the depositors’ lawyers valued at about $530 million — and keep both account types running for at least two years; a final approval hearing is set for April 20. Depositors’ lawyer Philip Black called it “a great result for the class,” and New York Attorney General Letitia James said the bank “misled them and cheated them,” adding her office would drop its case if the settlement becomes final; Capital One did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reuters)
The next hard date for investors is Jan. 22, when Capital One is set to release fourth-quarter 2025 results after the close and hold a conference call at 5 p.m. Eastern. (Business Wire)
But the near-term risk sits in Washington. If the rate-cap idea turns into a serious push — even without a clear legal mechanism — traders expect lenders to talk tougher on credit limits and approvals, and markets could start discounting lower card margins and weaker rewards economics.
For now, the market’s watch list is tight: any signal before Jan. 20 that the White House or lawmakers plan to pursue the cap, and what bank executives say this week about consumer credit, delinquency trends and pricing power as earnings roll in.
