The news: Citi and Bank of America topped Q4 estimates as Wells Fargo fell short, with executives issuing severe misgivings about President Trump’s proposed 10% credit card rate caps.

• Citigroup topped analysts’ expectations with $21 billion in adjusted revenues, per CNBC.
• Bank of America exceeded targets with its best fourth-quarter earnings to date at $28.4 billion in revenue, per Bloomberg.
• Wells Fargo reported $21.3 billion in net income, missing analysts’ target, per Bloomberg.

Consumer financial health: Across all three banks, consumers maintained financial resilience through the holiday season.

• Wells Fargo’s 30- and 90-day delinquency rates hit 2.8% and 1.43%, falling from 2.91% and 1.51%, respectively, a year ago.
• Citigroup’s 30-day delinquency rate rose from 1.03% in Q4 2024 to 1.09% Q4 2025.
• And Bank of America’s 30- and 90-day delinquency rates decreased to 2.46% and 1.27%.

Consumer spending increasing year-over-year reflects similar  resilience: 

• Wells Fargo’s credit card purchase volume increased 9% YoY.
• Citigroup’s credit card spend volume ticked up 4% YoY.
• And Bank of America’s combined credit and debit card spend increased 6% YoY.

Warning shots for Trump: C-suite executives didn’t mince words speaking on Trump’s proposed credit card interest rate cap.

• Speaking to reporters, Citigroup’s CFO Mark Manson stated that “An interest rate cap is not something that we would or could support,” adding that it would “restrict access to credit to those who need it the most, and frankly, have a deleterious impact on the economy.”
• Wells Fargo CFO Mike Santomassimo said that the cap would have “a significant negative impact on credit availability for a wide spectrum of people,” in an earnings call on Wednesday.
• CEO Brian Moynihan emphasized similar points in the earnings call: “If you bring the caps down, you're going to get strict credit, meaning less people will get credit cards and the balance available to them on those credit cards will also be restricted.

Implications for lenders: Consumers with prime and superprime credit scores held strong through the holiday season. However, US adults outside this bracket likely remain in a fragile economic situation.

Abrupt regulatory uncertainty could make that fragility even worse. Buy now, pay later firms stand to pick up these consumers if underwriting continues to tighten to adjust for risk.