Bernie Sanders blasts Amazon over new credit card for people with bad credit

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday blasted Amazon over reports that the retail giant will offer a credit card for “underbanked” customers with bad credit.

“This kind of greed makes the poor even poorer and @AOC and I intend to outlaw it,” Sanders tweeted Thursday, referencing progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). “Corporations will have to survive on a 15% cap on interest rates.”

Can you believe it? Amazon is issuing credit cards with 28% interest rates to “help” people with bad credit. This kind of greed makes the poor even poorer and @AOC and I intend to outlaw it. Corporations will have to survive on a 15% cap on interest rates. https://t.co/O3v1XOoMk3

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 12, 2019

{mosads}The proposed card will be available to customers who might otherwise not have good enough credit to obtain a credit card. It carries a 28 percent interest rate.

In May, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation that would cap interest rates on consumer loans at 15 percent.

“Predatory lending and our credit rating system targets lower income Americans and people who are living paycheck to paycheck with manipulative practices and hidden fees — trapping millions in a cycle of systemic poverty as their hard-earned money is funneled into exorbitant bonuses for Wall Street executives,” Ocasio-Cortez’s team told supporters in a May email.

Sanders has also been a frequent critic of Amazon’s business practices, frequently pointing out that the company paid no federal income tax in 2018.

Amazon last year also raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour after pressure from Sanders and other activists.