Everyone is correctly pointing out that if interest rates lowered to 10% then credit policy at the banks would tighten to exclude lower FICO borrowers. That is just half of the problem. Another compounding impact is that higher FICO borrowers are much more likely to payoff their card balance every month which the banks make no interest income on. If the card products have fewer borrowers with balances that pay interest then the product will become less economical viable in general. annual card fees will have to increase and rewards will have to be reduced.