Struggling with bad credit can make it seem difficult to achieve your financial goals. After all, having a poor credit score can make it much harder to qualify for loans or refinance existing debt at a lower rate. Now that Donald Trump has been sworn into office as president, you may wonder how his administration’s policies could affect your current or future debts.Depending on how Trump implements tariffs, it could influence how difficult it is for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. Plus, his Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) hiring decision and the administration’s review of pending rules could impact whether medical debt is removed from credit reports. However, while policy changes can affect your finances, there are still actions you can take to better manage debt and achieve a higher credit score — no matter who is in the White House.Can a new presidential administration affect your credit?A new presidential election can influence interest rates on loan products indirectly with policy decisions. However, the Federal Reserve, which is an independent government organization, has the final say on whether to raise or lower rates based on economic data. For example, although President Trump called for lower rates, the Fed decided to hold rates steady at its January meeting.That said, the president has the authority to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an organization that creates and enforces rules to protect consumers. President Trump fired the director Joe Biden appointed, Rohit Chopra, on Feb. 1, 2025. During his tenure, he pushed regulation that would remove medical debt from credit reports — a move that could help consumers that have bad credit as a result of medical bills.What policies under the Trump administration could affect people’s finances?Several policies enacted under the administration could impact the price of goods and services or interest rates.TariffsThe Trump administration announced that it would enact 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods on Feb. 1, 2025, but decided to pause them for one month a few days later.Tariffs, which are taxes on imports, could lead to a rise in home insurance and auto insurance prices, along with other goods and services if companies pass the increased costs to consumers. As a result, this could lead to consumers having less money to pay off debt or relying on credit more.That said, exactly how tariffs could impact consumers depends on several factors, including how they are implemented. “Some of the worst case scenarios which are feared from tariffs, depending on their implementation and application, include a further ignition of inflation, potential retaliation by targeted countries and constrained economic growth,”says Mark Hamrick, Bankrate’s senior economic analyst.In addition to potentially increasing the price of insurance, tariffs could make car loans and other auto loan
Ven. Feb 7th, 2025
