I'm confused. The preemption rule states that we are, as national banks, preempted from state interest rate rules. However, it refers to 12CFR7.4001 which (to me) says that we cannot exceed state usury laws for consumers loans. Think I'm missing something!

Pre-emption applies when there is a conflict between state and federal regulations. As there is no federal usuary rate, the state limit would be the guiding factor.

Preemption also includes an "except" statement -- except where federal law or regulation requires compliance with state law. This an example.

What preemption does, however, is allow a national bank to export the rates of its home state to other states without regard to the laws of those other states (in general).