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Released: May 16, 2005

Senate Banking Committee to Scrutinize Credit Card Industry

Consumer advocates to face four of the largest credit card companies

The Senate Banking Committee hearing on Credit Card Practices will be held on Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 538.

Linda Sherry of Consumer Action, Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America, Edmund Mierzwinski of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Dr. Robert Manning, author of Credit Card Nation, will represent the consumer interest in a Senate Banking Committee hearing on credit card industry practices tomorrow.

On the same panel will be representatives of four of the largest credit card companies: CitiGroup, MBNA, Capital One and JP Morgan Chase. Also taking part in the hearings will be representatives of federal banking regulators, including the Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Abusive interest rate and fee practices by the credit card industry are the subject of increasing scrutiny by Congress, state and federal regulators, the media and consumers. For nine years, complaints about unfair credit card practices have topped Consumer Action’s list of all complaint categories. In 2004, 38% of the complaints we received were about credit cards. In the past six months, complaints to Consumer Action about “universal default,” hefty rate hikes imposed by credit card companies based on the way customers handle other credit accounts, have jumped more than 400% compared to the previous six months.

Downloads

Senate Banking Committee to Scrutinize Credit Card Industry   (CA_Testimony.pdf)

Tags/Keywords

credit card, press releases, interest rate, federal banking regulators, senate banking committee

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