Congress Sets Sights On Credit Card Industry Practices

Alison Vekshin writes for Bloomberg News on plans by Sen. Carl Levin (who becomes chairman of the Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations in January) to hold a hearing to help prepare legislation "to crack down on issuers." Levin gave the keynote address yesterday at a policy forum titled "Who's in Charge? - Exploring Issues in and Policy Solutions for Credit Card Markets", sponsored by the Center for American Progress. In the speech, he said "if credit card companies do not promptly take the initiative to clean up their industry, Congress and the regulators – including the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – must take action."