Senator sees credit card action this year

By John Poirier

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress is likely to move toward final legislation this year to reform often-criticized marketing and billing practices by credit card companies, a senior U.S. lawmaker said on Friday.

"I am hopeful that there will be action in both houses," Sen. Carl Levin, who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said at the Reuters Regulation Summit in Washington.

"That would mean conference," a meeting of senators and representatives to iron out differences between their bills after their respective chambers pass legislation, he said.

Levin, a Michigan Democrat, is critical of credit card companies, saying their billing practices sometimes blindside unsuspecting cardholders who become trapped in a mountain of exorbitant charges.

Amid growing frustration among consumers and some lawmakers, Levin's panel has held hearings to examine industry practices, and he has introduced legislation to change them.

However, the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over financial services companies, would need to introduce its own legislation on credit card reform.

The banking committee's chairman, Christopher Dodd, pledged last month to "soon" offer legislation that would address concerns about industry marketing and billing practices.

"I am hopeful that legislation will be coming out of the banking committee this year," Levin said at the summit.  Continued...