Members of the Senate Banking Committee are set to begin their first consumer-orientated examination of the credit card industry today, to examine ways in which they can tighten billing, marketing, and disclosure rules have led to what some see as high consumer debt and excessive fees. New Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is heading the examination, and said he plans to enact legislation that would require credit card companies not to raise fees and interest rates on card-holders who want to cancel a card and disclose the length of time required to pay off balances when making only minimum monthly payments.

Meanwhile, The American Bankers Association, which represents credit-card issuers, says it respects the Senate's rights to look into card industry issues, but cautioned them to act carefully. Ken Clayton, an industry's card policy head, said that he hope that Congress will take no action that directly or indirectly increases consumer costs, reduces availability of credit or otherwise limits competition or innovation in this very dynamic industry. The meetings also come just as several major credit card companies are preparing to IPO - most notably Real Visa, which would join MasterCard and American Express as public companies. Overall, decisions made in these meetings could have wide reaching implications that could affect both consumers, credit card companies, and their investors.