Written Testimony on the Credit Card Industry Before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the House Committee on Financial Services, April 26, 2007

This written testimony was presented on April 26, 2007, at a hearing on "Credit Card Practices: Current Consumer and Regulatory Issues," before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. The testimony discussed the adverse effects on consumers resulting from (1) increased consolidation in the credit card industry, (2) rapid growth in credit card service fees and penalty charges, and (3) federal preemption of state consumer protection laws, including the impact of preemptive regulations issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), the federal regulator of national banks. The testimony also described the OCC’s failure to provide adequate protections for consumers against abusive lending practices involving national banks. This testimony has been cited by a number of other scholars and policy analysts.To ensure that the testimony will remain publicly available, I am posting it on the Social Science Research Network.