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