WASHNGTON – Some top Democrats have turned their attention to correcting what they perceive as "unfair" practices in the credit card industry, such as unfair fees, incomprehensible disclosure statements and confusing interest rates, Congress Daily reports.

The more than $1.8 trillion U.S. credit card market is dominated by 10 big banks controlling more than 90 percent of the market. According to the Federal Reserve, the average family credit card debt in 2004 was $5,100.

"I don't want to paint with a big brush. The abuses here are serious enough that you can paint with the appropriate width brush and still uncover enough abuses and hopefully will produce some legislation and regulation as well as education to correct this," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told the news source. Sen. Levin is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which will conduct hearings on the credit card industry as early as February.

Sen. Levin hopes these hearings will generate enough outrage over industry practices that Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) will be able to get legislation addressing those practices passed. Sen. Dodd also has been a vocal industry critic.

Sen. Levin will build his case based on an October Government Accountability Office report that details practice of fees, interest rates and disclosures from 28 popular credit cards from the six largest issuers. His staff is seeking out consumer complaints about practices such as double-cycle billing, additional fees charged by banks for online or phone payments and confusing payment-allocation rules.