WASHINGTON – The Senate Banking committee will hold a hearing this week examining credit card practices.

The hearing, scheduled for January 25, will be the first banking issue examined by Committee Chair Christopher Dodd (D-CT), reports American Banker. Sen. Dodd referenced credit cards as “pocket-size predatory loans,” the magazine reports.

While the hearing will not address interchange fees, these fees are top-of-mind with Congress given the current ad campaign underway by the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), of which NACS is a founding member.

The MPC’s print and radio campaign focuses on the “secret fees” associated with interchange fees, which are ultimately paid by consumers. One ad notes: "Turns out it wasn't the Grinch who stole Christmas after all. The credit card companies took a bite out of every present you bought with their cards." (Click here for samples of the ads.)

Visa spokeswoman Rhonda Bentz, told the magazine that the ads do not tell the "whole story," and that merchants ultimately seek to shift the cost of interchange to consumers.