Washington — Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York hopes to have completed by this fall an investigation into the relationships between credit-card companies and college officials, according to Benjamin Lawsky, deputy counselor to Mr. Cuomo, who previously investigated questionable ties between lenders and financial-aid officials.

Mr. Lawsky testified at a hearing today of the House consumer-credit subcommittee in which members considered various ways to reduce students’ credit-card debt and misuse. Panelists, including Mr. Lawsky, sketched a scenario in which students are taken advantage of by predatory companies, who offer free gifts and withhold important information about payments and rates to students who apply for credit cards.

Another panelist, Kenneth J. Clayton, managing director of the American Bankers Association’s Card Policy Council, said such a portrait obscured the responsibility of students. “Credit-card companies don’t give students an open check,” he said.

Members of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit discussed various ways to improve the situation, including making uniform the standards for underwriting credit, limiting exclusivity agreements between colleges and credit-card issuers, and adding a co-signer option.

Mr. Lawsky spoke in favor of curbing excessive marketing to students, including college-branded credit cards and colleges’ practice of selling personal data about students to credit-card marketers.

“Students trust their schools,” said Mr. Lawsky. “There is an opportunity here for schools to play an important gatekeeper role.” —Ingrid Norton