INDIANAPOLIS (AP): An Indiana Senate committee has rejected proposed amendments to a bill after advocates for military veterans and working families warned the changes would saddle financially stressed people with exorbitant interest rates on small loans.
The Senate’s Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee voted 6-2 Thursday to defeat an amendment that would have added the interest rate provisions to a bill directing a legislative committee to study the lending issue over the summer.
The panel then unanimously approved the bill’s existing language calling for a summer study committee.
The defeated amendment would have allowed payday lenders to offer six-month loans of up to $1,000 at an annual percentage rate of 180 percent.
Jim Bauerle of the Military Veterans Coalition of Indiana testified that such high interest rates would harm financially struggling veterans.
