COLUMBIA, S.C. - A Senate subcommittee approved a bill Thursday that targets high interest rate loans and the practice of repeatedly refinancing them.

The bill targets key elements of predatory lending practices, including loading loans with fees and insurance, and frequent refinancing, called flipping, that's cost people their homes.

The Banking and Insurance subcommittee approved a bill that:

_ Caps up front interest charges, or points, at 5 percent;

_ Prevents financing credit life insurance as part of the loan;

_ Requires consumer credit counseling for some high-risk loan borrowers before they can close the loan.

"I think what we fashioned is pretty close to North Carolina," said Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Chairman David Thomas, the Fountain Inn Republican who spent much of last year pulling together consumer and lending interests.

"We want to eliminate the really egregious acts" of some lenders, he said. "We give consumers more power."

"I feel like we got a lot for the consumer today," said Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center in Columbia.

It was a good day for Berkowitz who helped lead efforts to create the bill and worked out compromises with lenders on its details. On Thursday, Berkowitz repeatedly convinced the panel not to adopt changes pushed by factions of the lending community.

Thomas said lenders should be less critical of the measure because future versions of the legislation could be tougher on them. "It's in everyone's best interest to get this issue worked out."

Sen. Luke Rankin, D-Myrtle Beach added: "It sounds like we struck a good balance."

The bill now heads to the full Banking and Insurance Committee. A House Labor, Commerce and Industry subcommittee is working on similar legislation.