The General Assembly approved a bill Thursday to tighten regulation of high-interest loans to protect South Carolina consumers.

Members of the conference committee who negotiated the measure said they were confident Gov. Mark Sanford would sign the bill.

"I really think once he looks at it he'll see it's very friendly to the business community, while at the same time protecting the consumers," said Rep. Harry Cato, R-Travelers Rest. "It's a very good middle-of-the-road approach."

Sanford said Thursday he will review the bill before he considers signing it.

The bill seeks to block companies from making high-cost loans that hurt particularly low-income and elderly borrowers.

One of the key elements of the bill would require anyone seeking to borrow money at a higher-than-market interest rate to attend a credit counseling session. The session would be free of charge.

It would ban certain practices such as flipping, which is the repeated refinancing of loans typically done when a borrower is having trouble making payments.

The practice, however, tends to sink the borrower further into debt while generating high fee income for the lender.

Sen. Linda Short, D-Chester, said she is glad the compromise bill retained so much consumer protection.

"It provides a lot of protection for consumers, senior citizens in particular, who have been victimized so many times," she said. "I think it's going to give them a lot better security in financial dealings than they ever had in South Carolina, so I feel really good about it."