Servicemen and women would be shielded from people pushing inferior or overpriced financial service and insurance packages under legislation ready for President Bush's signature.

The measure, given final congressional clearance by the House yesterday, would allow state insurance regulators to better enforce state and federal law on military bases.

It also would ban discredited financial products no longer available on civilian markets but still sold to people in the service, who tend to be younger and less schooled in financial matters.

The chief House sponsor, Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., said that as a former combat arms officer he was among the service members losing thousands of dollars from deceptively advertised investments. He said that he and his wife lost nearly half their savings "on this so-called investment."

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., who sponsored the Senate bill with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., noted cases where service members were sold life insurance policies with low benefits and premiums as high as 14 times what is available to enlisted personnel under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program.

One investment banned under the bill, called periodic payment plans, is similar to mutual funds but charges commissions of up to 50 percent in the first year and penalizes those who stop investing in the plan.

The National Association of Securities Dealers, the brokerage industry's self-policing organization, last February announced a $6.8 million program to provide financial training programs for military spouses and financial counselors on bases.

The program came in response to complaints from Congress and elsewhere that soldiers fighting in Iraq were being subjected to high-pressure sales tactics by financial service salesmen. The program was financed by fines imposed on a Texas company accused of selling high-fee mutual funds to military officers.

The legislation also sets up a registry to track investment advisers and brokers to help inform military personnel about sellers with suspect credentials.

Davis has opposed language in the Senate version of a pending defense spending bill that would cap annual interest rates for payday loans at 36 percent. His chief of staff, Justin Brasell, said the Senate provision covers only payday lending and "we want to see a comprehensive approach that will cover all predatory lenders."

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