The bill, S. 418, is named the Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act. A similar yet different bill was passed in June of 2005, H.R. 458. One of the differences between the two bills is “the House bill includes provisions dealing with ‘payday loan’ services. The Senate does not contain payday loan provisions because the Senate plans to address the issue separately.”
The provisions of the bill include:
- Bar the sale of contract mutual funds, which have especially high fees in their early years, on military bases.
- Make it clear that military bases fall under the jurisdiction of the insurance department of the state in which the base is located.
- Require the U.S. Department of Defense to maintain a list of individuals who have been barred from a base for unfair sales practices.
Most people joining the military are obviously straight out of high school and not only know little to nothing about financial matters but have not even held down a job. This bill will help those on military bases being approached by insurance and financial services agents.
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