Columbia, SC (WLTX, AP) -- South Carolina legislators say they want to close loopholes in a payday lending law that took effect earlier this month.

"The ink wasn't dry more than a couple of days on the bill that we worked tirelessly on last year. The ink wasn't dry, and there they were, scheming again," said Democratic Sen. Joel Lourie speaking during a Tuesday press conference.

Two weeks have passed since a new law targeting the state's payday lending industry took effect. But now, lawmakers are getting ready to rewrite the law, saying many lenders have found loopholes.

"The most blatant example we've seen recently is almost 100 payday lenders apparently switching their licenses," said Democratic Sen. Vincent Sheheen.

Legislators say some businesses have skirted the law by re-licensing as supervised lenders instead of traditional lenders. By doing so, they can charge lower interest rates on longer loan periods.

"This bill has been compromised by this approach that some payday lenders have taken to avoid it," said Sheheen.

Lawmakers also say the loopholes prevent supervised lenders from having to use a database to verify whether a customer has multiple outstanding loans elsewhere.

"With the bill that's advancing, hopefully, today we will stop payday lenders from switching to the supervised lending system," said Sheheen.

A law passed last year limits people to one loan at a time, of up to $550.
The bill is up for debate by the full Senate.