A package of bills designed to end the kinds of predatory and dubious lending practices that have accelerated the mortgage meltdown in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation passed the state Senate on Tuesday.

The bills, sponsored by Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, would not help thousands of Pennsylvania families stuck with mortgages they cannot afford as temporarily low interest rates rise. But if enacted, the bills would address holes in laws and update other codes that have become obsolete, setting up stronger protections for future borrowers.

State Banking Secretary Steven Kaplan said the bills would help the home mortgage business in Pennsylvania ‘‘return to the tradition of seriousness’‘ it once had.