Is it different for civilian?
Yes. Interest rates for military personnel are hard-capped by the US Federal Government at 36% APR, anything above that is criminal usury. Everyone else can write a contract for whatever APR they agree upon, however it still must comply with your state's usury laws.
Now here comes the fun part:
Say theoretically I'm based in one state, where there is a higher usury cap, than in your state. I loan to you, at an interest rate, which happens to be higher than the usury cap in your state, but not higher than the usury cap in my own state. Also, say I were to put a section in the contract, like google does:
Terms, and your relationship with Google under the Terms, shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. You and Google agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of Santa Clara, California to resolve any legal matter arising from the Terms. Notwithstanding this, you agree that Google shall still be allowed to apply for injunctive remedies (or an equivalent type of urgent legal relief) in any jurisdiction.
Does this work? If so, I should probably tell Bitfinex to stick that somewhere in their terms, as they are out of the USA entirely and thus don't have any usury cap (at least, not that I'm aware of) entirely.