He says it would not make sense for the industry to target the poor. "We don't prey on the poor and the homeless, because the poor and homeless don't pay back loans."

But Patty Bailey, who filed bankruptcy after problems with payday loans, is not so sure. In the years she took out such loans, "I saw a lot of people who looked like they had little education. I saw a lot of students. I saw a lot that did not speak English well, not just Hispanics but others. I wonder if they understood what they read."

Almost all the 67 payday loan stores visited by the Morning News had signs advertising that employees spoke Spanish. Some even offered candy from Mexico for Hispanic customers. Some advertised only in Spanish, with no English on their signs.

Military attack

The Morning News found an unusually large number of payday lenders near Hill Air Force Base. It identified 28 within short distances in Layton and Clearfield.

That means one of every 14 payday lenders in Utah is near Hill Air Force Base.

Actually, that is not surprising. The Pentagon has long expressed concern about payday and other high-interest lenders that flock around bases nationally.

A recent study of 15,000 payday loan stores in 20 states with 109 military bases concluded, "There is irrefutable evidence demonstrating payday lenders are actively and aggressively targeting U.S. military personnel." It was written by Steven Graves of California State University-Northridge and Christopher Peterson of the University of Florida.

Peterson is a Utah native who once worked as a collector for a payday lender here. He said members of the military are a perfect target for payday lenders. "Today's junior military personnel are typically cash-strapped and often find themselves waiting eagerly for the next paycheck," he wrote in a book about high-interest lenders.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, a research arm of Congress, complained in April that the military is not doing enough to protect employees from payday lenders. In response, the Pentagon launched a program in June to educate military members about their potential dangers. Hill Air Force Base has joined in that effort.

Hill's installation commander, Col. Sharon K.G. Dunbar, said, "We owe it to our airmen to educate them on the best avenues of becoming financially responsible and secure. I would hope that payday lenders would feel the same sense of obligation, particularly given the sacrifices military members make on their behalf every day."