"Payday loan" stores in Utah collect at least $69 million in excess, "predatory" fees annually from Utahns who expect two-week loans but end up trapped in debt, according to a new national study by the Center for Responsible Lending.

The group Thursday, with other consumer groups, called for states to cap the interest that payday lenders charge to just 36 percent a year. The Deseret Morning News last year found that they charged an average of 521 percent in Utah.

An attempt at the Utah Legislature last year to cap high interest failed, but lawmakers expect another try when the Legislature convenes next month. In anticipation of that fight, payday lenders gave $25,750 to winning legislators in their most recent races.

The Center for Responsible Lending, an anti-payday lender group, said Thursday that its nationwide study found that the typical payday borrower pays back $793 for a $325 loan. It says such data come from state regulators, public filings and assessments of industry analysts .

It said payday borrowers take out an original loan for two weeks or until their next payday. But most borrowers find they cannot pay off the money so soon, so they take out another payday loan to cover it or "roll over" the original at high interest. Many soon find themselves in a cycle from which it is tough to break free.

"Payday loans sink borrowers into quicksand-like debt," said Michael Calhoun, president of CRL.

The new study says that 90 percent of payday lending revenue comes from borrowers who make five or more transactions a year, or those who are likely trapped in a cycle of taking out new loans just to cover previous ones.

The group says such "predatory lending" — which it defines as loaning to borrowers who take out at least five payday loans a year — costs borrowers $4.2 billion a year in fees nationally. Just in Utah, the group estimates the cost at $69.3 million a year.

Calhoun called for states to limit interest charged by payday lenders to 36 percent annually. He noted that to protect members of the military, Congress last year limited such loans given to military families to 36 percent interest.

The CRL study said that 11 states that now have and enforce such limits for all residents save borrowers a combined $1.4 million annually in excess fees.

The CRL was joined in its call by the NAACP and the Consumer Federation of America. NAACP President Julian Bond said money lost in excess fees instead "should be helping people stay firmly put in the middle class, rather than keeping them trapped in the quicksand of poverty."

Officials of the payday loan industry's Utah Consumer Lenders Association could not be reached for comment Thursday.