Ten local governments — including Orem, Sandy and West Valley, and Salt Lake County — have restricted the number of payday lenders allowed in their borders. Provo earlier this month started looking at similar restrictions.

Allred said potential borrowers are told twice the interest rate that they will pay, even when it's 521 percent. The state examines payday lenders every year to make sure they are complying with the regulations.

A new law requires the payday-loan industry to disclose information that includes minimum and maximum interest rates paid and the average amount of loans.

"In terms of protecting the citizenry, the Legislature, as a public policy decision, said that borrowing is not a right, it is a privilege," said Jerry Jaramillo, supervisor of savings and loans for the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. "It is up to the individual to make the judgment if the loan is in his best financial interest."

Allred said that capping the annual percentage rate at 36 percent would slash the lender's profit, "and you would find virtually no one willing to lend you $100 for a week."

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff earlier this year said banning payday loans would hurt the poor and force more people into bankruptcy.

Peterson disagrees, noting usury laws have been around for centuries to protect the vulnerable.

Linda Hilton, director of the Coalition of Religious Communities, an advocacy group of Crossroads Urban Center, said the old consumer adage,"buyer beware" applies to payday loans.

"But to a point, you have to have some regulations to protect the consumer," she said. "The free market can't take care of itself without some oversight and regulation."

Hilton is trying to find a legislator to carry a bill capping annual percentage interest on payday loans at 100 percent. "I know that (number) sounds ludicrous, (but) it would be a great victory for the consumer."

She said she has found no lawmaker willing to be a sponsor.

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