The poor people in Beaufort once had a name for the exorbitant practices at payday lenders: dollar for dollar. The practice may be worse today as the annualized interest rate can soar to 400 percent. It is a practice that legislators should prohibit.

Many South Carolinians don't understand how people could resort to using such lenders. Sometimes people succumb because they just have bad luck. But it is a perplexing situation, which is often rooted in jobs that pay too little, people who make bad choices and friends and acquaintances who don't counsel those close to them.

Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, introduced a bill last month that would cap payday lending operators to no more than 36 percent annual interest and fees of no more than $5 for every $100 borrowed. Members of the industry say that formula would drive them out of business.

While payday lenders fill a niche by taking the risk of lending to people who have bad credit ratings and nonexistent collateral, other states have proved that the industry can be regulated.

Georgia and North Carolina took step to curtail this practices, and Virginia also is discussing tighter regulation of payday lenders. In recent years, 37 states have passed regulations. Today South Carolina remains in the top 10 unregulated states, according to a recent study by the Center for Responsible Lending.

A 36 percent interest rate is still high. It allows companies to earn a profit, but it also is more humane than the exorbitant 400 percent.

According to The Herald of Rock Hill, states that regulated lending saved their residents $1.4 billion in 2005. The money saved has helped families pay bills and put food on the table. The Center for Responsible Lending said that nationally payday lending fees cost consumers an estimated $4.2 billion a year. In South Carolina, the figure is $186 million, according to The Associated Press.

South Carolina leads the nation in a long list of bad habits, but it shouldn't be an accessory to the moral crime of usury.

The regulations established in Clemmons' bill are identical to those the federal government established to protect military personnel. South Carolina should put shackles on the 400 percent practice and institute a more humane plan.