The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is flexing its muscle on payday loans. The director was in Nashville on Tuesday to release a report of CFPB's findings, announce a crackdown on illegal loans and discuss steps to bring the industry under tighter regulation.

According to the Washington Post, Nashville was chosen because it has been "the locus of intense payday lending activity recently."

CFPB Director Richard Cordray said that based on the findings of their study "one could readily conclude that the business model of the payday industry depends on people becoming stuck in these loans for the long term, since almost half their business comes from people who are basically paying high-cost rent on the amount of their original loan."

According to the CFPB report, "Fees at storefront payday lenders generally range from $10 to $20 per $100, though loans with higher fees are possible. Variations often reflect differences in state laws setting maximum allowable fees. A fee of $15 per $100 is quite common for a storefront payday loan, and would yield an APR of 391% on a typical 14-day loan."

MORE:

• CFPB Director Richard Cordray Remarks at the Payday Field Hearing
• CFPB White Paper: Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products