MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minnesota Attorney General is suing five short-term Internet lenders.

According to the attorney general’s office, the deals contained unlawfully high annual interest rates of up to 782 percent that were often illegally extended from paycheck to paycheck, trapping the consumer into high interest payments over an extended time.

The five companies named in the separate lawsuits filed Thursday are Flobridge Group, LLC of Utah, Integrity Advance of Delaware, Silver Leaf Management of Utah, Sure Advance, LLC of Delaware, and Upfront Payday of Utah.

Messages and emails sent by The Associated Press to several of the companies were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Attorney General Lori Swanson warned Minnesotans against taking out loans over the Internet from unlicensed lenders, citing a growing amount of complaints to her office.

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