The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a Mississippi-based payday lender, alleging the company hid fees and trapped customers into costly monthly loan programs.

The agency's suit claims that All American Check Cashing Inc. trained employees to hide check-cashing fees from customers by overwhelming them with information and evading questions.

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They also allege that All American misled customers with claims about the benefits of payday loans and refused to refund or cancel transactions that could have been reversed.

”Today we are taking action against All American Check Cashing for tricking and trapping consumers,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in a statement. “Consumers deserve accurate and honest information from the financial institutions they depend on, but All American instead devised elaborate schemes to hide costs and take advantage of vulnerable borrowers.”

Based in Mississippi, All American operates dozens of locations throughout that state and neighboring Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama.

The suit alleges that All American applied stamps to the backs of checks before transactions were finalized, preventing those checks from being cashed elsewhere. The agency also claims that All American violates Mississippi laws banning payday loan rollovers, effectively trapping consumers with debts that can't be paid.

The lawsuit comes before the bureau’s impending release of payday lending regulations, intended to keep low-income customers out of endless debt.