Alberta will join most other provinces and cap the interest rates that payday loan companies can charge their customers.
Service Alberta spokesman Eoin Kenny said the province also plans to regulate other aspects of the industry, including licensing payday loan businesses and requiring that they clearly disclose their rates.
Kenny said the changes to the Fair Trading Act, including details of the interest rate cap, are expected to be made during the spring session of the legislature.
Critics say the payday loan industry has been gouging consumers, mainly poorer Canadians, by charging annual interest rates of up to 800 per cent.
Last year Ottawa passed a bill that gives provinces the option of regulating the industry, but so far Manitoba is the only jurisdiction that has announced details of an interest rate cap.
Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have also announced they intend to cap payday loan rates, but haven't announced the maximum fees and charges they will allow.
