If payday is two weeks away and you need $200 in a hurry, to whom would you turn?

By all means, don't go to a someone who'd charge you as much as $60 for the two-week loan.

But that's what a downtown Boston "payday loan" operator was billing until it was shut down by state regulators yesterday.

The state Division of Banks ordered the Mail Boxes Etc. store at 167 Milk St., and its owners, Jay and Naranbhai Patel, to shut down after a licensing official posing as a borrower received a $200 loan at an exorbitant interest rate.

The loan was funded by County Bank of Rehoboth Beach, Del., an FDIC-insured, state-chartered bank, and serviced by Cheyenne Servicing Corp. of Colorado Springs, Colo., the division said.

Authorities said the undercover official was charged $60 for the two-week loan, or the equivalent of 476 percent in annual interest - far above the annual interest cap of 23 percent, plus fees of up to $20, that are allowable for small loans under state laws.

"This is no more than old-fashioned loan-sharking, but with an antiseptic name like payday loan," said Jennifer Davis Carey, director of the state Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

"It really is predatory and unconscionable and, some would say, reprehensible," she said.

State Banking Commissioner Thomas J. Curry said neither the Patels nor Mail Boxes Etc. had a state license to make small loans.

But that didn't stop Jay Patel from dispensing extensive help to the undercover licensing official, including answering questions, explaining the loan process and describing loan disbursement and repayment procedures, Curry's complaint alleged.

Curry ordered the Patels to cease their operations and to provide a complete accounting of all small loans it had brokered for County Bank by next Friday.

The Patels could not be reached yesterday. A call to a number listed with their advertisement in the Yellow Pages for "Fast Funding First, East" was routed to Cheyenne Servicing Corp. in Colorado, where manager Tom Asenzo denied any wrongdoing by the Patels or their Mail Boxes Etc. store.

"This has been blown totally out of proportion," Asenzo said. He said the 167 Milk St. Mail Boxes Etc. "has a faxing contract. All they do is fax the loan application. That's what they're contracted to do."

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