I think it's more complicated than "credit companies are unethical." As with any wide ranging social problem (e.g. obesity), the question of why are people making these seemingly destructive choices needs to be addressed. Lack of cash on hand seems to be the reason people end up financing mundane things like breakfast or bus fare. I think part of the problem can be boiled down to effective marketing from some of these companies, but the bigger issue is that the disposable incomes of a lot of the middle and lower income groups is just smaller than it should be. It's easy to come by unbelievable statistics about how many people can't afford an unexpected $500 expense, and in life those types of expenses come up pretty damn often. Although I agree that in most cases better choices would have helped any given individual, what we really need are better public policies that promote paying people more and collecting less taxes from the lower and middle class. In that scenario, maybe that unexpected $500 expense is covered by your cash in the bank. As long as our incentives promote high interest lending, that's what we'll get. Hate the game, not the player.