There are some pretty evil businesses out there, but as a business model I don't think there's much that beats the payday loan. (Pawn shops are close but not quite as bad.) Under the guise of customer-friendliness, these businesses exploit the ignorant and disadvantaged in order to charge them exorbitant interest rates, thereby leaving them at an even further disadvantage.
So a few minutes ago I was happy to hear on NPR that a class-action lawsuit is being brought against a payday-loan business for their exorbitant charges! Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the chain, there's nothing on NPR or KUOW, and Google isn't turning anything up (although I found an article about a similar lawsuit in Calgary, BC).
Of course, suing these chains one-by-one is not going to change much. As long as the rest of our economic system creates disadvantage, people with too much month at the end of the money
will be forced to borrow a few hundred dollars from one of these joints. If you've got to make rent and there's no money coming from anywhere else, what are you going to do?