It seemed to me that the film was about *predatory* lending practices which have become normalized in our society and how that has weakened society, and not about money management or traditional lending at all!

While many people find employment within this industry, you can only imagine how their morals and values are compromised each day.

And while the benefit of obtaining money when needed is a valuable service in our day and time – it becomes quickly exploited from both sides and the quality of patience and delayed gratification have been lost.

Steve@LivingReal.net

[...] If you’re new here, you may want to Subscribe to LivingReal by Email. Thanks for visiting! Tuesday, 6th March 2007 (by J.D.)   on http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/03/06/my-review-of-maxed-out-a-new-film-about-the-credit-indu... [...]

Personal Finance Bloggers Say Maxed Out Has Non Sufficient Funds…

We’re not the only ones irked by the Maxed Out documentary. All Financial Matters also disliked its lack of attention to personal responsibility and found it overly politicized with, “snippets of nasty, mean Republican’s siding with credit card comp…

[...] make this short since reviews of this movie are all over the place.   I agree with all the problems people have seen with the movie.   But here is a different [...]

[...] Mar. 6th: A review of Maxed Out, a new film about the credit industry [...]

[...] This weekend, on the recommendation of one of our favorite money blogs, we went to a showing of Maxed Out, a recent documentary on the aggressive marketing tactics of [...]

[...] Check out JD’s review of “Maxed Out”. I’m keeping an eye out for when it might hit a theater near [...]

Right! And the most amazing thing is that these are consumer advocates doing the frowning–they’re practically helping the credit card companies take advantage of people by refusing to put any of the blame on individuals, even in situations like the $4,000 mortgage or an Escalade on a government credit card.

All that marketing, TV advertising, radio advertising, print. Personal Accountability seems to be getting unimportant these days, or in some cases even frowned on. Got to have that new toy/fast food/service is the message being pounded into people’s heads. It’s like keeping up with the Jones has now been made our national task.

Good thing that quite a few seem to resist it. I read somewhere that 60 percent or more of us no longer carry a balance on credit cards.

It’s been five years since I watched live television. Longer then that for dropping all magazine subscriptions. Finally gave up on any radio other then C-Span on XM and PBS once in a great while.

So I visit my sister and my bro-in-law once in a while, and the idiot box is babbling away in the corner. Just one “Buy this now” after another. Can’t stand it long and off to seek a spot of silence.

I do not understand this viewpoint. This is such a simplistic view of the problem. Our nation’s credit woes are caused by a variety of factors. Predatory lending is one, but as I’ve mentioned before, so is marketing. Would we feel compelled to spend if we weren’t exposed to advertising 24-7? And, of course, there’s personal accountability. I believe that to focus solely on predatory lending misses the point. Unless there’s more to the story, no predatory lending got Lynn Stavert into her $4,000 mortgage.

I’m all for tighter restrictions on predatory lending. I am in favor of this sort of legislation. But I think it is dishonorable to lay the blame wholly at the feet of these companies.

First, JD and VinTek, John’s situation is explained in much more detail in the book. His mother had a low-interest government subsidized loan, which they qualified for in part because of John’s disability. A woman from their church convinced the mother to refinance to a regular mortgage promising a smaller payment (the payment is larger, the terms are longer, the interest rate is higher, and the loan is no longer subsidized). Obviously, she couldn’t qualify, so the banker was willing (wink, wink) to accept John as a cosigner. His mother had to write his name out and have John copy the letters to sign the contract. I’m not sure why their laywer (the guy who was visiting them in the film) hasn’t tried to contest this based on inability to consent or whatever the legal jargon would be for John’s disability.

Overall, I think the film is much more moving than the book, particularly the interviews with the mothers of the college students who committed suicide. The editing does a really good job of juxtaposing the credit industry (be it bankers, senators, collection agents) statements with the folks in trouble, in debt, or reeling from the effects of it in their lives.

At the roundtable following the screening (Elizabeth Warren and Janne O’Donnell were available for questions, as was James Scurlock and Kirsten Keefe, founder of Americans for Fairness in Lending), I asked what was the role of education (not necessarily the school system) to prevent this type of behavior, to teach people not only money-management skills but how to avoid being prey, and got another pat answer: that education is NOT the answer, but that predatory lending must be legislated away and only then can we begin to teach people. Trying to learn to manage one’s finances was compared with allowing food companies to use whatever pesticides they liked and then requiring consumers to read paperwork on what had been used and allow them to make their own decisions. Scurlock actually said that it’s impossible to understand the contracts that credit card companies provide to borrowers, and the entire panel seemed to agree that indeed it was pointless to try, but instead we should write our senators.

While I agree that we should cry out against unfair practices, I do feel that we owe it to people to hold them accountable. TANSTAAFL. (There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.) When did we forget this?

I get the feeling that the average American consumer would walk away from the movie thinking “man, somebody should really do something about all those dirty tricks the credit industry plays on innocent people” rather than “man, I should really avoid debt in my life!”

[...] trailer for MAXED OUT, new film about the credit card industry (tags: money credit corporate video film) [...]

I think it goes beyond what can be taught in school. You never really understand what a bad thing debt is almost until you are in the hole and have to get out.

I honestly think part of it comes from growing up children of the boomers. In my family, the family income was modest enough that the only time you got new toys was for christmas and your birthday, and even that was modest compared to what my friends got. And the key thing was what was bought was **only what could be paid for**.

What I didn’t understand then, and I only learned after having a ton of debt was that while we didn’t have alot of *stuff*, we also didn’t have alot of *debt*, so in many ways, we were better off, financially, than I am now.

Of course those were the days before easy credit. Going to college was the first time when I could actually buy things without working for them, and boy did I.

I blame nobody but myself. I knew debt was “bad” but the need to buy things outweighed the theory of debt being a bad thing, and there’s no way I could have learned that lesson from mere observation. I’ve since paid back most of that debt, and incurred more, and paid that back, but that lesson will be with me always and I am motivated to return to a lifestyle of ‘saving up’ for the things I want.

My grandparents found out and are now trying to clean up the mess and reteach him. Its hard to figure out whos fault it is. He obviously made the decisions to get those loans and has proven capable of making his own decisions until then, and a part of me feels like it is his own fault and he will hopefully learn from it. Another part of me despises the lenders who convinced him that he could some how afford all this and yet another part of me despises society for convincing him that that is how you are suppose to live. It has got to be tough to be a trusting individual with limited intellect, society has no problem crushing these people and tossing them in the gutter.

I’m 100% positive that information is included in the initial documents you received from the CC company. Even if it wasn’t their required to send you notices when your terms change. Why didn’t you read it? It’s not the CC company’s fault you can keep track of those things.

If you’re going to enter into a contract, make sure you understand the terms. Apparently, you didn’t. But, it’s sure nice to blame the “greedy corporation”, isn’t it?

There is a companion book to the film. The press kit included a copy, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I’m hoping that the book takes a more even-handed approach, and includes more background information on people like John and his mother. (And on the woman with the $4,000 mortgage. We’re meant to feel sorry for her, but I just can’t.)

I’m very curious to see how other people react to this film. Scarfish will have to give us a review tomorrow!

I don’t get it. Should his mental condition invalidate his contract? Moreover, is the title to the property in John’s name? If so, why? Shouldn’t the property be held in trust, with perhaps the oldest competent sibling as trustee? I just don’t understand how a severely retarded adult could be held to a valid contract or even be in a position to sign a valid contract.

I asked him what role he felt personal responsibility plays in this situation, and he gave me a very evasive answer–he acknowledged that yes, we need to be responsible but said you can’t put a hard and fast percentage on it (which is obviously not even what I was asking for). It especially burned me up that in the book (not sure if she’s featured in the movie) a national guardsman charged a boob job and an Escalade to her government-issued credit card. How is that predatory? It’s a pity that they didn’t have checks and balances set up to prevent that type of thing but she is not a victim there–she chose to buy a fancy car and get elective surgery done, and she chose to put it on her credit card.

There’s a huge difference among people like John, who are suckered into debt they truly can’t afford, people who use credit cards as emergency funds because they’ve lost a job or had a huge medical problem, and people who get too far into debt because they don’t pay attention to their finances and run up charges supporting a lifestyle they can’t afford. Call my cynical, but I’m willing to bet that the majority falls into the third category, and you just can’t convince me that a predatory banking industry is responsible for that. That’s just plain old entitlement.