Customer Reviews
Biased, but good 
2008-08-03
This documentary highlights the predatory lending on the financial side and the monetary carelessness on the consumer side that is leading to an inflation of prices and a catastrophic debt problem. This was a great documentary that indulged in undeserved demonization of republicans and glorification of democrats. The conclusion advocates a communist redistribution of wealth. The national debt is frightening and overwhelming, but more government spending in a different direction is only escalating the problem! It should have included what happened in the 1920s leading up to the market crash and the Great Depression, so that people could get an idea of the end game possibilities here, rather than promoting a defunct political theory.
Maxed out 
2008-07-31
This is a very powerful dvd with much information that the government doesn't want us to know. The way it handles the economy is.. there's no real words to describe it, and to think there are people out there who want them to MANAGE THE ENTIRE HEALTH SYSTEM. Come on THINK, yes theres got to be a better way just not the gov't way.
MAXED OUT 2008-07-27
This is an excellent title that many people in the United States need to see. That it was shown on cable and not "prime time" TV (non-cable channels that many Americans watch) indicates that there are forces within the banking, advertising, and financial industries that want the current "status quo" of borrowers to remain "borrowers" and people who "owe."
I want to point out that it is the consumer's responsibility to read the "fine print" but when faced with "Ignorance," "evictions," "foreclosures," etc. credit card use would appear a way out-if only temporarily. MAXED OUT is a tour de force about money making in America and the globe. At the expense of the "unfortunate many" who get caught out here by 'maxing out" their credit. MAXED OUT is the first "consumer beware" notice that needs to be seen by everyone. America is the land of opportunity but some corporations have taken that slogan to mean "profit at any cost."
A wasted opportunity 2008-06-18
I am a huge fan of documentaries and sample as many as I can. The credit card industry makes for a perfect subject as there are so much abuse from both its users and its issuers so I was hoping that the documentary would not limit its to the sleazy practices of the credit industry and how government has not done much to keep these people in check. That story has been told many times yet the angle that would have made it more interesting is how we as consumers fall prey to our own greed, entitlement, and how some really good people who can't make ends meet also can fall prey to a gangster-like industry.
But our accountability is thrown out the window and bulk of the documentary tries to expose a known sleaziness and in my opinion those telling the tale resort to exploiting their subjects in a very heavy-handed matter. Did they have to talk to resort to milking tears from mothers who lost their children to suicide when the kids could not keep up with payments? A missing woman is used for similar purposes as are the mother of a developmentally challenged man, and a war veteran. The documentary also uses a cheap propaganda film from archives for maximum snarkiness and takes pot shots at some many people, including some who have done some pretty good things when it comes to training people not to live beyond their means.
I knew that it would not be a good documentary when I started looking at my watch within the first half-hour. The documentary beat the same drums over and over again with a documentary by the numbers check-list that I assume has or would make a great 20 minute story for a show like 60 Minutes. Even the title is deceptive as I was expecting to see a documentary of the misuse of credit and how the industry preys on those who do the worst job of managing it. They are sleazy, but what's the message here? Pointing fingers is easy, but what about us? I am a bleeding heart Democrat so it's not about politics nor being clueless about how hard it for our population to get by. Better luck next time.
A sobering look at the evils of debt, with solutions 2008-06-17
Maxed Out (2006)
This film should be required viewing for anyone over the age of 18. Because that's the target age that credit card companies go after.
The chief culprits identified in this film are MBNA, one of the nation's largest credit card companies, major contributor to the George W. Bush campaign, and writer/sponsor of the revised bankruptcy law that Bush pushed through in 2005; Providian, a credit card company that targets the poor, mentally handicapped, and willfully waited to cash payment checks so overdraft fees could be charged to their customers, and also in bed with Bush (he appointed the head of Providian to his Ethics Committee on Fair Lending); Wells Fargo, which owns most of the country's cash advance stores where they charge more interest than pawn shops (shocking, isn't it?); and Republicans who continue to push the idea that bankruptcy is bad and to be an American you must pay your debt the old-fashioned way--hard work. Unfortunately, when credit card companies wrack up $[...] in fees for every $[...] you owe, that's never going to be possible.
I loved that this film addressed so many different ways people get into debt. One woman starts using her credit card to pay her mortgage after her husband dies because she can no longer afford her house, but doesn't want to move because it holds so many memories. Two women discuss their teenage daughter and son, who both killed themselves during their sophomore years of college because they ran up credit card bills in excess of $12,000. I think that's the most tragic--a life ended for just $12,000. Another woman's 40 year-old mentally challenged son signs a credit card application and wracks up astronomical debt just in fees (because he didn't understand what he signed and his mother didn't know about it). Another couple discusses their mother who killed herself because she had wracked up over $47,000 in credit card bills and didn't know how to pay them. Another young man was a fireman sent to Iraq, where he was paid next to nothing. His family used credit to pay their mortgage and food, that's all. But when he came back, Bush had changed the bankruptcy laws, so he couldn't even do that.
There's a point in this film where an analyst describes it as DEBT SLAVERY and compares it to the old sharecropping system of the post-Civil War era. We're all slaves now, though, but that's a pretty good assessment of the wide gap between the haves and have-nots in our country.
Just as in the Enron film, there are young yuppies in this one bragging about how they collect personal information from people they call about their bills and then use that info to get them into more and more debt. Frightening how completely immoral these young men are. Some of them not so young. I imagine them in Dante's seventh layer of hell (or was it the sixth?).
Unlike some of the other reviewers, who say this film gives no solutions, it actually does.
1. Read what you sign BEFORE you sign it. If you're unsure about any part, don't sign it.
2. Don't get cash advances. If you must borrow, do it from a friend or relative and stop buying things.
3. Don't bank at Wells Fargo, a major culprit in charging excessive fees. They also own most of the cash advance companies in the U.S.
4. Don't be afraid to declare bankruptcy and write to legislators to get the bankruptcy restraints reversed. It's frightening how many people commit suicide because they don't know how to pay their debts; and most of those debts are 90% fees and interest charges, not principal.
5. Get help from Americans for Fairness in Lending at [...]
6. Don't kill yourself. There's always a solution if you know where to look. (Sad that I would ever have to put that in a review.)
Another great documentary with no solutions 
2008-06-15
Maxed Out takes viewers on a journey deep inside the American style of debt where things seem fine as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Shocking and incisive Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.Runtime: 87 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 876964000864 Manufacturer No: 10086
Debt 2008-06-07
Debt, particularly credit card debt, is the modern version of sharecropping, which replaced slavery. The beauty of sharecropping, from the landowner's point of view, was that labor was much cheaper. Slaves had to be housed and fed; sharecroppers didn't. And with sharecropping, white people could be owned as well as black people.
The best kind of slavery, again from the "slaveholder's' point of view is invisible slavery. The "slaves" don't even know they are slaves, therefore they don't rebel.
The slick marketers of debt, like predators in nature, prey on the most vulnerable; the young, the old, the unsophisticated, and the desperate. It is a conspiracy between the debt marketers, the government, and the colleges and universities. The American school system does not teach the dangers of debt, or how to avoid the trap.
Buy "Maxed Out" in both forms: book and video. And share them.
great 2008-05-21
this movie is very good and will show you many of the truths behind the way credit companies work.I wish every one would watch this movie and then get all of their friends and family to watch it as well.
Biased to the far left 
2008-05-21
This movie is so biased to the hard left it left me stunned. It makes no mention of personal responsibility. All personal stories are portrayed as victims. Stunning. There are no laws to prevent stupidity. All persons protrayed were of legal age, few acted like adults. Watch at your own risk.
A must see movie for every consumer! 2008-04-10
I've been teaching financial literacy and homeownership education for over 20 years now. Consumer finance has never been more complicated, and as this movie emphasizes, companies that extend credit are setting us up to fail. Their advertising would lead you to believe they care about their customers, but as another reviewer stated, they are in it only to make money--as much as possible--no matter the cost to the consumer. Although I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know, except perhaps the extent of the lobbying done by these companies, this film was very well done and made its point eloquently. The more information we have, the better able we are to make wise financial decisions--this movie is an important source of information and insight into an industry that pretends to be our friend--reminds me of the Spider and the Fly. Buy it, watch it, and pass it to others to watch.
