Published: March 2006
Maxed Out: The Movie
If you liked the PBS Frontline investigation on credit cards, watch for a new documentary by James D. Scurlock called "Maxed Out," which takes viewers on a journey inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. A "Super Size Me" for the credit card industry, the film made its debut this week at the South by Southwest Film Festival and has been the buzz among consumer advocates.
Maxed Out features a cast of characters that includes such stalwart advocates as David Szwak, who practices insurance and consumer law at the Shreveport firm of Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak, specializing in litigation against credit bureaus, and Elizabeth Warren, a tenured professor at Harvard Law School who is the author of two major books: The Fragile Middle Class and The Two Income Trap. Warren, who conducted the largest study of why Americans are going broke—at a rate higher than during the Great Depression—debunks the conventional wisdom that only "bad apples" declare bankruptcy. Her study proves that the bare necessities, not Prada shoes, are killing American families.
Maxed Out reveals that the financial industry's best customers are the broke and the bankrupt. The most profitable niche of the industry is called "alternative" or "subprime"—what the filmmaker calls euphemisms for loan-sharking. Subprime lenders target people with less than perfect credit—like Mark Mumma, whose frustration with his credit card caused him to start the website www.providianfinancialsucks.com.
Maxed Out accompanies investigative journalist Mike Hudson, who travels to Mississippi, Pittsburgh, and New York City interviewing the victims of predatory lending scams. The predators are not boiler room scammers—they are large and respected financial institutions.
Szwak, the Shreveport consumer attorney, reveals that the credit bureaus keep a special "V.I.P." list of prominent citizens whose reports are specially cleaned up in order to protect the industry from legislative or judicial action and keep those in power from knowing how flawed the credit system really is.
James D. Scurlock, the director/producer, attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania from 1989-1993 as an undergraduate and has no formal film training. Maxed Out is his second feature documentary.
For More Information
Download File
No Download Available
Category
Quick Menu
