Have you seen Maxed Out- the documentary? - Page 2

[A&A]

Originally Posted by llamalluv

Pretty much any bank that is national abuses their customers and/or employees.

I just have to say that Discover Card was really great to work for. I liked them as an employee, and I still like them as a customer.

[Purple*Lotus]

I used to work for BofA and did not find them to be any worse off than any other bank I have used before.

I have not seen the documentary, but I want to now. I think people need to eduate their children about debt before they go off to college. I had no clue about credit, and got myself in to a mess in college over it. I think there should be classes about it in high school to prepare students. It is so sad to see credit card companies setting up booths at Universities, just preying on the new students :

[StarJune]

Also here is the video for The Two Income Trap- Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke. It is based on the book written by Elizabeth Warren the Harvard professor who is featured in Maxed Out. It is about an hour long.

[ChattyCat]

CC companies still make money, if you don't carry a balance. They get a percentage of every purchase. Even after paying out your rewards, they still come out ahead.

If you're disciplined and don't carry a balance, using a cc for your purchases can be a good thing.

[suzywan]

Credit card companies are the new loan sharks. If you're late on 2 payments within a certain time period (4? 6? months) for whatever reason, they'll bump your APR as high as 32% making your minimum payments so astronomical that you can't begin to pay them. Although, I have to say, BofA was willing to work with me and create a repayment plan that would not be reflected on my credit report, so there's that option if you're willing to give up credit purchasing on that card (probably a good idea .

Re: suicide over debt. This must be a reaction to credit report as moral measure. People believe that their worth as a person is reflected in their FICO score. Debt is a burden; it doesn't make you a lesser person.

[Benji'sMom]

Originally Posted by annethcz

I actually didn't like the movie. Sorry!

There were some good parts- I did enjoy the Harvard professor. And I was shocked by some of the predatory lending that occured, especially concerning the people who were obviously mentally impaired.

But I was totally put off by all of the sob stories. Although I have compassion for the people who lost family members to suicide after going into debt, I think it's a stretch to blame the credit card companies. I was also turned-off by the soldier's wife who was crying about having trouble paying for her truck and camper.

As for the collection agents, I think they showed the worst of the worst. Yes, I think it's awful that collection agents stoop to that level. But I have a hard time believing that is typical. I've worked in collections in the past, and it was NOTHING like what was portrayed in the movie.

Basically, I thought the emotional parts of the movie were overdone, but I enjoyed the factual information.

A similar documentary that I enjoyed more is The Secret History of the Credit Card, which was on PBS's Frontline. You can watch it for free on the PBS website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/

I felt the same way. I was beginning to think I was the only one. Maxed Out actually made me feel that the cc banks really WEREN'T preditory! I expected to watch the movie and then feel like "wow that's terrible corporate greed," but I just ended up feeling like "wow that's terrible consumer greed." It was the exact opposite of what the film makers were attempting to make me feel.

[ollineeba]

I just watched this movie this evening (instant view on netflix).
Overall, I thought it was a good movie. There were only a few times where I thought there could have been better examples (the woman who was selling her plates, for example.. could she not sell her house? what was the deal there?)
But it does expose the huge problem with debt in America (and especially with regards to government spending!).

[ollineeba]

Originally Posted by Benji'sMom

I felt the same way. I was beginning to think I was the only one. Maxed Out actually made me feel that the cc banks really WEREN'T preditory! I expected to watch the movie and then feel like "wow that's terrible corporate greed," but I just ended up feeling like "wow that's terrible consumer greed." It was the exact opposite of what the film makers were attempting to make me feel.

I think the Providian examples were pretty scary. Sure seemed predatory to me.

[Savoir Faire]

I watched awhile ago after reading this thread.

Most of the people in this movie annoyed me. Sure, it was interesting but then, like someone else said-- that army wife? Ugg.

I don't touch credit cards with a ten foot pole. It seems to me that a whole bunch of people shouldn't be, either. I've seen a zillion members of my family go down this road, dig themselves out of $25,000 debt (in 1992!) only to have it pile back on AGAIN.

What the heck do they have to show for it? A freaking sleep number bed, a motorcycle and lots and lots of crap.

I really feel for people in debt (my heated words on it are due to the fact that I grew up in a household completely in debt and it pretty much screwed with my life until I got out on my own). But, I hope that many people can see this movie and others like it and make the decision to put down that credit card.

[mrsbernstein]

I really enjoyed teh movie. It just made me want to SCREAM! Just like "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

YES, I completely believe that we need to put more emphasis on 'personal responsibiltiy'....BUT.

BUT...when my dog can get a CC...there is a problem. There were so many GOOD points in this movie!

(Just like anything else...throw out the yucka and keep the good.)

Mrs B

[UberMama]

I just looked and our library carries this DVD. Going to put a request in for it tomorrow!

[cappuccinosmom]

I saw it and thought it was very, very interesting.

But I too had mixed feelings. There is definately a predatory aspect to the cc industry, but individuals have to take responsibility too. Predatory is when they take advantage of the elderly or mentally disabled, or make it so easy for people to get cc on someone else's ID. That's bad, and I would love to see it stopped somehow. As well, the collections practices are often unethical, not to mention disgusting and horrible.:

However, cc companies are not responsible for *all* debt problems. People of sound mind who use cc unwisely, spend more than they make, buy things they don't need, and try to work the system are at least partially responsible if they find themselves $60K in the hole.

A few weeks ago NPR was interviewing folks about the mortgage crisis and one interview just made my jaw drop. One woman who made only $24,000 per year had purchased an expensive house with payments that would be $2000 month. The mortgage agent was obviously a big problem there, but she openly said that he showed her how to lie on the paperwork to get the loan, and she did lie and was glad he showed her. But when she lost her house, she blamed the mortgage company. "They shouldn't have given me that loan, it's their fault". Even though she willingly lied to make the company think she had more money than she really did. I think that's called "predatory borrowing".

Yeah, and I thought the lady selling her display plates was a little weird.

[Belleweather]

This movie is a big part of why DH and I don't carry credit cards. At all. I don't agree with the lending practices of big-credit, and I don't think that you can just blame consumers for overspending -- prior to deregulation in the 1980's, people with limited incomes just weren't eligible for credit because the regulators knew that these sorts of problems would arise and regulated the credit industry accordingly. Then they stopped, and look what happened.

Originally Posted by StarJune

Also here is the video for The Two Income Trap- Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke. It is based on the book written by Elizabeth Warren the Harvard professor who is featured in Maxed Out. It is about an hour long.

Elizabeth Warren also wrote a book called "All Your Worth", which is about putting the ideas in "The Two Income Trap" into practice and sort of emergency-proofing your financial life. I know there are a lot of people who worship Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, but Elizabeth is my personal choice for best financial planning author.

[greenluv]

I saw the end of this a few weeks back and then it arrived in my mailbox from Netflix. I'd forgotten I'd put in my que and it's been sitting here ever since. I should watch it this weekend.

[StarJune]

Originally Posted by Belleweather

Elizabeth Warren also wrote a book called "All Your Worth", which is about putting the ideas in "The Two Income Trap" into practice and sort of emergency-proofing your financial life. I know there are a lot of people who worship Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, but Elizabeth is my personal choice for best financial planning author.

I'll have to check this out. I really like her too.

[Green Phoenix]

Originally Posted by phathui5

Dh and I watched this together last fall right after we started the Dave Ramsey plan.

I think it should be shown in every high school Home Ec class.

Same here! (on both points!)

[AngelBee]

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