Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders

Here is another documentary on consumer credit. It was made around 2007, so it was a rather timely critique of the consumer finance industry, particularly of so-called predatory lending. Indeed, throughout the sub-prime mortgage crisis, we all heard the term "NINJA loan" i.e. No Income No Job (or) Assets [no problem!]. Not only are the practices damaging to individuals, but if practiced systemically like in the lead up to the financial crisis, it can bring down banks from the smallest regional bank to the largest wall street banks.

James Scurlock's purpose for the film and book was to raise awareness of how credit and lending issues are affecting society. The main premises of the documentary and book are that banks and other creditors deliberately market to people who are more likely to have problems paying predatory lending and that the creditors benefit from connections to government, the debt collection industry, and from lawmaker apathy



Finance Documentaries: http://www.financedocumentaries.com/2011/06/maxed-out-hard-times-easy-credit-and.html