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Maxed Out (Abridged): Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders Audiobook
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(3.13) - 194 listener ratings
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In this shocking and illuminating road trip through an America ravaged by debt, award-winning film director James Scurlock examines our multitrillion-dollar addiction to easy credit in all of its absurdities and contradictions.
Maxed Out ventures beyond the mind-numbing statistics to expose a financial industry spinning wildly out of control. From the gilded master-planned communities of Northern Las Vegas to the shotgun shacks of the Deep South, the world's largest financial institutions are trolling for customers, hooking the nouveau riche and the poor alike with promises of cheap and easy credit. Maxed Out exposes how Wall Street and Congress spawned the subprime mortgage crisis and reveals how credit card issuers form multimillion-dollar partnerships with universities -- paying them millions for access to their students' personal information, setting kids up for financial ruin before their first job. The industry's final frontier, "debt buying," is a veritable Wild West in which ambitious young men make quick fortunes off the misery and misfortune of others.
Hilarious, fascinating, and deeply disturbing, Maxed Out is one man's answer to modern America's most pressing question, "Why can't we get out of debt?"
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"By now, everyone should know about the perils of easy credit and the promises that your home's value will always go up. But James Scurlock saw this coming before many of us did, and warned about it in his documentary and book. The book provides a brief but damning history of how credit came to dominate our lives, along with a ton of examples of how the financial giants screw us at every turn, including, of course, buying politicians who are more than willing to sell their votes to deregulate the industry. But the book's strength is its focus on the people behind the statistics. People like the army girl, now in the brig because she tried to save her marriage by charging things on her army plastic (standard issue, of course). People like the college kids who committed suicide after running up credit card debt, all because those credit card companies gave them a free t-shirt when pitching their wares on campus (I particularly felt the pain for those kids, having been too close to that myself).Maxed Out is a must read (or must see, for the DVD lovers out there) for anyone who thinks they're alone in the fight against their lenders, or frankly, just anyone who lives in our consumer-based society today."
— Brian (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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Scurlock is as fiendishly clever as the banks and credit card companies he goes after." -- Barbara Ehrenreich
Maxed Out Listener Reviews
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" America is messed up. "
— Steve, 1/19/2014 -
" Very interesting book. I was shocked to hear the basis of credit scores and how the lending/credit companies work. Eesh... The stories are heartbreaking, and being one who tried to fill a void in her life by using plastic, I know how easy it is to find yourself in that trap. "
— Amy, 1/15/2014 -
" It wasn't the greatest book ever, but if you into social issues and economics, you might like this one. It isn't a heavy read, but did add a few new insights that I hadn't heard before. "
— Chris, 1/10/2014 -
" Good expose of the evolution of credit/debt and the institutions who specialize in "lending" but for the sole purpose of profit for the banks, credit card, and collection entities. Illustrates tactics used to prey on the least educated and most vulnerable. Shows how consumer protection laws have been systematically eliminated and how these beheamouth institutions expect the Federal Gov't to bail them out. The ultimate in capitalist corruption; when the money runs out, just sell credit... Written in an engaging style, it's easy to read but the message is important. "
— Anita, 12/31/2013 -
" This was really good look into the history of credit cards and how they can ruin your life. It is funny to think that relatively speaking they are not that old, but they have been around for my lifetime. It now has become the way of life. "
— Audra, 12/31/2013 -
" Scurlock was right...unfortunately. "
— Jonny99, 12/26/2013 -
" Difficult for me to read, made me infuriated how much the credit and finance industry gets away with. "
— Jessica, 12/13/2013 -
" Prescient, given that it was written just before the big 2008 crash. And chilling, because he's pointing out how bad things were, back when we thought they were basically good. He's the Michael Moore of personal finance, it seems. "
— Kate, 12/11/2013 -
" Both this and the film are excellent primers on the dangers of easy credit and predatory lending. "
— Jenn, 11/9/2013 -
" Everyone in America should read this book. "
— Adrienne, 9/16/2013 -
" Listened to the audio book and it was fantastic! "
— Jennifer, 7/27/2013 -
" This was truly an eye-opening book. If you want to know what in the world is going on with our financial system today...what went wrong and why...then this is an excellent place to start. "
— Tina, 5/27/2013 -
" Very good book for everybody who uses credit. "
— Jen, 4/18/2013 -
" Saw the movie too. "
— Cate, 3/11/2013 -
" Good book - it scared me actually. One of the things I've noticed since moving to the US, is that it seems so easy to fall into the debt trap and so difficult to get out (you can get loans that you'd never in a million years get in NZ). Big incentive to pay off the credit card and cut it up. "
— Ngaire, 2/1/2013 -
" Not too bad for a screaming Republican ass, but didn't really learn anything new. "
— Falbs, 12/18/2011 -
" Why has the cost of living skyrocketed while wages have stayed the same? Two words: easy credit. It's driven the cost of everything up while driving the world into debt. This cannot go on much longer. Something's gonna give. "
— Melissa, 7/19/2011 -
" Published in early 2007, this story of the credit/mortgage meltdown in the US would not be so poignant if it had not been written before the event. Until the paradigm of US citizens gets off consumerism, we're in for a world of hurt and it could bring all of us down. "
— Nonie, 5/23/2011 -
" far superior to the movie. probably not a lot of new, surprising info but all accessible and in one place. "
— Shannon, 3/29/2011 -
" After reading this book you will understand the deceptive, tragic, and even illegal methods banks use to take your hard earned money. "
— Eboni, 12/27/2010 -
" This was really good look into the history of credit cards and how they can ruin your life. It is funny to think that relatively speaking they are not that old, but they have been around for my lifetime. It now has become the way of life. "
— Audra, 7/16/2010 -
" Difficult for me to read, made me infuriated how much the credit and finance industry gets away with. "
— Jessica, 3/22/2010 -
" Very interesting book. I was shocked to hear the basis of credit scores and how the lending/credit companies work. Eesh... The stories are heartbreaking, and being one who tried to fill a void in her life by using plastic, I know how easy it is to find yourself in that trap. "
— Amy, 3/18/2010 -
" Not too bad for a screaming Republican ass, but didn't really learn anything new. "
— Falbs, 6/27/2009 -
" Published in early 2007, this story of the credit/mortgage meltdown in the US would not be so poignant if it had not been written before the event. Until the paradigm of US citizens gets off consumerism, we're in for a world of hurt and it could bring all of us down. "
— Nonie, 3/20/2009 -
" Listened to the audio book and it was fantastic! "
— Jennifer, 7/2/2008 -
" After reading this book you will understand the deceptive, tragic, and even illegal methods banks use to take your hard earned money. "
— Eboni, 5/24/2008 -
" Very good book for everybody who uses credit. "
— Jen, 3/28/2008
About James D. Scurlock
James D. Scurlock studied at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania before dropping out to pursue an entrepreneurial venture and later a documentary film career. His first film, Parents of the Year, won numerous awards and was an official selection of more than twenty-five film festivals. His first feature-length documentary, Maxed Out, explored our culture of debt and won the Special Jury Prize at South by Southwest. His first book, a companion to the award-winning documentary, was nominated for the National MS Society’s Books for a Better Life Award. He has written, primarily about the impending (and now realized) financial crisis, for Slate, Newsweek, the Huffington Post, and AARP Magazine, among others. He has also appeared on numerous programs, including Nightline, The Today Show, and CNBC’s Power Lunch. He lives in Santa Monica, California.