1. The director, James Scurlock, originally set out to make a movie about the crazy spending habits of Americans. It was only after he started researching the issue and interviewing borrowers that he changed his focus to the lending industry and the effects of deregulation.

• Did the movie make you look at the consumer debt crisis in America differently?

• Do you think lenders are partially responsible for America’s debt crisis? How so?

2. Before seeing the movie, did you think there were government regulations to protect consumers – such as maximum charges for interest rates, fees and penalties?

3. Do you think our government is partially responsible for America’s debt crisis?

4. While Scurlock acknowledges consumer responsibility, he also concludes that aggressive marketing and other tactics are employed by the lending industry to get us into debt and keep us there. He believes that consumers should be protected against these practices.

• Do you think consumers should be better protected?

• Or, do you think it is solely the responsibility of individuals to protect themselves against lending traps?

5. Do you think average Americans have the information they need to sufficiently protect themselves against abusive loan products?

6. Do you think it is right that lenders aggressively market credit lines to certain types of consumers? (e.g. college students on their campuses, retirees on fixed incomes, people who have recently filed bankruptcy, people who might not understand the credit terms due to limitations of language, education and/or health?)

7. Foreclosures, bankruptcies, defaults and banking profits are all increasing. What does this mean for consumers?

8. How have changes in expectations, attitudes and practices on the part of lenders and consumers changed over the last two generations?

9. At the end of Maxed Out, the director shows the national debt clock, already well past eight trillion dollars. Do you think the national debt and individual consumer debt are related? Why or why not? If they are related, how so?

10. The credit card industry took in $43 billion fees and penalties in 2004 and $11 billion in late fee income alone in 2005.

• How have bank fees changed in the last 20 years?

• What is the purpose of fees and penalties: to cover administrative costs, to encourage timely payments, to increase profits, and/or to increase a significant additional revenue stream?

11. Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren tells us that she wrote to Alan Greenspan, former Chair of the Federal Reserve, and asked him what the “end plan” was, given the rising debt levels of individuals and the American government. He didn’t reply, but . . . what might he have replied?

12. This movie, while dated, shows the foundation of the crash in March of 2009. Have we learned the lessons as a society or will we continue to participate in the debt cycle?