I have recently had the privilege of watching the documentary In Debt We Trust by filmmaker Danny Schechter.  The film is different than Maxed Out in that it takes an in-depth look at the credit-lending scene.  It touches briefly on collectors but discusses credit cards, predatory lending, cash advance/payday lenders and more.  The filmmaker also queries users to ask the question if the next bubble to burst is going to be the credit industry, much like the mortgage industry is going through woes (as a result of the subprime/predatory mortgage lending market).  He didn’t present this concept in a doom and gloom the sky-is-falling way but instead as a question that consumers must ask themselves.

Two parts of the film really stood out to me.  The first was of a Baptist church in Virginia that helps members pay off non-car and non-auto debt.  Parishioners donate what they can to a chosen member and then their credit cards are paid off.  That member then cuts up the credit cards and the whole parish celebrates.  As Dave Ramsey says often, debt is merely a symptom.  I don’t know the whole program that the church uses but I would hope that they address the core root of the problem which can be different in each individual.  Cutting up the credit cards is definitely a good step and having support from friends and family will likely help that one parishioner stay out of debt.

As the movie came to a close, a brief description of 2005 NYC helicopter crash in which six executives from MBNA (who was the primary backer for the 2005 bankruptcy reform laws) were rescued.  One bankruptcy attorney mentioned that several people thought that perhaps this was divine intervention.  I’d lean more towards karma perhaps but it does make a person go hmmm?  Of course no one would ever wish this on the executives but considering what they were working on at the time, it is quite a coincidence.

The film runs a total of 98 minutes and was definitely eye-opening.  I can definitely tell you that it helps keep me focused on getting out of consumer debt!