Free Advanced Screening of Maxed Out in Dallas on March 6

The National Financial Awareness Network, in conjunction with Americans For Fairness In Lending, announced today a special advance screening of the acclaimed documentary, Maxed Out, to be held on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas, Texas. Consumer advocate Bud Hibbs, who is featured in the film, will speak at the event. Seating is limited, so those wanting to attend the screening need to RSVP by going to www.nfan.com/maxedout.

This advance screening of Maxed Out is part of the first national public education campaign to end rampant abuses of consumers by the lending industry. The campaign will be launched on March 6 by Americans For Fairness In Lending (AFFIL), a new partnership of consumer, civil rights, faith-based, non-partisan and grassroots organizations. The goals of the campaign are to expose predatory lending practices, provide information to help consumers fight unfair lenders, educate policymakers, and demand action on behalf of debt-burdened Americans.

“Americans are feeling the financial pain from a lending industry gone wild,” said John Janney, President of NFAN. “When the sky’s the limit for interest rates and over 30 percent of banking profits come from penalty fees, lenders have a lot of incentive to push consumers into high-cost credit and predatory loans.”

The methods and the madness of predatory lending are fully explored in Maxed Out, which opens in select cities nationwide on March 9. The film veers from comic absurdity to sheer tragedy as it shows how current lending practices are wreaking havoc upon the lives of ordinary Americans.

NFAN joins over 25 national organizations who make Americans For Fairness In Lending possible, including, among others ACORN, Center for American Progress, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, NAACP, National Consumer Law Center, National Council of La Raza, UAW, and U.S. PIRG.

“The film shows that while the lending industry reaps billion-dollar profits, ordinary, hard-working Americans find themselves buried deeper and deeper under mountains of debt,” said Janney. “We are pleased to be part of the Americans For Fairness In Lending campaign because it will help the public fight back, by raising awareness of the tricks and traps of predatory lending and by connecting people to resources that can help them get out from under their debt.”

Maxed Out identifies the AFFIL website—www.affil.org—as the place for viewers to go to learn more about unfair lending, share a lending horror story of their own, find help, or demand action.

About NFAN

The National Financial Awareness Network, Inc., is a Dallas-based financial literacy company that offers educational products and services related to personal finance, such as the popular Do-It-Yourself Debt Settlement Kit, Credit Recovery and Survival Guide and the 99¢ money-saving newsletter Street Cents. The New York State Banking Department lists NFAN’s HelpForDebtors.com in their Financial Educational Resources Directory. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.nfan.com/maxedout.