Last week I attended a form on small business lending from led by two people from SBA and two from Fifth Third bank. It was a great time to learn about the practical implications of getting a loan for a small business. Many people were represented there all looking to attain money is some way or another. Some were just starting others were in the thick of major growth.
I felt somewhat out of place being at a meeting talking about borrowing money. I was raised to believe that you don’t spend what you don’t have. Use cash for as much as you can and never use a credit card. I do truly still believe this but there is also a good value in “building credit”. During this meeting we talked about the four C’s of credit: Character, Capacity, Capitol, and Collateral. I learned a lot about what bankers look for in people when they want to start a business. They dig into your personal life, they look for indications that you have payed you bills on time, and they make sure you “have skin in the game”. One big take away I had from this meeting was “get a credit card”. Don’t spend more than 25% of your credit limit, use it wisely and pay off the balance every month. Getting a credit card is just another way to tell a banker that you are diligent with paying your bills. This is my long segue into a wonderful video on the credit crisis. Spend wisely!
The Short and Simple Story of the Credit Crisis. [watch in HD]
The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of Jonathan Jarvis’ thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
For more on his broader thesis work exploring the use of new media to make sense of a increasingly complex world, visit jonathanjarvis.com