ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray shares part one of his interview with Marvin Wilson, aka Meta Marvin, CEO of the financial education company Funding Credit.
According to Wilson, the credit-counseling service is meant to be a catalyst for individuals who want to become entrepreneurs, just as he did from humble beginnings.
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“Funding Credit is a household brand that people can drive, and it was challenging at first because a lot of people in our community, Corie, they don’t want to let you know they behind on they bills, they ain’t trying to tell you, ‘My credit is a 400 or 500 credit score,’ but what I did is I started doing free events and I started talking — I was very active out there — on (how) credit is life, credit is your future. I started challenging the people in our community, and it was other people too, and educating them about the importance of credit and getting off of not being so suppressed or secretive about your situation, especially if you don’t know how to fix it,” Wilson said.
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Wilson told Corie about how the same patience and understanding that began Funding Credit is now incorporated into the service’s business model, such as with common-sense underwriting.
As far as his advice for folks looking to trade their 9-5 for their own business, Wilson urged listeners not to do so with their own money. Instead, once you’ve gotten your credit score straightened out, what one should do is seek person guarantor status for a bank loan, he said.
“Me and Corie can go in business right now, we can go create an LLC or C (corporation) tomorrow. If Corie has a 700, 800 credit score, me and Corie could have 150 grand by the end of the week, or at least it would be on the way, no business credit, no nothing. Why? He’s personally guaranteeing the business with his personal credit,” Wilson said. “Let me break that down. ‘Corie? Mr. Sylvester? This is Bank of America. Hey, Mr. Sylvester applied for $100,000 line of credit.’ First thing they’re gonna do, they’re gonna go look at Corie’s personal life. ‘Oh, oh OK, he’s been paying on this van for 13 years. Oh, he’s got a mortgage for a quarter of a million dollars.’ So they’re going to look at all his payments and look at how he’s justified on his personal side, how he paid his bills, (and) they’ll give him that business side. Now, he can use his credit score to go out and get funding for his business just like that, right? But the catch on that, guys, is that usually nine times out of 10, that’s how most people have to start their business.”
Hear the interview and more in Season 4, Episode 26 of “Black Men Sundays.”
Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.