Credit360

Inspiration

Having been thrown into the world of "adulting", navigating through credit has been one of the many unknowns that we've come in counter with. All of us share a common confusion as to what this credit score can be used for and where it can be applied. There are platforms which provide lists of credit cards and the categories they pander to as well as platforms that provide credit cards which the user qualified for depending on their credit score; however, no platform combines this into one concise web application. We are tired of the countless tabs that we must have up in order to weigh and compare the differences of credit cards. We constructed Credit360 in order to assist with this process.

What it does

After entering your credit score with our interactive knob, the user fills out an assessment to help narrow down which credit cards would suit them best. By taking in the user inputs from the survey, the input is brought to our MySQL database which maps the inputs to the credit cards that most aligns with the user. The final page contains a wheel of cards which utilizes page scrolling interaction and animation in order to view a credit card. The right of the page contains information about the credit card.

How we built it

Instead of needing an environment for graphics, visual design, prototyping, and coding for front-end, we used a new website creation tool, Webflow. Webflow allowed us to design and develop at the same time. Although it may seem like a simple website creation tool, the platform embraces the complexity of code as it is completely customizable; down to the div blocks, containers, sections, positioning, transformations, interactions, and other HTML, CSS, and Javascript capabilities. In order to utilize Webflow, we had to learn the fundamentals of web design.

With back-end we utilized MySQL and attempted to configure an online host, through some trials and eventually reaching a dead end. We kept the files within our GitHub to show our tireless work.

Challenges we ran into

Our back-end half spent a lot of the night attempting to configure the communication between the back-end and the front-end. Initially we started by hosting Credit360 on Netlify, after some exposure we realized it was not friendly towards databases. We then switched gears and we were able to migrate our local MySQL database to Google Cloud. As we discovered, this made things difficult as hit another road block trying to configure Node.js, then experienced a failed attempt with using Google's VM. Google's security protocols were unlike anything we had encountered. At 7:00am we decided to switch gears to a local machine. And due to a limitation within Webflow we could not complete the connection between back-end and front-end.

Our front-end half spent the night configuring and learning an advanced website builder Webflow, as mentioned above. We learned the constraints and limits to this platform as well as the power behind it; we tested it to its limits. Configuring how to implement our own hard code was a big hurdle as we configured how to go from HTML to Javascript. We taught our selves various snippets of Javascript and deepened our understanding of HTML and CSS.

The last challenged we faced was Webflow's inability to export Forms. At the last minute we attempted to quickly hard code a form in order to take user data but with a time crunch, we were unable to complete this task.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Having birthed this idea only 18 hours before the submission, we are surprised and proud of the state of our product. We came together in attempts to create an application that would benefit a large portion of the population, be-it young adults who are clueless about their credit scores or older folk who are curious to see what credit cards they apply for.

What we learned

We learned and educated ourselves on the surface level of a credit score; the ranges, how to build it, and one of the many places it can be applied to. Along with this, learning to communicate and delegate together as a team while giving space and ensuring that everyone was heard was an experience that we'll always take with us. This was all of our first hacks, and we're extremely proud of this experience.

The technology aspect of this project taught us the work that goes into hosting a web application. Although we struggled with configuring the middle communication of the back-end with the front-end we grew to gain a stronger appreciation for the applications we use on a daily basis. Being stuck in frustration and seemingly feeling like we reached a dead end, we still gained some experience with hosting and cloud technologies. We found the greatest opportunities to learn within our challenges.

What's next for Credit360

Configuring out how to communicate with the back-end and front-end by implementing a form would be our next step. The implementation of a stronger main page which contains information and a welcome presence will be in the works. Along with this we will be looking into adding more questions to the survey, if you look into our database you'll find that we had 8 answers planned to take in from the user.