Low Credit Score Makes it Harder to find Love

Think your date is just looking for a beautiful face and hot body? Think again. According to a recent CNN report, for many singles, having a bad credit score is a deal breaker when looking for love. According to a FreeCreditScore.com survey of 1,000 adults, up to 30% of women and 20% of men say they won’t marry a person with a low credit score.

The adults surveyed listed money management skills as “just as important as looks when deciding whether someone is worth pursuing.” This seems to be especially true for many women who rank financial responsibility on par with other qualities such as physical attraction and career ambition. Men aren’t so sure. Although they claim financial skills are very important they continue to rank physical attraction, sex and intimacy as more important.

Low credit score what it could mean for men

If a staggering 75% of women want someone with a high credit score men should pay attention. Some women laugh, discussions that used to center around dreams, goals, and ideas now turn strategically toward credit scores and someone’s financial stability.

Credit scores, which are calculated using a variety of factors such as your payment history, amount owed, the types of credit you have and the number of years that credit has been available to you can come crashing down for a variety of reasons, some of which may be beyond your control, but for others it can say a lot about them and how they view money.

Many singles wonder if a low credit score might mean their prospective partner lacks impulse control, has the tendency to live beyond their means or worse, marriage to them could interfere with their prospects for qualifying for home loans, auto loans or getting lower interest rates. Others claim that if they did marry someone with a low credit score their tendency to mismanage money could ruin the financial independence which has been so hard to achieve.

How do I broach the subject?

Talking about money is difficult for any couple. Couples who are married often list financial issues as one of the main reasons they split. But the truth is financial discussions are some of the most important to have and should be broached as soon as possible.

According to the survey, 39% discussed finances and credit scores during the first year of a relationship, 21% brought it up before committing to a relationship and 19% compared scores before moving in together. Very few couples broached the topic up on their first date, something which is not recommended, but others simply looked for what they called “red flags.”

If you are really curious you can use a dating site which uses credit score data in the matchmaking process to put couples together. The one caveat- credit scores are self-reported.

So how bad is a bad credit score? If the person you are dating is dating you so you can “rescue” them, this could be a recipe for disaster. It’s much better if you and your potential spouse view and spend money the same way, in fact,  it’s one less you’ll have to fight about.