Claer Barrett. Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. But in the world of online dating, it turns out a healthy credit score has real pulling power. The trend started last year when an accountant in Boston added a screenshot of her excellent credit score to her Hinge profile. One TikTok post and a million views later, other Gen Z and millennial daters followed her lead.
It became a thing. If you once forgot to pay your gas bill, prepare to be benched. But what β other than your ability to borrow at competitive rates β does a good credit score actually signify? Much depends on the kind of relationship you seek.
It is not a proxy for wealth β though I suspect many people will incorrectly surmise that a high credit score equals a high bank balance. The same goes for prudent folks still living with their parents who lack utility bills in their own name. Could a high score signify that your date is ready to settle down? Intriguingly, a Federal Reserve study in recognised that individuals with high credit scores were more inclined to establish committed relationships.
He describes it as a social experiment, albeit one with financial education at its heart. You, however, may think it sounds more like an episode of Black Mirror. My only knowledge of dating apps is gleaned from single friends. There are no plans to launch in Britain, where many regard talking about money as a turn-off. He made me laugh, he was kind and I fancied the pants off of him, which was enough. But this was an entirely different financial era. Back then, you did not need a six-figure salary to buy a one-bedroomed hovel located an inconvenient distance away from a Tube station.
People dating in their twenties and thirties are painfully aware of the difficulty of achieving the relationship milestones that my generation took for granted. Credit scores are a crucial financial passport to adult life. Find out more and support the Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign. And while Score is aimed at the mass market, the trend of greater financial disclosure is filtering down from elite dating apps. Blame The Tinder Swindler , but many services now insist on wealth verification checks including sight of tax returns to prove annual income above a certain level.
