Unlucky in Love? Your Credit Score—Not Your Game—May be to Blame

By Trish Townsend

Based on the results of a recent Lending Tree survey, Americans are not paying close enough attention when it comes to their credit scores. The report revealed that 60 percent of people around the country do not know their own credit score.

On a day-to-day basis, you might not think it matters that much. But the reality is that your credit score impacts everything from the car you drive, where you live, and maybe even what you do for work.

If you’re still not convinced that you should be paying closer attention to your credit score, Discover Financial Services and Match Media Group—parent company of Tinder and other dating sites—just released new data that may be able to compel you after all.

In a study of 2,000 online daters, the joint study revealed that today’s dating pool places a high priority on the ability to manage money. Half of respondents claimed that having a good credit score was more attractive than having an impressive job. 58 percent said it was more attractive than having a nice car. 40 percent of respondents even said that a fit credit score was better than a fit body.

But why are today’s singles so drawn to individuals with high credit scores? It’s what the figure represents. 73 percent of survey respondents claimed that a good credit score suggested responsibility. Roughly 40 percent said it reflected a sense of trustworthiness and high intelligence, too.

Helen Fisher, the chief scientific adviser at Match.com and senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, put it in more academic terms, calling credit scores “honest indicators of who you really are,” as well as “Darwinian mechanisms for measuring your reproductive ability.”

While we may not be able to help you think up any one-liners to test when you go out to mingle on Saturday night, The Milford Bank is more than ready to help you take a closer look at how to improve your credit score. To learn more about how to set yourself up for sustained financial growth, stop by any office of The Milford Bank, or check out more resources at our Online Learning Center here.