PUBLISHED 4 HOURS AGO
A new dating app called “SCORE” promises to help you find true love through financial compatibility. The brainchild of lifestyle financial platform Neon Money Club, the app requires prospective daters to have a credit score of at least 675. That’s essentially the basement of a good credit score, but it may help weed out grifters or posers.
"When I first heard about SCORE, I thought 'This is very interesting — and it's valid too,'" said top dating coach Andrea McGinty, founder of It's Just Lunch and 33000Dates.com. When a prospective date has a good credit score, it shows that "someone is financially responsible," and to a lesser extent, is stable and trustworthy, she explained.
There is research to back up this link. People with higher credit scores are more likely to form a relationship and stay together, according to a large study by the Federal Reserve in 2015.
Do dating apps really work?
The short answer? Yes!
"If you stick to online dating and you give it three months, three hours a week and you're on the right site" with a well-crafted profile and photos, "you can meet quality people," said McGinty.
According to McGinty, there are over 1,400 dating sites and apps, with the bulk of users opting for the top 20 or 30. The best dating apps tend to cast a wide net, have good privacy controls and have an array of filters to help you weed out people that are unlikely to interest you. While bespoke apps like those targeting farmers or Christians may seem appealing, the math just works out better on a very large site.
Once you've found a potential match, you should be on the lookout for financial red flags in the relationship, like a lack of transparency or relying on relatives for loans. If you're already dating or married to someone with troublesome financial habits, you may wish to try financial therapy as a way to a healthier relationship.
Is the SCORE app for you?
The SCORE app is well-designed and has good privacy controls, according to McGinty, a top dating coach. Yet it is unlikely to draw a critical mass from the lovelorn outside of major U.S. cities like New York, Boston or Chicago. That's an important consideration for those in rural areas or smaller cities.
The app appears to target wealthy Millennials. As McGinty explained, having a partner with a good credit score isn't as important to younger people just starting their careers. But for people in their thirties and up (including Gen X and Baby Boomer cohorts) dating someone with healthy finances is much more important. After striving for financial success, you want to avoid someone with poor financial habits who could drag you down. And you certainly want to steer clear of any gold-diggers or scammers.
There are limits to what a good or excellent credit score can convey. As McGinty pointed out, young entrepreneurs may rack up debt in the early stages of launching their own company, hurting their credit scores. Those same people may have excellent financial management skills but won't meet the SCORE threshold. Others may have excellent credit scores, only because a partner or spouse has bailed them out of debt.
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