Credit score dating?
According to a NY Times article published yesterday and written by Jessica Silver-Greenberg (who graduated from Princeton in 2004), the latest trend in dating is asking one’s date what his or her credit score is.
[The credit score] is so widely used that it has also become a bigger factor in dating decisions, sometimes eclipsing more traditional priorities like a good job, shared interests and physical chemistry. That’s according to interviews with more than 50 daters across the country, all under the age of 40.
Is this for real? It has the feel of one of those NY Times articles where the author asks a few of her friends for some anecdotes and then pretends that it’s some big trend that she uncovered.
Lion of the Blogosphere 
Federal law restricts access to credit scores to those considering extended credit and a few others such as landlords and car insurance companies. If you ask your would-be date for a credit score you aren’t going to know if he or she is telling the truth.
Overall, I’d agree that this is one of those Times “trend articles that is to real journalism what picking your nose and eating it is to fine dining.
Peter
ironrailsironweights
December 27, 2012 at 9:27 PM
The writer is pretty and smart. And she knows to write editorials about topics trendy SWPL women want to read. I predict this girls is going to the top of the social heap.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 27, 2012 at 10:46 PM
Sounds like something you’d want to know, before vowing to co-sign her loans before God.
WmarkW
December 27, 2012 at 9:35 PM
Heh, I think you’re right. I just don’t think America is dating by credit scores. The writer probably knew one person who did it once, and poof! A trend!
Mike
December 27, 2012 at 9:43 PM
Somehow I think pretty girls and thin girls don’t get asked this question.
anonymous
December 27, 2012 at 9:50 PM
Obviously this “trend”, if it existed, would involve pretty girls asking their potential dates this question.
newdist
December 29, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Jessica Silver-Greenberg
She’s pretty. Not as pretty as Yale girls but pretty endearing in an innocent, temptingly naive way, muwhaha!!!
The Undiscovered Jew
December 27, 2012 at 10:21 PM
Federal law restricts access to credit scores to those considering extended credit and a few others such as landlords and car insurance companies.
Some private employers like financial services and weapons manufacturers for the military can also get credit scores as part of an employment background check.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 27, 2012 at 10:31 PM
That’s according to interviews with more than 50 daters across the country, all under the age of 40.
I’ve never heard of a girl who asked a guy for his credit score. The author is either making this up to attract attention to her journalistic career as a New York Times editorialist. Or if she didn’t make it up then she heard about a girl who tested her boyfriend for betaness by asking him to turn over his credit score – “give me your credit score or you don’t get to play with these”.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 27, 2012 at 10:41 PM
I’ve never heard of a girl asking a guy for his credit score (or vice versa) as part of a date. I’m guessing she’s making this story up. Or she heard one of her friends ask her boyfriend to give her his credit score as part of a test of his game and Jessica turned this one isolated incident into an article for the NYTimes in order to gain social status.
Either way, Jessica is going to claw her way to the top of the social heap. Well played, well played indeed.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 27, 2012 at 11:18 PM
Ehh…I kinda doubt it’s THAT important to that many people. It’s not totally in synch with someone’s overall financial situation although it’s a pretty good predictor. Also they’re not all that hard to fix if you know what to do about it. Even if you can’t fix it, time will do so in around 7 years. And if you’re in your 20’s, which most of these people probably are, a bad score is certainly not an economic death sentence.
lesocialcritique
December 27, 2012 at 11:55 PM
Hey Sweetie, what’s your credit score? A few nights with me and we can raise it!
Blog Raju
December 28, 2012 at 12:45 AM
HS,
I have heard several physicians (residents and fellows) joke that is they dated another physician, they would have to discuss debt loads. The same could happen for two law school students or two graduate school students.
The real trend is that for those upper middle class and above people who are thinking about getting married, finances should be a huge part of the discussion. A married couple living in NYC, NW DC, SF, Boston need to think about debt load, housing costs, private school costs, etc.
superdestroyer
December 28, 2012 at 6:37 AM
Every time you provide a link to a NY Times article, you should also tell us the socio-economic background of the author. You know, what her parents do, the lineage of a purebred 1%er, if that’s what she is. I kind of doubt she’s from a middle class background.
forever naive
December 28, 2012 at 8:08 AM
I don’t understand all this fuss about dating. In my day all I did was stand around waiting for pretty girls to throw themselves at me.
dearieme
December 28, 2012 at 8:13 AM
Me too. I got pre-selected by a Scottish blonde in 1981 and never had to make any effort after that.
alonzo portfolio
December 28, 2012 at 2:50 PM
I doubt this question comes up early in the dating process, but I imagine that if a guy is financially successful, when he starts thinking about marriage, he wants to know about her finances. Not her credit score, but her total debt. For people in their late 20s or early 30s, this basically means student debt load.
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/16/156736915/call-me-maybe-when-your-school-loan-is-paid-in-full
I would certainly care a lot more about the total debt load, even if it had been paid on time, than the score. Thankfully, when I got married, the only debt I had was mortgage on my condo (which was worth way more than I paid for it), and my wife had no debt. We were thus able to immediately purchase a house.
GMR
December 28, 2012 at 9:16 AM
I would say, “I don’t know. I haven’t borrowed money in many years.”
Then I would ridicule her for being a debtor, tell her that her wordly ways render her unworthy of my attention and that assigning merit to anyone due to their *borrowing* habits is an absurd construct of a doomed society, then send her away in shame.
Redneck Joe
December 28, 2012 at 12:43 PM
You must get laid all the time.
Naga
December 28, 2012 at 3:18 PM
No it’s been a while. Maybe you are on to something there.
Ah who cares. I’m 43 and it isn’t as important as it was when I used to bite my lip to avoid offending them. And I can call up old flames if necessary. The older wiser ones agree with me. They get excited, jump me and ask me to go on more rants about society.
Redneck Joe
December 28, 2012 at 6:06 PM
Perhaps the author of the article borrowed the idea from “Super Sad True Love Story” a satirical novel in which credit ratings are an important determinant of desirability.
Z
December 28, 2012 at 3:06 PM
It would be hugely funny if it was taken from Super Sad True Love Story, a book which our leonine host ought to review.
In the vein of sounding out the debt load along with the more conventional issues, don’t forget medical history (including psychiatric) of girl, parents and grandparents; pictures of the same (e.g., detect obesity or proleness); and, of course, whether parents have divorced at any time in their lives.
Perhaps the next SWPL trend shall be “arranged marriage in all but name”?
Glengarry
December 29, 2012 at 8:48 AM
Insane. Screw golddiggers. Credit score is way overrated. We live in a society that undervalues biology and overvalues “personal responsibility.” Personal responsibility in the U.S. today is really equivalent to biology in Nazi Germany and environment/social forces in Soviet Russia. It has become a dogma.
Matthew Wolfinbarger
December 29, 2012 at 2:43 PM