Financial incompatibility can be a serious relationship killer, but it can be hard to tell from just a couple of dates if you're really on the same page with a potential partner.
Well, recently Shan (@spreadsheetshan), a 26-year-old accountant in Boston, conducted a mini experiment in finding financial compatibility by posting her (honestly enviable) credit score of 804 on her Hinge profile.
And the responses she got from men ranged from congratulatory:
To a little confused:
To definitely horny:
To ready to get married:
And when she shared these messages on TikTok, the video quickly shot up to over a million views and the conversation got even more interesting.
Some commenters suggested that Shan should be sure to get these potential suitors' credit scores, too. One wrote, "They should reply with their credit score. Beware of scrubs."
Another user chimed in, "My credit is 829 but I feel like that would attract all the broke guys."
"I would immediately assume all those people are poor," another commenter replied.
Others confessed that sharing their credit scores might have the opposite effect. One person wrote, "Girl if they saw my credit score I'd be blocked."
Another person replied, "Love that for you but where are my 600s girlies at?"
One woman shared that she has also conducted this experiment with very different results. "I literally got banned for life from Tinder when I tried this. Men be too butthurt in my area I guess!"
And one person basically invented a new kind of dating app, writing, "There should be a dating app that analyzes your banking apps and matches you with financially compatible people."
I think Shan's experiment and the conversation around it says a lot about the conflicting messages our culture sends to women about our finances. In the past, women were told that our successes can threaten men and scare them away. But on the other hand, people now seem to be warning successful women like Shan to keep their financial acumen under wraps or they'll risk attracting losers. It's like we just can't win.
I wanted to know what Shan herself thought about the whole thing, so I reached out to her via email. She said, "I had the idea of adding my credit score to my Hinge because I wanted my profile to stand out and attract guys with similar priorities. I felt like a guy that would find my credit score impressive, would also be someone that prioritized his finances."
And she said that she doesn't agree with the commenters who think the men who find her credit score attractive are probably golddiggers. "I did not expect all of the responses on TikTok that I received about those men having feminine energy and looking to 'mooch' off of me. I do not totally agree with those comments. I am proud of my financial responsibilities and it is something that I’ve always prioritized."
As someone who has spent the last six years slowly but surely bringing my credit score out of the 500s and into the high 700s, I also had to know Shan's secret for getting into the 800 club. Shan shared that she had a head start on building her credit thanks to her parents giving her a financial education. "I started building credit at a young age and was fortunate enough to have parents who taught me of that importance so early on in my life!"
And she said that a credit card can be an excellent tool for building your credit, too. "The best thing you can do to start building credit is to get a credit card, do not spend more than 10% of the credit limit, and set up automatic payments every month! Every college student should have a credit card and treat it as a debit card — only charge what you can afford to pay off each month."
Now I'm curious, would you ever share your credit score in a dating profile? Tell me why or why not in the comments.
