Love

Bad Credit, Bad Relationship: How a Bad Credit Score Can Affect Your Relationship

posted by Chris Valentine

Credit is up in the United States with the average score hovering over 700 points. For those of you that don’t know what 700 points mean, it’s what major credit bureaus would consider being “good” credit.

Despite the fact that people seem to be paying their bills more consistently than they were during the recession years (2008 – 2011), there are still plenty of people out there that are carrying bad credit. As a matter of fact, those people comprise 30% of the country.

As it turns out, people with bad credit have more problems than a troubled relationship with money. They also tend to have a number of relationship issues with their dating partners and spouses.

That begs the question, is there a formal connection between bad credit and a bad relationship? We think so.

Below, we break down how bad credit might affect the modern person’s love life.

1. People Use Credit Scores to Filter Dating Partners

If you haven’t been on a date in the past few years, let us warn you that the game has changed.

Much of today’s dating happens through apps. People are more prone to cycling through dating partners, even if a date went well. Also, the questions that are being asked during dates are evolving.

75% of daters want to ask you what your credit score is like.

If your credit is bad, those same people will consider your financial struggles to be a deal-breaker.

2. Having a Bad Credit Score Affects Your Housing Prospects

When people think about what it is that they want from life, many cite wanting to have a home that they absolutely love. With bad credit, you can be sure that getting into a great home is going to be a serious challenge.

Even when you’re renting an apartment, landlords will require that all adult-aged residents fill out an application which runs their credit.

Nothing creates a bad relationship quite like you and your partner’s housing applications getting denied incessantly on account of your checkered financial past.

3. Bad Credit Means More Stress

Stress is a bad relationship key ingredient. It makes people more prone to fighting, neglect and ruins any prospects of having fun.

Since bad credit typically means a broad number of other financial issues and financial issues create serious stress in households,  you can see how bad credit can send your partnership into a vicious cycle that might prove difficult to claw out of.

4. Social Embarrassment and Bad Credit Go Hand in Hand

Whether it’s getting rejected for car loans, bad credit boat loans with super high-interest rates, or getting denied for loans for anything else that you’re expected to be able to afford as an adult, loan rejections lead to social embarrassment.

While it’s too bad that society judges people, there’s no escaping the fact that you and your partner are going to get judged if you’re in your 30’s and are driving around a car that’s so beat up that you can’t take it on the freeway.

Embarrassment like that which derives from bad credit will almost certainly drive a wedge between you and your partner.

5. One Partner Bearing Financial Pressures Creates Animosity

When one person in a relationship has bad credit and the other person has good credit, typically, the good credit partner will take on the debt for big-ticket, shared items like cars and homes.

The amount of pressure that puts on the partner with good credit can be immense. Furthermore, when a good credit partner thinks about how much they’re contributing to their relationship versus their bad credit partner, animosity can start unraveling things.

6. Bad Credit Is a Low-Hanging, Painful Point of Attack

Even in the best of relationships, harsh words can get lobbed around in the heat of an argument. Among the many insults that might escape a partner’s mouth, money troubles tend to be towards the top of the list.

If you have bad credit, you’re probably self-conscious about it and your partner might choose to exploit that insecurity which can make a bad relationship much worse.

7. Credit Issues Inherited Through Marriage

If you’ve spent your life managing your finances responsibly, why would you want to ruin your hard work by marrying a bad credit partner? The truth is that most people don’t want to and won’t.

Marrying people with bad credit means that any debts that those people have outstanding are now a shared liability.

That car your partner always seems to fall behind on payments on. Those businesses that your partners can’t seem to stop starting… The moment that you say “I do” debtors will come after you when your partner defaults.

That scary reality could easily be a deal-breaker for a person that doesn’t want to bear the burden of their spouse’s haphazard financial decisions.

Our Final Thoughts on the Bad Credit, Bad Relationship Connection

As we’ve shown you, bad credit can lead to a bevy of bad relationship issues and insecurities that can derail partnerships or keep them from forming in the first place.

We hope that our exposing the broader effects of credit issues on your life will inspire you to manage your money to the best of your ability. After all, your prospects of marriage and starting a family could very well depend on it.

Life is complicated. Our team aims to make things a whole lot simpler.

For more unconventional advice on everything from money to relationships, dive into more of the latest content on our blog!

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