Credit Score?

[Sinyc]

Once again, there are other ways to determine that. If you ask me, I'll tell you my credit score (I don't actually know it). That doesn't mean I won't think you're a nosy asshole for asking it.

It all depends on when such a question is asked. When you meet people, the questions you ask them tend to be based on order of importance on what you want to know about them. I consider a credit score to be pretty low on that list.

Financial responsibility is a HUGE deal. Anyone bad with money will just try to bring you down, among other negatives.

The problem is that credit score doesn't really judge personal responsibility. Not reliably anyway. I had a terrible score for a long time. Mostly because I didn't have any debt. I didn't use credit cards, I didn't take out loans. I paid for everything I got up front. Credit scores doesn't take stuff like this into account.

There is not having credit. And then there is having BAD credit.

[TheorynPhilispohy]

I am sorry, but credit score in its self is pretty much useless, sure, lenders look at this to make a decision, but you can have a perfect high score and still don't get the loan/credit card or whatever

[Koyoti]

I am sorry, but credit score in its self is pretty much useless, sure, lenders look at this to make a decision, but you can have a perfect high score and still don't get the loan/credit card or whatever

Pretty much.

My scores are
795/900 with experian
425/700 with equifax
1/5 with noddle

what does that tell you about me?

As I found out recently when I went to buy a new car, much more important is

do I have a regular job and paycheck? (with proof of earnings)
can I afford the repayments? (with proof of monthly outgoings)
a registered address? (electoral roll in the UK)

and most importantly

Do I have a credit history?

As someone who only occasionally takes a loan for large purchases (new car etc,) I've had problems getting credit because I don't normally use it. I don't generally buy stuff I can't afford to buy outright.

It turns out having virtually no credit history is worse than having a bad one

[TheorynPhilispohy]

Pretty much.

My scores are
795/900 with experian
425/700 with equifax
1/5 with noddle

what does that tell you about me?

As I found out recently when I went to buy a new car, much more important is

do I have a regular job and paycheck? (with proof of earnings)
can I afford the repayments? (with proof of monthly outgoings)
a registered address? (electoral roll in the UK)

and most importantly

Do I have a credit history?

As someone who only occasionally takes a loan for large purchases (new car etc,) I've had problems getting credit because I don't normally use it. I don't generally buy stuff I can't afford to buy outright.

It turns out having virtually no credit history is worse than having a bad one

My guess is lenders look at behavioral patterns of someone with a credit card, if they see you are using it responsibility, then they will be much more confident giving you a quote rather than someone without that credit card history. Sure the things you've enlisted are important, but from your own experience credit score is just a number with no meaning, maybe the score ups your chances of getting a loan by 10-20%, rest is just how you handle any current credit cards and if you paid on time

[Torgent]

Credit score is about one's ability to take out loans. That's not important until you wish to share finances, which is deep into a relationship (marriage).

If the issue is simply about money, then the better thing to do is talk about what you do for a living. Nobody ever said you had to pay for people. Personally, I'm not going to let someone's net worth get in the way of whether I enjoy spending time with her.

Credit is more about your ability to take care of yourself and your obligations. Everyone saying "You shouldn't care until you share money" is an idiot. That's far too late to suddenly start caring. Most people don't share money until they are married. So you're going to wake up on your honeymoon and realize you just married someone with 100k in debt and has tons of missed payments. Oops, too late now. Maybe you should have been an adult and talked about those things before marriage.

The score itself isn't important. But what is on there might be.

[Wythel]

We do in the UK. Pretty certain the rest of the EU also do.

Lol no, never heard of a bank iLvl in France.
Also, our banks don't really give us "credit" cards, we call them that way but they are "debit" cards in fact for the vast majority.

Basically, when you need a loan, you go to the bank, and if you are under 33% of your income into any kind of loan, you can expect it to be accepted (up to 33%).
Else, you are refused the loan and you go find money on less "secure" ways (like consumer credit companies that don't give shit about your abilities to pay your debts, will accept anything and drive you to suicide).

[Koyoti]

My guess is lenders look at behavioral patterns of someone with a credit card, if they see you are using it responsibility, then they will be much more confident giving you a quote rather than someone without that credit card history. Sure the things you've enlisted are important, but from your own experience credit score is just a number with no meaning, maybe the score ups your chances of getting a loan by 10-20%, rest is just how you handle any current credit cards and if you paid on time

One interesting thing, car finance wise, that I discovered though. The car you choose has a bearing too.
As I happened to choose a car (Honda Jazz) that is regarded as being supremely reliable and having high resale values I got a better deal on the loan for it.

Makes you wonder what else they look at?

[TheorynPhilispohy]

Lol no, never heard of a bank iLvl in France.
Also, our banks don't really give us "credit" cards, we call them that way but they are "debit" cards in fact for the vast majority.

I agree with the statement of "We call them" its true in EU, but I loled once in UK, when my brother had 40 letters sent to him from different credit card companies, lets just say he got promoted and he didn't visit the one of his empty flats for a month or two xd

[Machismo]

Credit is more about your ability to take care of yourself and your obligations. Everyone saying "You shouldn't care until you share money" is an idiot. That's far too late to suddenly start caring. Most people don't share money until they are married. So you're going to wake up on your honeymoon and realize you just married someone with 100k in debt and has tons of missed payments. Oops, too late now. Maybe you should have been an adult and talked about those things before marriage.

The score itself isn't important. But what is on there might be.

If you can't figure out how someone handles such things without asking for a credit score (which is not a very good indication), then you may have a problem.

[TheorynPhilispohy]

One interesting thing, car finance wise, that I discovered though. The car you choose has a bearing too.
As I happened to choose a car (Honda Jazz) that is regarded as being supremely reliable and having high resale values I got a better deal on the loan for it.

Makes you wonder what else they look at?

You know whats more strange for me? The first time I took a phone on contract I was accepted as my score was fine, never missed a payment etc, after it ended, I had really bad score, since I had missed payments on different cards, it drastically affected me as I got declined everywhere, BUT I always was accepted when taking a new phone contract, even with bad score, so this gave me a conclusion, that lenders are more likely give you a chance if you had a good track record on SPECIFIC debts e.g. paying of phone contracts.

[pseudoJ]

Money is pretty important, you can't have someone with an income a lot lower than yours and expect them to be able to do things with you unless you pay for them. I know I'm not paying for someone who is supposed to be independent.

Your point of view. I don't give a damn if the person I like has the same level of financial assets as I do. My approach to this is "You pay what you can afford, if it happens to be 1/10th of what I will pay its fine". The important thing is the will to split the expenses not the ratio. Of course extremes when one is in a huge debt or is essentially using the other person is something entirely different. However the fact that I'd not start/keep a relationship just because the girl happens to work as a waitress/librarian/nurse/whatever is ridiculous. Especially when I could provide a decent living for family just on my own.

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We do in the UK. Pretty certain the rest of the EU also do.

Not really sure about Czech Republic for example. We certainly have a central debtor evidence to which various institutions have direct access. However other than that I think the banks and such have to do their own detailed profiling.

[Echoherb]

Credit score is a scam.

[Freighter]

Your point of view. I don't give a damn if the person I like has the same level of financial assets as I do. My approach to this is "You pay what you can afford, if it happens to be 1/10th of what I will pay its fine". The important thing is the will to split the expenses not the ratio. Of course extremes when one is in a huge debt or is essentially using the other person is something entirely different. However the fact that I'd not start/keep a relationship just because the girl happens to work as a waitress/librarian/nurse/whatever is ridiculous. Especially when I could provide a decent living for family just on my own.

You likely would if monthly expenses are like S$3500-4000 and then add on costs of vacations to that.

[Ghostpanther]

A good credit score can be one indication of how responsible a person is. So I see nothing wrong with others wanting to know what it is from a date. Of course it is a personal question and the one asking should not be upset if they are not told what it is.

One thing to keep in mind however is some may not even know what it is. Until 2 years ago I did not even know what my credit score was until I got a new SUV and applied for credit approval. Had gone decades with no debt and paying off credit cards every month in full. The salesman said I had a high one. But I am married, so this is not even relative to myself.

[dragonballgtz]

When you actually start having shared space or budget.

A bit before that is when I would ask. Having a meaningful conversation about something like this would indicate a relationship will get serious. I want to know what I'm getting into.

Now if it's just a fling I wouldn't give two shits about her credit score.

[pseudoJ]

You likely would if monthly expenses are like S$3500-4000 and then add on costs of vacations to that.

Lady it baffles me how easily you can talk in absolutes. TBH I'm likely not able to answer your question since I'm not exactly sure how much money is required for a decent living in Singapore (I suppose "S$" stands for Singapore dollar). From what I looked around it should be possible to live with about 4k S$. Where I live a family of 4 can have a decent or even quite comfortable living on that budget (depending on the city). Growing up, my parents have about 1/3 of that and they managed (it wasn't exactly what I would now call comfortable, but we were starving or anything).

However if I were to try and answer....it depends, if you are indeed talking about our combined expenses for living then no, I wouldn't mind. If it would be just the lady spending 4k on her stuff (beside "shared" expenses like housing, food,...) then hell yes, I would mind (unless she can afford it).

Median wage in Singapore seems to be something around 4k S$ (surprisingly high, BTW) so unless half the population lives in poverty it should indeed be possible for single person to have a decent living on that budget . According to glassdoor.com waitress gets like 2k/month and medical nurse about 3k (probably a bit more depending on specialisation). So in theory if I were to live in a Singapore with a girl making 2k S$ monthy that would mean that our combined income would be somewhere around 9k and I'd say it's totally managable.

Reminder: my idea of wages in Singapore is very vague and I've pulled the numbers ad-hoc from the Internet so they might be off.

TLDR; Where I live I have a sufficient income to provide for 2 people on my own. So depending on the circumstance and the reason I have no problem doing so - the girl is still studying or happens to work less profitable job (e.g teachers are payed really really poorly here). Don't mistake this for willingness to sponsor a gold digger or some lazy good for nothing/one thing "lady".

[Spectral]

The problem is that credit score doesn't really judge personal responsibility. Not reliably anyway. I had a terrible score for a long time. Mostly because I didn't have any debt. I didn't use credit cards, I didn't take out loans. I paid for everything I got up front. Credit scores doesn't take stuff like this into account.

Were I to get into a serious relationship, I'd want to have a conversation about why this is a bad plan.

- - - Updated - - -

You know whats more strange for me? The first time I took a phone on contract I was accepted as my score was fine, never missed a payment etc, after it ended, I had really bad score, since I had missed payments on different cards, it drastically affected me as I got declined everywhere, BUT I always was accepted when taking a new phone contract, even with bad score, so this gave me a conclusion, that lenders are more likely give you a chance if you had a good track record on SPECIFIC debts e.g. paying of phone contracts.

FWiW, I've spent some time working with small-time landlords that have much the same policy for tenants. Sure, credit score matters, but what's more important to them is knowing how you prioritize payments when you're short on cash. If your inclination is to make sure that rent check comes every month and you have a reference to prove it, other bad debt is entirely forgivable for a landlord.

[Freighter]

However if I were to try and answer....it depends, if you are indeed talking about our combined expenses for living then no, I wouldn't mind. If it would be just the lady spending 4k on her stuff (beside "shared" expenses like housing, food,...) then hell yes, I would mind (unless she can afford it).

That's my monthly expenses while living alone. It will be more if you're 2. I'm not particularly fond of someone being a gold digger and wanting me to support them. They should be able to be independent without financial support from me.

[pionock]

I'd say you need to wait until you're far enough into the relationship that you're about to propose. Before that, it's largely irrelevant. Hell, my fiance is a nurse, and we're about to move back to the states in December and only about a month ago did I finally ask how much she's saved out here in Kuwait. It just felt too personal to ask any other time.

[Vetis]

Opinions please-

So tonight at work someone asked the question - "When is it okay to bring up credit score in a relationship?" After I answered people were pretty up in arms. Out of about 20 people, it was divided 4/16 or so.

Personally I said "pretty early in the relationship." I was shocked at how offended people got by this, as if credit score is some huge personal secret. I wouldn't press the question or make a big deal about it, but I don't see the issue with being open in a relationship. If I can see you naked, why aren't details like this okay to discuss?

asking for credit score is a step below can you just straight out be a prostitute please.