Finding a date if you've got "bad credit" by dana-edwards

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life · @dana-edwards · (edited)
$19.36
Finding a date if you've got "bad credit"
Having bad credit may be worse than having an STD statistically
-----

https://media.giphy.com/media/3orif4EgfNHUDwal9K/giphy.gif

42% of Americans claim in a [survey](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nearly-40-of-americans-want-to-know-your-credit-score-before-dating-2016-05-03) that they will not date someone who has bad credit. This is interesting statistically because I had a discussion with a person on Facebook about the impact of bad credit. I compared the US credit rating mechanism to China's "social credit" in that a person who acquires bad credit may not be discriminated against directly by the government (although they are when it comes to things like security clearances) but what about more basic stuff like finding an apartment or dating? Bad credit obviously affects people who are trying to find an apartment and anyone who has had bad credit will know from experience.

But what most people may not have known is that bad credit can affect you if you're trying to find love. Americans in general discriminate against people who have bad credit. There may be rational reasons not to date someone with bad credit but the fact is 42% is a very large percentage of the population (nearly half!).

Having bad credit is like having an STD
----

Yet not only are STDs common in the United States but so too is being in debt. Particularly [millennials have bad credit at a ridiculously high 43%(as of 2016)!](https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/millennials-have-bad-credit-transunion/).  In general, the Generation Z and generation X [aren't doing great](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/17/which-generation-has-the-worst-credit-score-not-millennials.html) when it comes to credit either. The fact is having bad credit in the United States leaves an awful stigma. College loan debt is the worst kind because it doesn't go away in bankruptcy and for the most part the education system is a debt trap.

Would you date someone with bad credit? Do you think credit score is equivalent to the Chinese social credit? Why or why not?


Technical discussion
----

All of this discussion on credit and credit score makes sense in the context of signalling theory. Signalling theory was discussed in a previous post of mine titled: ["Signalling Theory, Radical Transparency, and the death of genuine communication"](https://steemit.com/life/@dana-edwards/signalling-theory-radical-transparency-and-the-death-of-genuine-communication). It explains the "why" and the "how". According to signalling theory a person who maintains good credit is signalling their ability to make good financial decision. A person who hires may look at credit history to get an indication of the decision making capabilities of the potential employee. The landlord may also similarly look for these signals of good decision making by checking credit score. The credit score is therefore a signal allowing people who are looking for a number to identify a person who has a history of making good financial decisions (paying bills on time etc). 

Just as having a college degree "says something about a person" so too does having good credit. This matters because starting businesses may require getting a loan and if you have good credit it is easier to get a loan. People tend to want to give money to people who send the right signals.




References
---

TOUNSI, Y., HASSOUNI, L., & ANOUN, H. (2017). Credit scoring in the age of Big Dataโ€“A State-of-the-Art. IJCSIS.

1. https://www.glamour.com/story/sti-relationship-survey 
2. https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/health/std-highest-ever-reported-cdc/index.html
3. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/millennials-have-bad-credit-transunion/
4. http://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4
5. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/12/how-algorithms-can-bring-down-minorities-credit-scores/509333/
6. https://www.selflender.com/blog/can-an-employer-not-hire-me-based-on-my-credit.html
7. https://www.selflender.com/blog/high-cost-bad-credit-how-fix.html
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vote details (282)
@markkujantunen · (edited)
<blockquote>
Would you date someone with bad credit? 
</blockquote>

No fuckin' way unless they could prove conclusively that their bad credit wasn't a result of their bad spending habits but some unforeseeable disaster that wasn't of their own making at all.

Money is at or near the top of the causes of conflict and stress in relationships. Why would I want any of that in my life? I'd rather be alone than join finances with an irresponsible spendthrift. 

I'm not American and while credit score exists here (Finland), too, it is very very seldom discussed and people rarely even know their own credit score except if they are non-creditworthy. 

<blockquote>
Do you think credit score is equivalent to the Chinese social credit? Why or why not?
</blockquote>

The American credit score and the Chinese social credit are not equivalent. The Chinese social credit is much more comprehensive. The Chinese social credit is based partly on questionable criteria that have no place in an open and democratic society.
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@corpsvalues · 
Never done a credit check in a relationship lol. Is that a thing now? Glad that I've taken care of it religiously maybe it will be useful for more than credit card limits for once.
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@antimetica · 
Sure I would date someone with bad credit.  Credit rating fluctuates so much over time and it's really in my opinion a private matter.  I think I would be more interested in someone's attitude about it.  It also matters if it's unsecured or secured debt.  It's important to own up to one's mistakes but as you mentioned in your article there's some debt that's ridiculous like education loans that I certainly sympathize with.  I think it would be stressful to date someone that had a lot of secured debt, i.e. was underwater on their mortgage, or car, or something.  I wouldn't think of them as a bad person or unlovable but it would factor in to the amount of stress that would undoubtedly be mixed into a relationship.
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@bidbots ·
$0.03
<html>
<h3>A bad credit can also be seen by the reputation of the person if he is responsible with the punctual payment or not.</h3>
<p>Obviously also a university degree has a great influence on credits or loans.</p>
<p><em><strong>"In love having a bad credit makes you look for the cheapest places to buy, imagine that your partner says: Take me to an elegant."</strong></em></p>
<p><code><strong>For having bad credit you take her to eat hot dog because her credit does not reach her, this would be chaotic since we will lose our girlfriend because she will think that we are miserable when it comes to paying.</strong></code></p>
<p><img src="http://static.iris.net.co/finanzas/upload/images/2016/5/16/60206_1.jpg" width="800" height="420"/></p>
<p><em>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</em><a href="http://static.iris.net.co/finanzas/upload/images/2016/5/16/60206_1.jpg"><em>having bad credit makes you want to cry</em></a></p>
</html>
๐Ÿ‘  
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vote details (1)
@darth-azrael · 
Bad credit really sucks, there's no doubt about it. About the worst possible thing you can do is have a debt go to collections. Anything short of that can be fixed in a reasonable time frame (assuming you can find a way to reduce your debt). 

It isn't that education is a debt trap, it's that so many people make poor choices when it comes to education. First, you have to pursue a degree (or other training) that will actually be beneficial in helping you to obtain employment in the real world. Second, you don't have to choose an ivy league or out of state school to get your degree. If you are spending $100,000 (or more) to get your degree in philosophy then yes, it's a debt trap. On the other hand, if you are pursuing medicine, law, nursing, engineering, etc. then it will likely pay off in the end. Particularly if you stick to a much cheaper state school vs. paying for a private school or going out of state. Too many people go to college without knowing what they want to do.
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@dana-edwards · (edited)
It's not really possible to know which degree will be beneficial to finding employment in the "real world" because the decision to hire you isn't yours or based on anything you did in college. For the most part a degree is merely a signal. This is the theory that education merely signals character traits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvWnyUT7vPk
https://youtu.be/4AIgG6I-JRw
https://youtu.be/WOEsVjqoOfA

My experience leads me to believe education is a signal. It doesn't have any real effect besides to demonstrate what you can do (you have discipline, you know how to study, you know how to work hard, etc).

If the goal is to make money then college is a debt trap. If the goal is to learn discipline, learn how to study, learn people skills, learn how to communicate in writing, then college is pretty good. It's just not worth the cost for what it offers in personal growth so for that reason it is a debt trap in my opinion.

The truth is how much you make if you're asking someone else to hire you is based on how much they think you're worth to their business. The only way to demand more is to signal that you're worth more (that you can bring more profitability to their business). For example if you're a janitor but the moment you arrive suddenly the business starts making way more money and you can prove to the business that something you did is why? Even if you don't directly tell the business what you're doing or how you did it? If you help them to make the connection that the more they pay you the more profit the business will get then you'll get paid more.

This is particularly obvious when it involves referral programs, commissions, business deals, etc. If it's a business deal then you're bringing your relationships and networking to the business. You get paid a lot of money because you make things happen which drive profitability even if it's landing a big deal or helping to trigger a buyout.

The problem is college NEVER teaches this. College teaches people how to get good grades and how to do things by the book in the orthodox approach. College doesn't teach people how to make things happen in the "real world" and make things happen means ultimately generate profit.
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@darth-azrael · 
If you have no or limited work experience, a degree can be invaluable for getting a job and is often an absolute requirement. You simply are not going to be hired as a professional engineer, doctor or lawyer (just for the most obvious examples) if you don't have a degree. As far as making money, those with degrees do make more on average.

Also, it isn't that hard to predict which degrees are useful for gaining employment. You can't know every single use case but it is easy to look at the job market and job requirements and get a pretty good idea and at a high level not much has changed in that regard in the last 20 years. Things can change pretty quickly but unless you are talking about edge cases, it won't change much in 4 years. It isn't hard to figure out that a general liberal arts degree isn't as useful for gaining employment as a mechanical engineering degree is.

A four year degree can be had for as little as $10,000 in total. That's less than the price of a good used car. That's if you live at home and go to a local college. If you move away for school, it's more like $20k/year including room and board.  On average, someone with a four year degree earns $20k/year more than someone with just a high school diploma. That's a pretty good return on investment. The debt trap comes when people go into college without knowing what they want to do and still don't four years later. Or, they decide they really want to go to University of Florida but they live in Oregon. 

At the end of the day though, it depends on what you want to do to make a living. College is certainly a big investment and you have to be smart about it as with all investments. 

I've always thought it was common sense that employers will pay you what they think you are worth to the business. In many fields, going to college makes you worth more, especially when you are talking about entry level in many technical or professional fields. Part of it is a signal as you said, but it also guarantees that you have had at least a basic introduction to what you are trying to be hired for. Part of your value to a prospective employer is supply and demand. How many others have the same qualifications as you that want the same kind of employment opportunity?  There are a lot of ways to research where job demand is going to be in the near future.

I don't know what you mean by college doesn't teach you now things happen in the real world. If you are pursuing a technical or professional degree, it does just that (at least that was my experience). If you are pursuing a liberal arts degree, then perhaps not. The orthodox approach is important to learn. It doesn't mean you can't be creative in your approach to things but at the same time you don't want to reinvent the wheel.

One other thing to consider is how well you do in high school. Those with higher GPAs often qualify for grants or scholarships that significantly reduce or eliminate expenses. In Florida for example, if you graduate with a 3.5 GPA you basically have your first two years of college paid for (in state).

I get that college is not for everyone and there are many that make poor choices either in terms of the degree they pursue or even in going at all. However, that doesn't mean college is an automatic debt trap. If you aren't building skills in college then you aren't doing it right and you have made poor choices. And just because signaling is a big part of what a degree is doesn't mean that it isn't a useful tool for employment and making more money.

A college degree probably won't make you rich but it will help you to make more money and it does make you more likely to get a job. If your goal is to be a janitor, then yeah, probably doesn't matter.
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@booster · 
<p>This post has received a 13.73 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @dana-edwards.</p>
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@changingworld · 
Now I understand why there is so many single people on planet
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