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Jinn · 07-15-2008, 12:17 PM

It's a deal breaker for me in marriage, plain and simple. It's an indicator of responsibility, money management, the ability to have 'delay gratification' and save appropriately for expensive items, and the ability to hold down meaningful employment.

Credit is absolutely not a racket. However, far too many people use credit irresponsibly. If you can't "afford" to purchase things with appropriate saving, it's probably beyond your means. Instead of finding a credit card or a credit company who will extend you that money at a high interest rate, you should spend that same amount of time searching for more appropriately remunerated employment.

I use credit only for things that I can afford in the short term. I similarly plan to put a sizable majority of my mortgage down at the beginning. If you like throwing away money, I recommend using credit. If you like having money, I recommend putting your money places that it works for you. Interest rates are great if you're on the right side of them.

ALL of those things are important to me in a future spouse. The ability to marry and not ruin my otherwise impeccable credit is an added bonus, considering the time I've spent responsibly managing my credit and saving for the things I want.

For a girlfriend? Not so much - you're not sharing many meaningful assets, and your credit score isn't so summarily lumped together by credit agencies as it is for married couples.

Every US law enforcement agency I've ever looked into uses a credit report as one of many factors for hiring new peace officers. From what I can gather, they do it for two reasons:

1) It's an indicator of financial responsibility, and by extension, general
responsibility.

2) It's an indirect indicator of the likelihood that the officer will accept a bribe or favorable treatment in exchange for leniency - someone who is deeply in debt is more likely to be willing to compromise their morals to alleviate the financial strain.

07-15-2008, 12:17 PM	#21 (permalink)
Jinn Lover - Protector - Teacher Location: Seattle, WA	It's a deal breaker for me in marriage, plain and simple. It's an indicator of responsibility, money management, the ability to have 'delay gratification' and save appropriately for expensive items, and the ability to hold down meaningful employment. Credit is absolutely not a racket. However, far too many people use credit irresponsibly. If you can't "afford" to purchase things with appropriate saving, it's probably beyond your means. Instead of finding a credit card or a credit company who will extend you that money at a high interest rate, you should spend that same amount of time searching for more appropriately remunerated employment. I use credit only for things that I can afford in the short term. I similarly plan to put a sizable majority of my mortgage down at the beginning. If you like throwing away money, I recommend using credit. If you like having money, I recommend putting your money places that it works for you. Interest rates are great if you're on the right side of them. ALL of those things are important to me in a future spouse. The ability to marry and not ruin my otherwise impeccable credit is an added bonus, considering the time I've spent responsibly managing my credit and saving for the things I want. For a girlfriend? Not so much - you're not sharing many meaningful assets, and your credit score isn't so summarily lumped together by credit agencies as it is for married couples. Every US law enforcement agency I've ever looked into uses a credit report as one of many factors for hiring new peace officers. From what I can gather, they do it for two reasons: 1) It's an indicator of financial responsibility, and by extension, general responsibility. 2) It's an indirect indicator of the likelihood that the officer will accept a bribe or favorable treatment in exchange for leniency - someone who is deeply in debt is more likely to be willing to compromise their morals to alleviate the financial strain. __________________ "I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel Last edited by Jinn; 07-15-2008 at 12:19 PM..