"Mmm, baby, you're a perfect 36-24-725 if I've ever seen one."
Let's say for a minute that you're a pretty frugal hyooman-doing and you've really "got your shit together" when it comes to money. You've completed school without loans, own your piece of shit car, your rent is healthy fraction of your income but doesn't step on your dick, you've got a decent job lined up, and you've loaded an IRA, a healthy nest egg, and your bunny slippers are paid in full. Life is busy but good. You don't worry about credit cards because they work for you. Hell, you just paid for a sweet beach vacation using those nifty reward points and your last year of college was paid for by the university.
Now let's say that you get into a relationship with a relatively swell someone has an excellent education, a dynamite resume, a good job with room for advancement, but lives paycheck to paycheck and has $20,000 in credit card debt that they're thinking a Chapter 7 will solve. Their current life habits are healthy albeit fragile but they have failed to address their previous credit card debt issue to the point that it's basically the inverse of a brand new car.
Does this relationship last? How do you address the situation? Do you suggest severe lifestyle changes? Do you use a "deal with it or we don't progress" ultimatum? How important is your partner's income/debt ratio and credit rating? Will associating with someone with abysmal credit really ruin your security clearance and spawn gray hairs? What are the potential pitfalls of sticking with someone who essentially used to be a PowerFlush 9000 money toilet?