What Credit Can Tell You About Your Romantic Interest

There have been a lot of discussions recently across different mediums about relationships, credit and what they mean in relation to one another. Despite the many comments shared by extremists on both ends of the spectrum, I’d like to offer another quick perspective on why it’s very important to review/assess the credit reports of someone you are entertaining as a lifemate.

Credit Reports Provide a Track Record – Just like a person’s high school transcript provides colleges with information about a student’s academic performance, credit reports provide historical information about a person’s financial responsibility. As a potential mate you are able to see what pattern of financial responsibility a person has maintained over the course of their recorded history. Have they grown from past challenges? Are they open to learning how to be more responsible financially? Were negative patterns due to a life event like illness, job loss or divorce? This is something that should realistically be discussed with someone you plan on merging your life with.

Credit Reports Prompt Transparency – Unfortunately, there are people who may try to cover-up events in their lives due to embarrassment, guilt, etc. Credit report discussions can prompt people to be transparent about past life events. You can learn if a person has been married, if they’re still paying on a car for an ex, or if they’ve co-signed on an item for a family member and more. Knowing about financial obligations in advance of making the decision to marry a person is very important because their decisions CAN impact you and your quality of life.

Please note that credit report and finance discussions are only one component to assessing whether a person is right for you. Credit reports won’t disclose how much a person loves you, or if they are the right person to help you carry out your life purpose. Only you can make that decision through life experiences with him/her.

If you’d like to get more information about relationships and finances, please join me along with host Darren Sands, and authors Patrice Washington and Demetria Lucas for the BlackEnterprise.com Valentine’s Day Twitter Chat on February 14 from 1:00-2:00PM ET.

Kenny Pugh is a Life & Relationship Strategist, Author of ‘Can You Do It Standing Up?’, Speaker, Host of the Chat Kafe Radio Show (http://www.chatkafeonline.com), singles leader and sought-after speaker on singleness, relationships, finances and life. You can find more information about Kenny at http://www.kennypugh.com. You can follow him on Facebook at Kenny Pugh or on Twitter @mrkennypugh.