Neon Money Club Creates Discussions Around Money Via Score Dating App

Although there is some merit in discussing finances before marriage, as it is often cited as a leading cause of divorce, credit scores are a flawed metric of financial health.

Score, a dating app launched by the financial platform Neon Money Club, is aimed solely at people with good to excellent credit, a move its founders say is designed to create discussion around finances. As Tech Crunch reported, the idea for the app was initially birthed in 2023 at AfroTech.

In a press release, CEO Luke Bailey explained what drove them to take the unorthodox approach of tying access to the app to credit scores.

“Financial wellness often takes a backseat. At Neon Money Club, our mission is to inject financial awareness into the fabric of everyday life. To achieve this, we have to take the conversation to places where it isn’t normally discussed. ‘Score’ by Neon Money Club is our first major attempt at doing this,” Bailey said.

“’Score’ aims to elevate the discussion around financial health, which has remained stagnant for decades.”

Although there is some merit in discussing finances before marriage, as it is often cited as a leading cause of divorce, credit scores are a flawed metric of financial health. Like most things in America, it is often biased against Black people in its application. According to CNBC, Black and Latinx people often have lower credit scores, and that cannot be divorced from multiple reports indicating that Black and Latinx people have less actual wealth than white Americans. Race may not be factored into credit reports on a hard basis, but the factors that go into determining a credit score often end up working against Black people.

Jay Moon, general manager of Credit Sesame, shared that “While the credit system was created to be blind, this data shows that Black and Hispanic Americans are being unfairly shut out of the system.”

Moon continued, “Creating equal credit opportunities is a critical first step toward helping to close the racial gap in our society. Whether it’s creating products explicitly for these underserved groups or providing more ways to access credit and resources, the important thing is to make progress.”

The app, to its credit, does allow for those who are denied, based on their credit score, opportunities to improve their scores, sending them resources aimed at improving their financial literacy and building their credit using Grow Credit. The app also does not strictly restrict users into tiers based on their credit scores; if a user has a 640 credit score, they may still match with a user with an 800 credit score.

In addition to this, the credit score is obtained using a soft check, which does not impact a user’s credit score. According to Tech Crunch, Bailey contends that their use of a person’s credit score is more aspirational than it is classist, pointing out that it is possible to have a high income but low credit score. Bailey briefly described the process, saying, “Afterwards, those people are sent back to us to qualify for our products. There needs to be more awareness about the doors that can be opened with a good credit history.”

However, despite these concerns, Jackie Liao, the CPO of Neon Money Club, says that there’s more planned on the horizon to create discussion about financial health.

“SCORE is just one of the many rollouts we’re doing to bring financial wellness to the table because the table itself is boring and outdated,” Liao said.

“We’re beginning with love, and we’re in good company. A recent Federal Reserve study recognized that “individuals with high credit scores are more inclined to establish committed relationships.”

Following Neon Money Club’s launch in 2021, the company became the first Black-owned tech company to launch a credit card with American Express. That card, the Cream Card, allows its cardholders to transfer credit card points into a cash value that they can then use to invest in the stock market, similar in function to the Stash debit card, which purchases stock in various companies with each purchase or investment made.