Key Takeaways
- The new Score allows people of all credit scores to sign up, but its Verified tier offers more safety and accessibility features, making it more exclusive.
- Score founder Luke Bailey highlights how credit scores are a useful matchmaking tool because of how they shed light on one’s organization and reliability.
- Score may have its detractors, but thousands of people agree that it helps improve and demystify difficult conversations about money.
In 2024, entrepreneur Luke Bailey’s social experiment-turned-dating app, Score, made credit scores part of the matchmaking process. Now, the app is back — and more inclusive than ever.
Score initially intended to “[bring] financial compatibility into the matchmaking equation” by only allowing users with credit scores above 675 to use the app. The daring idea was met with mixed reviews, with some critics calling Score a “classist and elitist” concept.
But Score’s impact goes beyond a few critical headlines. The app not only highlighted the gender wealth gap, but exposed modern daters’ increased desire to talk about money earlier in their relationships.
Score initially intended to “bring financial compatibility into the matchmaking equation.”
“There was a truth people responded to,” Bailey said. “When we first released the app, we assumed the conversation about financial responsibility and relationships would continue without us.”
But after the app shut down, Bailey noticed one thing about the conversation he’d hoped would continue: “It didn’t.”
Score’s return comes at a pivotal moment for modern daters. The rollercoasting economy continues to change the way we handle money, making “the money talk” more important than ever in relationships — and on dating apps like Score.
New Tiers, Similar Exclusivity
The old Score depended on exclusivity; the new Score is open to everyone, regardless of their credit score.
Users will have two tiers to choose from: the Standard Tier and Verified Tier. The Standard Tier allows users to use the app without sharing their credit score and, in an increasingly unusual move, without verifying their identity. The Verified Tier ensures tighter safety measures in the form of ID verification, while also showing users’ credit scores.
Verified users also have access to exclusive features, including priority visibility, saved profile notifications, and early messaging privileges.
The goal is for daters to be more open-minded about “the money talk.”
Like many other dating apps, only those who can afford to pay for the Verified tier will reap the safety benefits. So a class divide still exists on Score, even if it’s not quite as obvious as it once was.
But even this divide may come with a bright side: Both tiers encourage users to be open and upfront about their financial dreams and shortcomings. The goal is for daters to be more open-minded about “the money talk”, and to approach such conversations with confidence instead of trepidation.
“Score aims to create a space where financial conversations aren’t awkward but foundational,” the app said in a press release.
The Person Behind the Credit Score
Whichever tier the user chooses says something about their financial standing, or at least about their willingness to share their credit score with others. “We look at credit not as a measure of wealth, but as a reflection of consistency and reliability,” Bailey said.
Score is special because it highlights the human nature behind the credit scores, not just the credit scores themselves. “Most dating platforms measure attrition,” Bailey explained. “We measure reliability alongside compatibility.”
Then and now, Score operates on the belief that one’s credit score is more than a number.
Generally speaking, people with lower credit scores may struggle to control their finances, while people with higher credit scores are more likely to be organized, dependable, and know what they want.
An unstable income could project laziness or flightiness with one’s career; flashy purchases can signal impulsivity; and, yes, a low credit score can translate into, “When it comes to money, I’m a risky investment.”
Bad Money Habits, More Problems
Bad money habits can do serious damage to a relationship, Bailey told TechCrunch. “Fifty-four percent of people say a partner’s debt is a reason to consider divorce,” he explained. “Financial compatibility is quietly one of the most important relationship factors, yet no dating platform addresses it directly.”
I spend more than my fair share of time on dating apps (you know, for work), so I’ve seen plenty of wild conversation starters, from “I love furries, how about you?” to “Do you mind if my mom comes on our first date?” But I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen anything related to financial planning.
Score wants to change this. During its original six-month run, Score found that millennial mens’ credit scores were about 11% higher than those of women. This gap is smaller for Gen Z adults, with men’s scores only 3% higher than women.
Score “tapped into something unresolved in relationship culture.”
Score gained 50,000 users during its original six-month run, proving its mainstream appeal even as critics bemoaned the app as distasteful. This was when Bailey learned that Score “wasn’t just a viral moment,” as he put it. “It tapped into something unresolved in relationship culture.”
Namely, Score not only revealed useful information about the way different generations experience financial growth, but exposed an untapped demographic of money-conscious daters.
Bailey said Score is not about humiliating people with low credit scores or even about facilitating a high-class-only dating platform. It’s about encouraging people to have important conversations about class, money, and financial goals — about making finances a top-line issue early in the dating process.
