A TikTokker has gone viral after announcing that she shared her credit score on her Hinge profile.
Shan was met with many interested suitors once they clocked her 804 credit rating, described by Creditwise as 'Excellent'.
Responses ranged from ‘holy sh*t marry me’ to ‘woah’ and ‘All I needed to see. Drinks next Thursday?’.
When interviewed by Buzzfeed, Shan explained that her reasoning behind sharing this information was so that she could match with people with ‘similar priorities’.
‘I had the idea of adding my credit score to my Hinge because I wanted my profile to stand out and attract guys with similar priorities,' she said. ‘I felt like a guy that would find my credit score impressive, would also be someone that prioritised his finances.’
There’s no doubt that sharing a high credit score for interested parties to see is super empowering, and taking the time to add things to your profile that are important to you in order to match with others who feel the same is a good idea.
However, the idea that a high credit score might be a requirement for heterosexual cis men as they peruse dating apps feels slightly off.
As the gender pay gap and cost of living crisis rumbles on, isn’t this just another way women are forced to measure up in an already unequal environment? 2022 saw men earn more than women by 14.9% – meaning that in comparison to men, women work 67 days of the year for free. What’s more, women are paid less than men at four out of five employers in Great Britain.
When you combine these circumstances with the wider cost of living crisis we are living through – which has been proven by research to make women more vulnerable, and affect their mental health – the pressure to be at the top of our financial game for the sake of being more romantically attractive, at a time when said game is rigged against so many of us, feels unfair.
The pressure to stay out of debt and earn a good wage while still enjoying your life during a time of crippling global financial crisis is difficult enough without it dictating whether or not a potential match might swipe left on you for it or not.
So while the news of women reaching financial independence and smashing their credit scores is obviously nothing but excellent news, we must be careful that these gains are not used against us.
Nor should it create unrealistic or crippling goals for those of us who are contending with the inequalities that are already deeply embedded into our lives by, you guessed it, the patriarchy.
To watch the full video, visit Shan's page on TikTok @spreadsheetshan