Girl wanted. Bad credit OK...

Last week, when I was up in NY at Apple training, an ad came on for FreeCreditReport.com. I thought about blogging about it, but never got around to it.

Now I see that Megan McCardle has a post about it, so I figure it's a good chance to write something.

When I saw the ad, I was watching TV with coworker bsom and commented "what, he wouldn't marry her because she had a bad credit report? That's dumb." bsom asked me if I would marry someone with a bad credit report, and I said sure. He told me I was weird, probably because he had previously been watching over my shoulder as I scoured match.com and dismissed a couple women for being too fat, too into sports, or out of my league. I pointed out I didn't need to worry about her credit score - I already have a house.

Would I marry a woman with bad credit? Probably, assuming that she had a good reason for it, that it was in the past, and that she'd changed her habits. Or if she had big knockers....

But the ad doesn't make any sense for a number of reasons, beyond the fact that the guy would have left the woman he loved at the altar for a few late payments. He says that if he'd checked her credit report, he wouldn't be living in his in-laws, but instead would be a happy bachelor with a yard and a dog. Which begs a number of questions:

1)was her credit so bad that not only could they not buy a house, but they couldn't rent an apartment? If so, where did either of them live before they got married? Were they both living at their respective parent's houses?

2)if his credit is so great, why couldn't he apply for a mortgage just in his name? For that matter, why couldn't he just buy a house himself

3)doesn't telling your wife of a few weeks that you wished you never married her because of her credit history put significant strain on a relationship? I mean, I'm thinking weeks on the couch.

Maybe I'm over analyzing. But at least I'm not the only one who found the ad odd.