The Federal Reserve Has Some Advice For Your Love Life

* The strength of the match, both in the headline credit score and its details, is predictive of whether or not a couple is more likely to break up for observable reasons pertaining to finance and household spending; and

* Credit scores are indicative of trustworthiness in general, and couples with a mismatch in credit scores are more likely to see their relationships end for reasons not directly related to their use of credit.

Those are some pretty bold conclusions to draw. But the proof, the economists say, is in the numbers --and although correlation doesn't equal causation, in some instances their results also have both practical and intuitive underpinnings.

Controlling for other factors, individuals whose credit scores are one standard deviation above the mean are 14 percent more likely to enter into a committed relationship over the next year than average, according to the economists. In other words, if you've had trouble meeting your financial obligations, your wherewithal to stay current with someone else's life is also probably suspect.

The results indicate that these partnerships are more likely to endure.

"Among the relationships that survive the first two years, a one standard deviation increase in the initial average credit score implies a 37 percent lower chance of separation during the third and the fourth years of the relationship," wrote the economists.

Major imbalances between people in committed relationships -- when one person is considerably more physically appealing than the other or earns significantly more -- tend to be a potential source of conflict that bubbles not too far below the surface. And a wide gap in credit scores between people in a committed relationship is just another manifestation of such a powder keg.

"[T]he initial score differentials are strongly predictive of the stability of the relationship," reads the report. "The odds ratios show that, for example, a one standard deviation increase of initial score differential (66 score points) implies a 24 percent higher likelihood of separation during the second year and during the third or fourth year, and 12 percent higher during the fifth or the sixth year."

Moreover, the similarities between individuals when it comes to the components that go into generating a credit score (negative events, usage of lines of credit, length of credit history) also have "a statistically and economically significant bearing with the likelihood of separation in the third or fourth year," the researchers wrote.