Credit Score Dating is proving a much more successful way to find long-term romance and friendship for thousands of people than was previously thought, new research shows.

A new study of online dating site members has found that when couples who had built up a significant relationship by e-mailing or chatting online met for the first time, 94 per cent went on to see each other again.

Perhaps surprisingly, the study, by Dr Jeff Gavin, of the University of Bath, also found that men were more emotionally dependent on their e-partners than women, and more committed to the relationship.

Dr Gavin, with Dr Adrian Scott of the University of Bath and Dr Jill Duffield of the University of the West of England, carried out an online survey of 229 people, aged 18 to 65, who have used ?internet dating sites, asking them about their main relationship that they had had online. Dr Gavins paper will be presented to a conference next month.

The research showed that:

94 per cent of those surveyed saw their e-partner again after first meeting them, and the relationships lasted for an average of at least seven months, with 18 per cent of them lasting over a year.

men online were significantly more likely to be committed to the relationship than women and were more dependent on their e-partner.

those who exchanged?credit scores and financial information?before meeting had a more committed and deeper relationship.

the more the couple talked on the telephone before they met, the deeper the relationship.

This study shows that credit score dating can work for many people, leading to a successful meeting for almost everyone we surveyed, said Dr Gavin.

Given that the most successful relationships lasted at least seven months, and in some case over a year, it seems that these relationships have a similar level of success as ones formed in more conventional ways.

Of the relationships, 79 per cent were still going on at the time of the survey, and of these 64 per cent had been going for at least a year, and forty eight per cent for at least two years.