 Fox 23, KMG's Michelle Lin. There appears to be a correlation between the early onset of dementia and a person's credit score. A new study from the New York Federal Reserve and Georgetown University finds scores go down and missed payments go up as many as five years before dementia is even diagnosed. It says not everyone with poor credit is suffering cognitive decline, but for those who do, the rate of delinquency is much higher in many cases. I should have gotten dementia 30 years ago, if that's true.