Living without a credit score?
I'm a 37 year old guy. Single, no kids or wife. I live alone in a 1br apartment. I have a high school degree, no college. I have pretty much always done factory jobs or cleaning jobs. Currently, I do warehouse work and make about 26k a year. I've never had a credit card in my life or a car loan. Lived at home till I was 25 and have been living in the same apartment complex ever since, I moved upstairs like 2 years ago. So 2 different units but same place. Car's I've always saved up and bought used ones. My current one is a 04 Ford Taurus. Basically I always eat in and buy everything with cash, pay my bills with money orders. Is this all a bad thing? People think I'm weird because of it but I've always been afraid to go into debt. I saw what it did to a brother of mine. People keep telling me I need to start building credit, are they right or am I right?
My mom had the same problem she didn't need credit so paid cash for what she wanted. She couldn't get a cell phone contract not because of bad credit she had no credit.
You may want a house or something someday so building credit might be needed, don't be stubborn but open to attempting to build it when convenient like next time you need a major purchase like a car put down 75% and get them to finance the rest, pay 3-4 payments then pay it off or just go ahead and stay in debt. Credit cards are easy get one, use it once, pay it off and put it away repeat the next year. You don't need to be in debt to have a credit rating.
You can live without a credit score. I have only one credit card (with a very low credit line). Like you, I also pay cash for used cars. I have not had a car payment in over 30 years. The only time this became a problem was when I bought a house 4 years ago. I had "insufficient credit history". It was not a big problem, it just ment that i had to look a little bit harder for a lender that would cover my mortgage. Our Realtor had some good contacts in the lending industry that helped.
If you treat a credit card with respect and ALWAYS PAY THE BALANCE IN FULL after receiving and reviewing the monthly statement you will never get into debt. Just think of it as a very slow paying taking of cash out of your wallet - but you are paying "cash" in that you are not carrying debt.
You should also get a checking account and a couple boxes of checks.
What you are doing is not bad, but having credit can make life easier.
- What are my chances of getting a loan from Ford for a 60K vehicle (600 credit score) and I make 98K a year? I have two credit cards both 10% utilization, and two loans approx 20K all together with payments at 350 each, rent is 600 a month and that is all I pay.
- Is Ford Credit a bad company to finance with? I recently heard that Ford is an example of bad financing, I wonder how true that is. If there's anyone out there who knows for sure, please give me the answer.
- If you have a judgment against you on your credit report will you still be able to buy a house? Judgment is from 2008 and it's from Ford motor credit on mileage when we turned in a leased vehicle
- If Graham is so upset about people making charges without evidence then why is he accusing Ford of lying without any evidence and the DNC? "putting her up to it" with no evidence for that claim either? Privately? Why? These are public hearings and a lifelong appointment. If somebody's going to speak up they'd better do it now.