What is your current FICO/credit score?
What is your current FICO/credit score?
Mine is 667. I have never used credit cards, and I don't have any debt. My partner, whose FICO score is 780, currently has about twice their annual salary in debt.
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First, you should realize that credit scores aren't based on how much debt you have, It's based on how reliable people are in paying their debts in similar situations.
Someone with 2x their annual salary in debt does sound a little risky to me, but it also means they have a lot of data in terms of credit management history. A lot of people can get into this situation with student loans, mortgages, or other "good" debt.
Someone who has never used credit cards just doesn't have a lot of payment history.
If you feel you need a higher credit score, then opening and using a credit card can be a good way to raise that score. Opening and using debt, like a car payment, mortgage, or other monthly payments will show that you understand how credit works.
Just make sure you fully pay off your credit card every month, because that debt can get expensive.
If you never plan on using any sort of loans, then it doesn't matter what your credit score is, and you shouldn't care what a banking system rates you as.
OP also didn't specify which type of debt. Twice your annual salary in CC debt, ehhh not so great. Twice your annual salary in a mortgage + student loans + car loan actually sounds like a pretty typical situation, if not a bit frugal. That's a person making 100k with a 4yr degree from a public univeristy, living in a 150k house, and driving a usedToyota.
It's all CC debt on their part.
For myself, I simply dislike the usury present in the debt market for consumers and have decided not to engage with it. The over reliance on a number generated by using a usury system seems entirely slanted against the average person.
I'm thinking about buying a house and am probably just going to save up and buy one outright instead of dealing with this bullshit.
For myself, I simply dislike the usury present in the debt market for consumers and have decided not to engage with it.
You're engaged with it whether you like it or not.
Credit cards are a reality of the modern economy. There are costs associated with every credit card transaction and, due to the ubiquity of credit cards, those costs are priced in to nearly every single purchase you make. Because most merchants charge the same price regardless of payment type, this effectively means that your cash purchases are subsidizing my purchases made with a rewards credit card that has its balance paid off each month by a couple of percent.
You can choose to opt out, but that doesn't mean you're not playing the game either way.