Not true. I just signed a mortgage for the townhouse I have been renting. Because I have not had a credit card for over forty years I had not credit score; had to get two credit cards for about a month to get a score of over 700 before any bank would look at me.
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Just having no credit cards would not be enough to drop you below 600 by itself. Yes, credit cards increase your actual open credit (low nor zero percentage debt on those cards) helps to raise your credit score a lot, but not having them doesn’t drop you below 600.
If you had any utility bills, and you paid them on time, you wouldn’t get a negative score from having a late payment history. This includes cell phones too.
If you did miss payments on bills in your name of any kind, that would drop you down.
Even if you completely just appeared on the scene, never had any accounts of any type (loans, bills, credit cards, etc) then your baseline should be around 600, possibly higher.
Speaking of utilities, everyone here is paying for the “new green deal” by way of doubled and tripled electric rates. Most renters default on their payments and are now seeking apartments where everything is included. That way they can wear shorts in the winter and open up the windows during snowstorms.
Of course the electric “cold climate” heat pumps will never keep up in the frozen northeast which will leave the low income class SCREAMING for their gas and oil fired heating equipment back. Hochul is making these low income areas a PRIORITY to go green! LOL