“All I can say is that I no longer have a single credit card. Nor do I care one bit what my credit score is.”
Sounds like the Dave Ramsey plan. Though I’m sure he didn’t invent it.
I guess you never rent a car or hotel room, or buy anything over the net. Credit cards are great if you pay off the balance each month, I would hate to have to carry that much cash around, plus rental car agencies, hotels, and many other places will simply not take cash or check.
If you have a lousy score and someone steals your identity, then they cannot get credit using your name. By not caring what your score is, you are free from worry.
I have had that "attitude" for years, and never had trouble getting credit when I needed it, at reasonable rates. Having 25% or more down payment on credit purchases consistently goes a long way to achieving that.
Plus I can totally ignore fraudulent or improper demands for payment without a second thought. Example, years after I moved and paid off my phone bill in total a telephone company who bought the first started demanding payment for service they had never provided. Eventually they went away...
Your credit score affects your insurance premiums and the deposit requirements for rentals and utilities, among other things.
Just last week I heard a caller on the “Clark Howard” show asking how he can get a loan for his kid to go to college? He has no debt and never did. Paid cash for his house, has no credit cards and has no credit history. Now, for the life of him, he can’t get a college loan to put his son through college.