I did everything I could in life to avoid debt. So far I have successfully avoided any formalized debt. That means I did not take out any loans for school. I did not buy a car on credit. I did not get a credit card. I don't have a mortgage. I really don't like the feeling of owing someone something. It's even worse when you owe a faceless entity. It's the opposite of freedom.
Not System Approved
Never having debt means I have no credit score. No formal entity would loan me money even if I wanted it. I'm an unknown factor to them. However, everyone wants to know your credit score these days. Banks, employers, phone companies, apartments, vending machines.
I remember when I moved for the start of my professional work life five years ago and had to open a new bank account. I gave the banker my information and he typed it into the system. He was like "This is weird. I don't see anything. This has never happened before." and I was like "Shit, yeah." Apparently, I'm the odd one out here. At this point, I view not having a credit score as security from identity theft (not sure how accurate that is).
Credit Cards
As far as credit cards go, I don't see the point. I don't want to buy things if I don't have the money for it. Credit cards might have some value if they offer rewards, but only if there are no large fees, you pay off the balance each month, and you only buy things you need. Credit cards could also be used as a source of emergency funds. If you don't own a house or car, then emergencies would be mostly limited to medical and legal expenses, as well as possibly a plane ticket. Since I don't have a credit card to use for this purpose I keep some savings in cash.
Cars
A car can be made unnecessary in many cases, but if truly needed, then you could save up and just pay cash for a used vehicle. If you can't get around without a car then the problem may also be location. Consider transportation when you're choosing where to live. I realize people don't always have so many options, but I think location is not given as much consideration as possible due to our car culture.
Houses
I believe you could also buy a house with cash only, but you would need to have a long term strategy for it obviously. You would also need to have modest expectations. A large house isn't going to be easy with an all cash purchase. This is certainly one area where buying on credit might make sense. For the most part, I'm happy with renting anyways, so owning a house is not a concern for me. One issue is that apartments like to run credit checks on their residents. Having no credit score and no job may not be appreciated. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Even though I don't like being tied down to one place, I do like the idea of a place where you know it is your own.
I'm not sure if I'll ever feel like I need to build/start my credit, but so far I've managed to make do without.
