Really, a credit score is just a number.
I've always been a believer in paying people. Whether it's paying somebody who did a poor job just to get them out of my life, or paying somebody back that loaned me money. With one exception that took place over a space of two days, in terms of borrow and repay, I've only ever taken loans from financial entities. Credit cards and such.
I was so good about paying people back that I always had an excellent credit score, which served me well, as far as being able to acquire more debt. My score allowed me to qualify for a mortgage to buy my first house in 1992. It also helped me buy my second house in 2005, despite having the first house fully mortgaged, on top of lots of credit card debt. I bought my second house without having sold my first. All the new mortgage company needed was that the first house have a renter that was paying me X amount of money in rent per month. They told me what X amount was, clearly wanting me to fill out the rental paperwork that way, regardless of what I was actually receiving in rent. I told a friend, "If somebody calls you to verify, you're renting my house from me for X amount." He scoffed, "Nobody is going to be calling." Indeed, I knew it was unlikely. The mortgage companies and related businesses wanted to sell houses. They weren't going to check up on anything that might get in the way of that.
My year's endeavor into being a landlord for renters that were paying quite a bit less than the bogus paperwork said ended up badly. They trashed the house and left owing a few month's rent. I wasn't going to bother going after them. In fact, after the alcoholic husband left, I gave a "yes" to the wife with two children who wanted to stay another two weeks, because she had nowhere else to go before she could move back to Minnesota. I knew that was a naughty no-no in the world of business, but since things were going downhill for me, anyway, I didn't see how I benefited from that woman and her two children being on the street. I'm not sorry I let her stay for those two weeks.
Once she was gone, I paid someone many thousands (borrowed from a credit card) to fix up the house so it could be sold. The real estate markets were crashing and there were no takers. Then I tried to do a "short sell", where the mortgage companies (with the first and second) agree to let the house sell for less than is owed, under the heading that getting some money is better than no money. One of the Denver Nuggets basketball players was buying it under those circumstances for an investment. But the morning of the closing, word came that somebody in a bad mood at the bank that held the second mortgage refused to let the short sell go through. That would seem to be a real bummer, but not really. The house went into foreclosure and because, for the first time in my life, my credit score was taking a nosedive, it was the permission I needed to go ahead and file bankruptcy. I still wasn't late on any credit card payments, but the "0% cash advances" I had been using for years to move debt around, while paying almost zilch interest, were suddenly drying up, and I wouldn't be able to handle the much larger payments.
So, I called a bankruptcy attorney, and got out from under all the credit card payments. At the same time, my income was going down, as people didn't have much discretionary income to spend on a bookkeeper, so the lack of credit card payments didn't help. I was learning to live without credit cards, which meant that everyday things I previously wouldn't have given any thought to buying, suddenly weren't that necessary to buy. I specifically recall one point where I had $25 to spend, and was living in a house with a $1300 monthly mortgage, as well as having an epileptic beagle that required expensive medication and regular vet visits to draw blood.
Ultimately, it all worked out. I bought my current home in 2005 when all the objective meters would say I really couldn't afford the 215,000 price. But the real estate market was booming, and the buying of houses was in a frenzy. When the economy crashed, I got nearly three months behind on the mortgage, but stuck it out while gradually getting caught back up during my busy season. Now, I can afford to live here, and I'm glad I didn't panic when things were bad, because this house is now said to be worth nearly 370,000. And my credit score is back to being very healthy, at 780. Not that I have any plans to use that credit score for any particular thing, but it's still a nice thought.
At the same time, it seems utterly bizarre to me that a single number drives so much of our interaction in society.
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