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I'm 38 year old, have a good job a software engineer, where I get a good upper middle class salary. I'm not a home owner, don't have any kids, and I am not married (though I have a girlfriend). I've never owned a credit card in my life. And I have 0 debt. I did get up to about 50k in debt a few years ago, but slowly but surely paid it all off. So that has taken all of my debt off of my credit. I have a few investments here and there and for the most part they're profitable. And I'm well above cash positive in my bank account. At least if I was told to take a hike tomorrow, I could live off my savings for the next 2 years before I really needed to panic.
At 38 I really have no desire for children. And I pretty much enjoy apartment living. If I can pay for something out of pocket, I usually don't buy it. Because of my lack of debt and lack of credit cards, my credit score is super low. However at this point is it even worth it to build credit? What would I really gain by gaining a new line of credit?
You never know when a high credit score will come in handy. Given your overall level of financial discipline now (and your previous painful experience with debt), I don't think you'd get in trouble with a credit card. Just use it like a debit card, pay it off in full every month after the statement posts, and your score will go up - and it requires little effort on your part.
It's something a majority of us have to deal with, playing this silly credit game. You may never need it, but if you do, the lenders will fleece you for that low number. Get a credit card and start playing the game, only charge your essential things on the card like monthly bills, food, and rent if you can. Pay the card off promptly when you receive the monthly statement. Before long your credit will be built up with very little effort.
The longer answer? Credit impacts you in multiples of ways that DO impact you, from insurance to utilities. It's not "just" about getting a good loan rate. And who's to say that when you decide to retire, you don't want to buy property, or a nice car, where borrowing money makes more sense. None of us know our future, that's why we wear seat belts while in a car, buy health, and life, insurance and have retirement accounts. It doesn't take much to maintain an excellent credit rating (above 760~780), and with the money skills you already have it'd be simply shifting some purchases from cash to card during the month and then paying in full at the end of the month. Want to build a little faster, get a loan on something you're going to buy anyway (TV, car, whatever) and suck up the little bit of interest. I just bought a car, $11k loan over 4 years is $638 in interest/cost. $13.29/month assuming I don't make extra principle payments, a small price for playing the silly credit game. Of course, playing the game is what allowed me to get a good rate on both the car loan (2.79%) and my home mortgage (I forget). Having kids also has nothing to do with credit as I also have none and want none.
This is just one of those things where the barrier to entry is essentially free (credit card), it's just a tiny bit of effort on your part. Or you can spent a little (my interest above) to drastically improve things... I do about a $10k loan every 7~8 years just so there's always one on my history. Doesn't matter that I could pay cash.
But, obviously, I'm biased because I do play the silly credit game. Others go through life not playing the game and are perfectly happy, and the lifestyle you're leading right now won't see much benefit to playing. It's just that future you, where they may go and what they may do.... it Might be beneficial to them.
Take it from me and a person who paid with cash... yes it will be nice get it and im your age. I really hate playing games, but big business and mindset of others, they want you to play or get no dice.
You MAY want to finance a car or a house one day, and with little to no credit you'll have trouble.
You never know when credit might come in handy.
So get yourself a credit card, use it only things you can afford to pay off every month, like food, and pay it off every month.
You never know. You might get stranded somewhere some time and NEED a credit card handy to check into a hotel or get your car fixed, pay a tow back home, something like that.
It's always a good idea to have a credit card handy and credit to use it with.
Cash may be king to you and others of us, but if you don't have credit,when you DO need it, you'll pay through the nose with a low score. And you have to play their game. Even in 1967, when my parents went to buy a house, they had no credit, paying cash for every thing. They had to buy a fridge on credit first to get a credit rating to even qualify to buy a house!
You've learned your lesson, pay attention and don't repeat your mistake.
I'm 38 year old, have a good job a software engineer, where I get a good upper middle class salary. I'm not a home owner, don't have any kids, and I am not married (though I have a girlfriend). I've never owned a credit card in my life. And I have 0 debt. I did get up to about 50k in debt a few years ago, but slowly but surely paid it all off. So that has taken all of my debt off of my credit. I have a few investments here and there and for the most part they're profitable. And I'm well above cash positive in my bank account. At least if I was told to take a hike tomorrow, I could live off my savings for the next 2 years before I really needed to panic.
At 38 I really have no desire for children. And I pretty much enjoy apartment living. If I can pay for something out of pocket, I usually don't buy it. Because of my lack of debt and lack of credit cards, my credit score is super low. However at this point is it even worth it to build credit? What would I really gain by gaining a new line of credit?
I recommend that you get a credit card and put gas or groceries on it and then pay off in full every month or right away. The reason being that as a software engineer, many of your opportunities in the future may be in the tech hub cities like NYC or SF, and if you try to rent an apartment in one of those markets without a credit rating, it will be almost impossible. There is a lot of competition for housing in those areas and landlords are very selective about tenancies. Why risk passing on a great job simply because you can't get housing in the target city? Even if there is only a 5% chance you'll have such an opportunity in the next 10 years, why risk it?
Get a secured credit card with a low limit. Set up something regular like Netflix or Amazon to draw from the card. Pay it off each month.
Or try https://www.selflender.com. All the money debuted is actually held for you in a CD. You lose nothing.
Credit established in case you need it later.
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