Honestly, this is also a load of crap to me. Credit scores are such a poor representation of a person's "creditworthiness". Who has the better credit...the person who charges up $6k-8k/ month to get "points" and pays it in full, or the person who carries a $1k balance every month and can only afford $100/month payments? Guess what? Both can have extremely similar credit scores. I'm the former...I abuse the crap out of my card for Disney Dollars and pay it off in full every month...I have ever since I got my first credit card when I was 19. So to me, credit scores are BS. It might make you feel good, and unfortunately, banks put too much weight on them, but it doesn't reflect a person's true ability to pay back debt...it's usually just the opposite. People who are too afraid to use credit, and barely do so, have no idea how manage debt responsibly when they accrue it.