Hey, I was wondering if someone needs credit to buy things. People in my family have said I wouldn’t be able to buy a car or a house without credit. But if I’m saving up cash to pay for things outright, do I really need credit?
Note: I’m sorry if this is the wrong place to ask.
Depends a little by country. If you can save enough money to buy a house, car, and anything else that costs a lot upfront, you don’t need credit.
But in some places, houses are prohibitively expensive and a very small percentage of the population can save up enough money to buy a house by the age that they want to buy it at. If it takes until you’re 45 years old before you can save up enough and you really want to have a house by 32, then it could make sense to buy it on a loan at 32 and pay it off by 48 or something.
If you end up needing to do that, a good credit score will get you a lower interest rate on the loan.
There’s also the question of what about things you have to pay immediately even if you don’t have the money. Example: you get in a car accident and now you have high medical bills (if American) and damage costs if the damage you do is higher than what your insurance covers. You might need to take a loan to pay for all that and a good credit score gives you lower interest rates.