Is credit necessary and how/where do you bank?
ken: Your credit score isn't just how well you pay off credit cards.I have a "check card" (draws directly from my bank account, has a Visa/MC logo so I can use it anywhere).  I assume this doesn't affect my credit score much, if at all -- it's rejected if I don't have the money in my account, so it's not really "credit" at all.In fact, I've never had a real "credit card", but that didn't stop my bank from loaning me money for a car (they could see from my paychecks that I could afford it), or from me renting apartments (my current landlord did a credit check and said I have "excellent credit").I think "you need a CC as soon as you go to college!" is mostly a scare story.  Admittedly I'm not a big spender (e.g., I'm not buying a condo on credit), but I have yet to see any case where I was turned away from something due to my lack of a CC.While it's not a silver bullet, I see how they can be really handy, so if you're responsible about paying it off, go for it.