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Writer's pictureBecky Eichorst

You CAN Really Live Without a Credit Score!

Updated: Jul 30, 2019


This title is eye-catching isn’t it? You’re thinking, “um can someone actually live without a credit score, and live well?” You may also believe one of the common myths:


You can’t rent an apartment without a credit score.

You can’t rent a car without a credit card.

You need a credit score to buy a house, DUH!


We live in a credit-driven society so these are great questions and concerns to have. I thought these things myself when I first started my financial journey because it’s really hard to fathom that this can be possible with all the things you need a credit score for. Well, I’m here to tell you the answer is YES you can live without a credit score and I’m living proof of it!


Let me give you a little backstory first...

When my husband Kyle and I got married and merged finances, we felt extremely stressed out and overwhelmed with the number of monthly payments we had towards debt. We had discussed our finances with each other before we got married but that was more in theory. It

wasn’t until we got married and actually looked at our money as ONE family that we realized all the debt we had. The payments just for the car and student loans added up to ~$1400/mo and then we had to try and scramble to pay utilities and other normal monthly expenses. Long story short, we had reached our stress limit only a few months after we got married so we finally got on a plan to get out of debt and we decided we would NEVER take out another loan OR use credit cards again. We just didn’t want to have all these debt payments again. The only type of loan we deemed acceptable would be a mortgage because it had the potential to build equity unlike student loans, car loans, etc. We worked hard for 2.5 years with budgeting each month and putting as much money as we could towards our debt and it paid off (See what I did there? haha, mom joke).


In 2013, we FINALLY sent in our last loan payment! For the first time in our married lives, we were debt free and it felt amazing to have the cash back in our control instead of going toward monthly payments. However, this also meant that we were on our way to being considered “unscorable consumers” in FICO’s eyes.

Our credit score check now read something similar to this message:

Basically, this says I am an unscorable consumer that hasn’t updated my credit accounts in the last 6 months because I haven’t had any credit accounts open for the last 6 months and I am certainly not DEAD.


Now I know what you are thinking! “Ha, no credit score? Then you’ll never be able to rent a car, rent an apartment, and you can forget about buying a house.” I swear I’ll bust those myths soon, but let me touch base with you on what a credit score means...


What the heck is a credit score?

Taken from Google Dictionary, a credit score is

“a number assigned to a person that indicates to lenders their capacity to repay a loan.”

The other thing that’s interesting to know is the way your credit score is calculated can be seen on the diagram below which was taken from my bank (DCU.org).

So basically:

a good credit score = you are really good at taking out loans and paying them back


a bad credit score = you are good at taking out loans but NOT good at paying them back.


I know this is a credit-driven world so living without the key component ( a credit score) does have its challenges. The default method of buying big ticket items or renting items is to check your credit score to verify the company will get their money back and their rented item returned and damages paid for if there are any. It’s an easy and quick method of buying and renting things.

However, if I don’t have a credit score does that make it impossible to rent or buy things? Nope! It just takes a little more time with a couple of extra steps but it is not impossible. No credit score? No problem! Check out how we busted the myths.


Myth #1: You can’t rent an apartment without a credit score!

In 2016, Kyle and I needed to look for another place to rent as our current landlords were planning to sell the house we were renting. So this is about a year after our credit score disappeared and we were honestly nervous. We knew that it was possible to rent a place without a credit score but we also knew it wasn’t going to be easy as many rental companies opt to check your credit score to weed out applications. However, we successfully rented a house in only a few months of looking by doing these things:


Be upfront

  • We immediately told the real estate agent showing us the rental home that we did NOT have a credit score. By being up front there were no surprises in the application process which built trust early on.

Bills were paid on TIME (prior to looking for another place to rent)

  • By not having a credit score to reference proving we pay our loan payments on time, the office needed to check our utilities and other bills for verification that we pay on time and in full every month.

Had extra funds in our savings

  • In addition to paying our bills on time, we were prepared to pay additional months up front because that was another way the landlord could mitigate the risk of us not having a credit score.

Rented property with an individual landlord

  • We knew that some property management firms would require a credit score so we looked to rent with an individual landlord who had the time to get to know us and look into our application thoroughly.

Myth #2: You can’t rent a car without a credit card!

The easiest way to rent a car is to use a credit card because the rental companies know that if the rental car gets damaged while in your possession, they will get paid in full from the

credit card company. Then, the credit card company will bill you directly. So, how do Kyle and I rent a car without a credit card or even a credit score for that matter? We definitely get some weird looks from the rental car agent assisting us at the counter because we don’t use a credit card, but we successfully rent cars following these additional steps:


Performed initial research FIRST

  • Prior to booking our rental cars, we shop around with different rental car companies because each rental car company will have its own policy where some will refuse to rent a car to you without a credit card. We obviously avoid those companies.

Verified our checking account had extra cash

  • Paying with a credit card gives the company peace of mind because the credit card company will always pay for any damages the rental car company reports. Because we use our debit card to pay for our rental cars, we always make sure we have extra funds in our checking account because the rental car company will put a hold on some of the funds in there as their collateral for the car.

Provided more than just a debit card

  • Paying with a debit card usually meant we had to provide more information about ourselves before the company gave us the rental car. In Kyle and I’s experience, we have always been able to provide returning flight information to the rental car company which was enough to rent the car. However I know that companies may require additional information if you do not have a return flight scheduled.


Myth #3: You need a credit score to buy a house, DUH!

The normal way mortgage lenders qualify people for a loan is by checking their credit score. As you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll know that nothing about Kyle and I is normal as we

didn’t have a credit score and thus we had to provide additional information to the mortgage lender to get qualified and approved for a loan. However, being weird didn’t stop us from having success. Over the summer, we successfully bought our first home without a credit score!!! How did we do this you ask?


Found a mortgage broker who could perform manual underwriting

  • Manual underwriting is not a well-known term so don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of it before. Manual underwriting is when the mortgage broker does thorough research on the applicant’s banking and payment history to show that repayment of the mortgage loan is possible. This process is ideal for individuals that do not have a credit score.

Had a good down payment

  • Once we got out of debt, we knew our next big goal in life was to buy a house to call our own. So throughout the years, we saved as much as we could to put towards a house and this really helped us buy a house with ease (Read up on another blog I wrote on how to handle random expenses like a down payment). We read that a good rule of thumb is to put down at least 20% but we ended up paying down about 25% to make sure we sealed the deal!

TAKE HOME MESSAGE:

In the society we live in, we are told you need to build your credit score if you plan to FILL IN THE BLANK. Yes, having a good credit score may make it easier to do things in our credit driven world like buying a house, renting a car, or renting an apartment but it will also increase your risk of having more debt which increases your stress levels. Kyle and I chose early on in our marriage that this type of lifestyle was not for us, and we’ve proven that we can successfully live life without having a credit score. This blog is not meant to say this lifestyle is for everyone, but that it is POSSIBLE to live without a credit score and still be able to rent cars, rent apartments, and buy houses. And if you don't believe me you can check out another resource called Total Money Makeover which is a book I highly recommend!

It can be done as we have shown, so if you want to get rid of the risk of credit cards and debt…..DO IT because it’s possible to live without a credit score!


PS: Now that we’ve purchased a home and have a mortgage, this means that we do have a credit score again! But don’t worry, we plan to tackle that mortgage loan with intensity so we can once again have NO CREDIT SCORE!!!


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