Hacker News Reader

Comment by kiklion | Hacker News Reader

I think this is completely different than having a credit score.

I’ve never ‘needed’ a credit score unless I was requesting a line of credit. I’m which case a credit score is better than the alternative where I need to personally know someone that the lender already trusts and trusts their ability to trust other people.

You don’t ‘need’ a credit score but if you want a line of credit then it’s good to have. Otherwise you get the products that they offer to high risk individuals which costs a pretty penny.

View on HN

A credit score is used as a trustworthiness analog in arenas other than lending. For example renting a house or car, and some phone companies won't give you access to a post-paid plan, all of which can have a stratifying effect. The idea that because I don't take on debt that I am not trustworthy is wrong. I can pay a larger security deposit to offset risk, but often times that's not an option.

I've also heard tell of employers using credit checks to evaluate potential employees though I haven't researched that.

Post paid plans are credit. It’s allowing you to consume goods, then pay for them after the fact.

Sure, it’s short term credit (sub 30 days), but it’s still credit.

I believe that grandparents point was that by not taking on any debt they don't have a credit score which can be verified. You can't verify something that doesn't exist in the first place.

I thought their complaint was that without a credit score, businesses don't see them as 'trustworthy'. The OP separated 'trust' from 'credit score', and says they shouldn't be conflated.

However since all of the OP's examples involved credit (car rental post-pay, phone usage post-pay, etc.) then in those cases trust===credit score. Without a credit score, you're basically asking someone to trust blindly that you'll pay back a debt since there's no track record of your ever paying back debts.

The problem is that I don't have an alternative method of proving my trustworthiness and as a result lose access to some products. Often times prepaid plans are not equivalent to postpaid plans, I can't just put a security deposit on a rental car to offset risk, etc.

It's not goods, though, it's a service. And in general services are not paid up front.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com