Something should be said about living off credit cards. Don't borrow, or if you must, do it with care:

- Don't cash advance from your credit card. If you must, do it with one credit card, then balance transfer to another. Interest for cash advance is usually very high. But you need a balance transfer card, I doubt you will be offered one if unemployed.

As far as credit rating: the most important bills are loan payments (credit cards, car loans and mortgage). Forget about rent:

Maybe you need to break a lease- it's a good idea to talk to your landlord. You are better off telling them, than not paying. They might let you break it without dinging your credit. Really once they find out that you can't pay, they want you gone as fast as possible so that they can rent to someone else. If you miss payments, they are missing income, in theory a much worse situation for them.