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It's been some years, so I don't recall exactly, but this is probably correct. Nevertheless, the point remains: my inadequate credit score mucked with my options here.

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Your inadequate credit score prevented you from being able to get a form of debt. Nobody is arguing thats not true.

And yes, cell phone subsidies are a form of debt because you are paying back the price of the phone built into the 2 year contract. If you buy the phone upfront then you can go month to month without needing to be tied into a contract.

So my point is consistent, if you plan on living debt free, the FICO score is being given way to much attention.

This all makes sense. Regrettably, the Verizon salesman did not explain it to me this way, and presented it as a penalty due to my low credit score. It seemed believable, too, because it wasn't that interesting of a phone. This was in circa 2002; $100 seemed like a decent price for the phone I was trying to buy -- $600 did not.

Oh well. Thanks for your comment!

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