I was raised in a very poor environment, and I still have connections to and experiences from that sort of life. Credit affects a ton of your life in ways that

I was raised in a very poor environment, and I still have connections to and experiences from that sort of life. Credit affects a ton of your life in ways that people who aren't poor can't appreciate. If you want cable, they are going to run a credit check on you and if the results aren't great, you need to pony up a large deposit. If you want to open a bank account, your options are greatly diminished if you have bad credit. You are automatically disadvantaged if you're trying to rent a desirable apartment. It's probably obvious, but you also don't have credit cards without pre-paying, and that complicates life in a number of ways (and most people with bad credit also don't have the resources to pre-pay a credit card). Not so surprisingly, this all factors into whether or not to get married to someone!