Your credit score isn't just how well you pay off credit cards. I have a "check card" (draws directly from my bank account, has a Visa/MC logo so I can use it

Your credit score isn't just how well you pay off credit cards. I have a "check card" (draws directly from my bank account, has a Visa/MC logo so I can use it anywhere). I assume this doesn't affect my credit score much, if at all -- it's rejected if I don't have the money in my account, so it's not really "credit" at all. In fact, I've never had a real "credit card", but that didn't stop my bank from loaning me money for a car (they could see from my paychecks that I could afford it), or from me renting apartments (my current landlord did a credit check and said I have "excellent credit"). I think "you need a CC as soon as you go to college!" is mostly a scare story. Admittedly I'm not a big spender (e.g., I'm not buying a condo on credit), but I have yet to see any case where I was turned away from something due to my lack of a CC. While it's not a silver bullet, I see how they can be really handy, so if you're responsible about paying it off, go for it.