This. If you get off the hamster wheel, they want you back on.

Each account adds to your score if they are in good standing. If you pay one off you have one less. Credit cards are a little different. If I spend $350 on a $7000 card my score goes down 4 points. If I pay that card off that month, my score goes back up 4 or 5 points. If you were to pay off everything you owe completely then go to the bank 6months later and try to borrow some money, you might not be able to because it is not good to not have any accounts open. This is what ive seen happen with my credit personally, I am no credit expert.

This ^^^ is all you need to know.

A banker told me this afternoon " only difference in dreams and reality is credit". A feller that owns his home , can pay cash for his vehicles , has his "business in order", will have a lower score than someone up to his eyeballs in debt. That's BS !

That's a really good way to go broke. Leverage to the max.

No one saves for retirement any more.

That probably explains it, I have two of the three

Well , a banker said it , so. He helps a lot of folks go broke I suppose , rest assured , I won't be one of them.

Because they vote for government dependence. However, I have rarely seen anybody live easy on their SS checks alone. All of the comfortable retired people I know have investments,retirement accounts, usually a pension or two, and physical property holdings. The SS check is just considered extra base line scratch money that usually goes to grandkids and hobbys.

Exactly. We are in no way whatsoever counting on our SS checks or our piddly retirement checks from previous employers. If the latter isn't gone by the time I retire due to some screwed up accounting or theft by my former employer, I'll be shocked. We have other, bigger savings and the SS and work pension checks will just be extra.