Personally I went into my van debt free. I did it by choice (living in a van) not for financial reasons.<br><br>I've been debt free since my 20's. I offered all my credit card companies to pay off my debts for 30c on each dollar. All but one accepted. The last one sold off my debt to a collection agency who promptly accepted my 30c offer. That was 15 years ago so any negatives on my credit have long since expired.<br><br>For almost two decades I lived on cash-only transactions. I wasn't trying too, it just worked out that way. When I went in to open a bank account a few years back, they had a hard time doing it. They want a credit score before they can open a simple checking account, and mine was " - ". They said, "even a bad score is better than a blank". Well, not in my world! <br><br>Still today, unless I can pay for something with cash or what is in my bank account, I do not buy it.