When No Credit Becomes a Problem

This happened last month, but it stuck with me. We had this new

guy, mid-20s, super laid back, really friendly but kinda clueless

with admin stuff. HR was onboarding him and needed some documents, and apparently one

of the things got flagged because his credit history was almost nonexistent. He looked so confused,

like he didn't even know that was a thing. He kept saying, "But I've never

missed a payment," and HR had to explain that not having history is its own problem.

Then during lunch, he admitted loud enough for a few of us to hear that he avoided anything

credit-related because his parents told him "credit cards are how people ruin their lives."