“Good credit scores are not only important for getting loans, but can also be for employment and apartment hunting.”
If being debt free, and as a result having a low FICO score, means that I have trouble getting hired by a particular employer then I wouldn’t want to work for them anyway. I would much rather work for a company that understands cash is king and a paid off mortgage is replacing the status symbol of a BMW!
You don’t need to owe much money at all in order to establish a good credit history. It’s just a way for those who don’t know you from a hole in the wall to get some idea of your degree of dependability and trustworthiness. How else can they do this without some official record of your prior financial/business dealings? That is what a credit score is all about. You just have to have the willpower not to go too crazy with credit.