I'm moving to Canada soon, and I've read that some people use credit cards for the sole purpose of building up a credit score that they might need. Personally, I consider a system requiring this rather odd (borrowing and paying back money for the sole purpose of showing one can, even if one wouldn't need to borrow money in the first place?!). I'm not planning on borrowing any money, so hopefully it's not relevant for me... However, in Sweden, if one borrows money and doesn't pay it back, one gets on a blacklist that will make it difficult to rent an apartment. Hence my question:
If I never borrow any money¹ but always pay from the money I already have, and consequently have no credit score, might this affect my ability to rent a residence? Does it affect any other financial transaction that do not involve borrowing money? If yes, how can I resolve this?
Rationally, showing significant income and savings should be sufficient to convince landlords that I can pay my rent. Alas, institutions do not always act rationally, and being an outlier by never having debt may be bad enough.
¹I did have a 3000€ study debt, but I paid it off within three months of getting my first job in 2009, and this anyway won't be known internationally.