A couple mortgage refinances ago, I almost screwed myself because I had an $8 judgment against me from my local utility company that crushed my credit score by ~100 points. I thought I had an excellent credit score of 780, and I did, when I first started my 100 day refinance hell. But when my refinance bank pulled my credit report again around the 90th day, my TransUnion score plummeted to 680.
My mortgage refinance was delayed by another 10 days as my bank investigated the situation. Thankfully, everything turned out fine in the end. Since that time, I decided to regularly check my credit score once a year like I check my latest insurance coverage and health coverage. It’s good practice given it’s estimated about 5% of credit reports have errors as well.
Given I finally got rejected from my latest mortgage refinance attempt by Chase, I’ve begun to question whether a credit score has any meaning anymore. You see, I never missed a mortgage payment on this particular mortgage, and my latest credit score showed a 787. Anything above a 740 is considered excellent, and good enough for the best rate by major lenders.
There once was a time I was rich, but never famous as I traveled internationally four times a year for business. Each destination hosted loads of other folks who wanted to learn about the next money making idea in the global financial markets.
I was having lunch with a buddy of mine when he whipped out his foot long man wallet to pay the bill. “Whoah!” I said. “Where do you keep that thing?”
A reader asked on my post, 
I don’t discuss too much about credit cards on Financial Samurai because I’ve only got three (a travel rewards card, a generic rewards card, and a corporate card) and nothing much happens except for racking up rewards points. Definitely use a credit card for convenience, safety, rewards points, and insurance protection if you can control yourself. But if you’re not careful, thanks to the ease of use and absurdly high interest rates, problems may ensue. 
FICO gave a small peek behind the curtain at how their scoring model works and showed just how much mortgage delinquencies affect your credit score. The example they gave drew attention to three different FICO scores on the higher end of the spectrum (680, 720, and 780) and how one late payment of 30 days affected each score.
I am an opponent of consumer debt because the interest rates that credit cards charge are usurious when compared to the government bond yield of ~2.8%. If you are going to use a credit card, please pay it off in full every month or you’re just lighting your money on fire. This ain’t Vegas where everybody is making it rain in the clubs you know!
Several years ago, I put around $35,000 on my one and only credit card thanks to a home remodeling project and a new watch purchase. My “reward” was a 1% rebate towards my home mortgage, which is not bad considering $350 paid to principal is thousands in interest savings over the life of the loan.