[egman_ekki]

Maybe you displayed the ability to not go into debt unnecessarily, which could be also a signal of financial ability. Getting into debt just to demonstrate you can pay it off is a bit like having to catch a virus so that the doctor can tell you you're healthy once you're done with it.

But it's true that in the era of negative interest rates, only silly people don't owe money.

[another-dave]

I guess using the analogy — your doctor won't tell you "you've a great immune system" if you've never caught a bug at all. Maybe you've a really weak immune system, they just don't know.

Not going into debt unnecessarily is a great thing, but it's not a data point in your favour, it's the absence of a data point.