[ekimekim]

> - They have a history of not paying off their debts.

If only. In practice it's more like "They don't have a history of paying off their debts", which crucially means if you don't have a history of being in debt then you have no history of paying it off, and therefore you're considered high risk. Thus you get otherwise-nonsencial behaviours like taking out a loan only for the reason of paying it off.

[GekkePrutser]

Having to have had debt to prove you can pay it off is a weird thing that's going on in America. Here in Europe we don't really do that. If you have avoided loans most of your life that's a good thing.