[ZoFreX]

No horse in the identity theft question, hasn't happened to me, but I did have seriously bad credit for a short while due to a cockup by my bank, exacerbated by difficulty passing identity checks due to moving house a lot. Some of the potential consequences:

* I almost ended up in a situation where I couldn't get paid or pay bills, because no bank in the country would let me open an account

* I was at risk of becoming homeless because my lease was expiring and you can't rent a flat without passing a credit check

* Even signing up for a mobile phone or home internet requires passing a credit check

So: No job, internet, or house. Pretty far-reaching!

[grecy]

Eh, I immigrated to the US, then later to Canada, and I experienced exactly the same thing because having no credit rating is the same as having the worst possible credit rating.

I got over it, and figured out how to move on with life.

[ZoFreX]

How did you get over that? I was only able to get past those obstacles by fixing my credit history, which fortunately was relatively easy as it was a mistake by my bank.

[grecy]

I spent years on a "bonded credit card" with limit $1k (i.e. they held $1k of mine in case I ever defaulted on the card) and kept a healthy amount in my savings account, and always paid off my card in time, until they slowly started to trust me.

I also had to put down deposits to get phone, apartment, electricity, etc. etc.