Hello, i am european and the whole american credit system is very foreign to me.
From what i understood, you guys contract credit cards very early to push your credit score up by proving you are good payers.
Doing this allows you to earn some rewards such as cashbacks and miles, and in turn allowing you to have lodging.
This system seems really risky as it can also allow people to fall into immense compounding debt, but it seems so culturally central of your country.
What are your opinions on this ? Would you guys change it if you could ? Do you feel like the incentives to build a good score are worth it ?
Edit : thanks for all the answers ! Will take time tomorrow to read all of it. But the few i read were really insightful !