It was an easier and quicker way to vet people for likelihood of paying money back. When it came to be, back in the 80’s, there was no good way to find out if a guy asking for a loan from a bank was likely to pay back a loan from the bank, so you have to already own valuable things like cars and houses and appraised art pieces and such that you could show the bank you owned that could be taken as collateral in exchange for the loan.

So I disagree with your premise, because even pre-credit you had to have a wealthy set of assets before you could get money on credit. At least now you can just show that you’ve kept up with paying bills and what-not in the reflection of your credit score. When I was in my early 20’s (like 20 years ago) all I owned was a $3,000 car and a crappy job, but I paid all my stuff on time every time and my credit scores were all over 750.