<prompt> Human: I am teaching a personal finance class and I was about to start a project where I teach kids about credit cards and I really wonder if I should bring this up or not. After trying this credit score simulator I got the feeling that taking out a student loan would be the equivalent of having a credit card as long as you make payments. Then I wondered if this concept is even true, or if it is just something started by the credit industry to get young people to make mistakes.  <response>: Just as an anecdote:My roommate took out student loans only, and had no credit cards. He graduated with a job to start a few months after graduation. It comes time to move off campus to a new apartment.- The apartment complex was willing to take him at a slightly higher security deposit.- Verizon FiOS was completely unwilling to set up service in his name.- The local electricity company was only interested in setting up service if he came to the local service center with an ID and 200 deposit.- ATT would only let him open a cellular line if he agreed to a 500 deposit.My other roommate had one credit card that was on his report - an authorized user line from his parents. He didnt need to open the phone line, and without income still in college, cosigning was required for the lease. He could not get the electricity service without deposit or FiOS in his name.I had a credit card in my own name for a year in a half at that point and an AU line from my parents. I had no problems getting electricity or FiOS in my name without any sort of deposit.Just my two cents. Also, having an elite score can lower car insurance rates the statistics Ive read is that 90 of US auto insurers use score as a factor for premiums and lower rates on autohome loans. Getting crazy obsessed over your score is a waste of time though unless its dramatically dropped and needs repair or youre trying to get a home loan or something.690-740 is a pretty wide range and not a particularly amazing one. 720 is the average, so the range is more below than above. So with student loans only, youre probably going to have a subpar score - assuming the calculator is accurate. Loan situations can be highly individual, and who knows if you have authorized user lines, which can massively improveact as a detriment to your score even then, your score can be 800 FICO like my roommate who had an AU line on his credit report, but the lender may see its an AU line with their internal calculations and downplayignore it. 