Why are people so obsessed with their Credit Score?

Everybody's made excellent points which I don't want to rehash again, so I'll just say this: It's human nature to be competitive, to "keep up with the Joneses" if you will. Unless you're born into money, into sports, entertainment, or even illegal means, you won't have that type of money to flat out get what you want. The "Average Joe" (like myself) that wakes up every morning to go to their respective 9-5 to survive, just doesn't have it like that. So in essence credit is necessary. To me, it should be used as a tool to maintain, and in some cases improve the quality of life. What gives credit a bad rep is when people have "eyes that are bigger than their stomachs" and try to live outside their means. When I was an credit yst and underwriter, I saw this time in and time out. It's hard enough just living "C2C" (check to check), but throw a credit card or two, or a few, or even several in the mix, it begins a neverending perpetual cycle. With how you can get credit so easily sometimes it's real easy to blur the lines and not be able to delineate between the two. Some even take it to the next level to use credit as a lifestyle substitute instead of a supplement, living off their credit cards for years, and once it gets out of hand wave the white flag of bankruptcy. Dave Ramsey has his views about not using credit, which I repsect fully, but I disagree, while Suze Orman has her view that you have to have excellent credit which I agree to an extent as well. I take points that both have made and incorporated it into my own lifestyle to maintain a sense of balance. So in closing I say this it's really up to you if you want to save money and pay cash for everything, there's nothing wrong with that, hey especially the fact that everything would be paid for free and clear, but in the same token, if I'm responsible and "know the game" and can stay "ahead of the game" with credit, I don't see where there's anything wrong with that.