We all know of people who cannot get a new credit card because they have too much outstanding debt.
I think you'd agree that it makes sense.
But what about the people who get refused a credit card because they have too little debt? Does that make sense? When lending out money, credit card providers want to be able to check out your 'credit history'.
They want to see that you have a good track record of paying back the money you borrowed.
If you've never borrowed any money, you will have no 'credit history'.
So credit card providers will consider you more of a risk than someone with a proven ability to pay back debt.
Another area where "being good" is not necessarily well-considered by the credit card providers is when you have several existing credit cards with little or no balance on them.
If you apply for a new card (with a better interest rate, air miles or some other advantage), the lender will look at the potential maximum credit you could have on your existing cards and not at what amount your present credit is at.
The solution here is to get rid of credit cards that you do not use.
One classic mistake that 'nice' people make is to allow other people to become 'additional cardholders' on their account.
This often happens when the other person cannot get a card in their own name.
The danger comes from the fact that only the original account holder is responsible for the debts on the account.
If the additional account holder runs up big bills, the account holder has to pay them off.
Just watch Judge Judy reruns to see some of the damage this can cause to nice, kind people.