Here’s how credit used to work in olden times. You had a small property, a nice middle-income household, in a little town. You also had a name. It was a good name. You could use your good name anywhere, to help you get stuff. You’d head on over to the general store and say, “I need a pound of nails,” and the shop owner would hand them over.
“Oops,” you’d say. “I seem to have left my wallet (or coin pouch, or whatever they had back then) at my rustic lodgings.”
“No problem,” the shopkeeper would say. “I know you’re good for it.”