In that house, they never had a 'tallyman' calling just the man from Pearl Insurance, and I think that had stopped by 1955, early '56.
Like Phil and probably a good many others, I've avoided debt, except a mortgage (and a loan for a 2nd hand E-type for 1,000 miles of weekly hospital visiting in the late 70s) and haven't had a mortgage since I went to Papua New Guinea in early 80s. Am not 'scared of debt', it was like some others, a matter of learning to live without as a child that continued into adulthood. I'm a bad credit risk now, as I've no 'credit record' - I can happily live with that.