@nerdman
I get mortgages, cause in today's global economy, it's kinda impossible to save up money and buy a house in any reasonable amount of time. But the fact that buying things on credit, constantly, from big electronics to your daily groceries, is somehow counted as you being responsible, so you'll get better offers for big loans, that's the part I find outrageous.
Someone explained to me once (not sure if it holds true) that getting a mortgage is actually more effective, tax-wise, than saving the money and outright buying the place, so it MIGHT be true, that getting a mortgage is responsible.
It goes against every fiber of my being, mortgages, unless fixed rate at under inflation, which of course is kind of hard to get / time / etc. I did it once and it worked out, to be fair. Of course it was a government backed loan so I kind of paid extra in taxes but my wife is an acountant, pretty sure we made money on that.