The difference is that we do not have a score and that there is an implicit trust in your declarations. These declarations are somehow checked for major inconsistencies but that's all.

There is no history of credit and the note in the centralized database is removed when you actually pay (this is then rather a "database of people who are currently late in their payments")

The other thing is that we do not have the problem of "I know your SS# so I can take a credit" - it requires all kinds of bureaucratic gymnastics.

> we do not have a score

of course you have a score, it's just implied rather than explicit. how many missed payments? how much were those missed payments? that's the score.

> an implicit trust in your declarations

...but we still look you up in the central database ;-) sure, we trust you

OK, let's put it another way then.

Whenever there is a hack there is panic in the US about credits and credit scores. You are provided a "monitoring" for a year in case things south (and hopefully a way to recover).

You hear about what to do to have/keep a credit score in the US.

So this is something important.

These considerations do not exist in Europe, nobody ever discusses this. It means there is a fundamental difference about how credits are apprised in Europe and the US.

I do not even mention the fact that we virtually do not have credit cards. That is cards where there is a minimum amount to pay back and the rest is credited.

So this is really different.