Your credit score from Europe to the USA: what travels with you and what doesn't

If you've paid every bill on time at home, you expect that to count in America too. The disappointment usually comes at the bank counter: no score, no file, no card. Here you'll learn why your credit history from your home country stops at the border, which ways still let you take some of it with you, and why the most important step is to start early in the USA itself.

1The short answer

Your credit history from your home country can't be transferred to the USA. There is no application, no form and no service that turns your local credit score into a FICO score. When you arrive in America, you start without a credit file, no matter how solid your standing is at home.

That sounds harsher than it is. There are ways to use part of your history to get started, and there is one way that always works: start early. The table shows at a glance what travels with you, what partly travels and what you can do instead. In the sections below we go through each point, from the legal reason to your first card.

One thing up front: this article is about your personal credit. The same principle applies to your US company, which also starts from zero, but with its own credit bureaus and its own scores. That is covered in our article on business credit in the USA.

2Why credit data stops at the border

You might think it's a technical problem. After all, some of the big credit bureaus operate in many countries. But the reason is legal. Experian explains it on its own website: credit reporting laws differ from country to country, and some prohibit cross-border transfers or restrict them so heavily that they are practically impossible.

Then there's the other direction. If foreign data were added to a US file, the reporting entities would have to meet US credit reporting rules, above all the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A company from another country could hardly meet those requirements, if at all, Experian writes. That's why the data a credit bureau holds in one country stays in that country.

For you, that means: whatever the credit bureaus at home know about you stays at home. None of them report to Equifax, Experian or TransUnion in the USA, and no US bank can simply look you up there.

3What you can still bring from home

Even if the data doesn't move, you can take it with you yourself, on paper. Under Article 15 of the GDPR, credit bureaus in the EU must tell you what data they hold about you. Ask the credit bureau your bank or landlord uses for a copy of your report.

A document like this doesn't replace a US credit file. An American landlord checks consumer reports from the US system, and that's what the process is built around. But it can help when a person makes the decision rather than just an algorithm: a private landlord, a small bank, a car dealer who actually talks to you. Add proof of your income and assets too, because card issuers are allowed, and required, to check those.

So put your documents together before you set off: a recent report from your credit bureau at home, a letter from your bank confirming your account relationship, and proof of income and assets. An English translation, if needed, makes it easier for the other side to read.

4Translated credit profiles

Between the papers in your folder and a real US file, there's a middle step. Some companies work with credit bureaus in various countries and convert your foreign credit file into a profile a US card issuer can read. Experian describes these translation services on its website and notes that some issuers take such profiles into account when you apply for a card.

There are three things you should know. First, it depends on your country: a service like this can only translate what it receives from a credit bureau in your country, and not every country is connected. Second, it depends on the issuer: only issuers that work with such a service look at the profile. Third, it doesn't replace the rest of the application. You still need an address, details of your income and employment and, without a Social Security Number, an ITIN, and the issuer looks at your overall risk picture, not just your history.

So a translated profile isn't a score that travels with you. It's a bridge for a single application. Once you have your first card, your real US credit history begins, and from then on you write it yourself.

5The card relationship that can travel with you

The second route doesn't go through a credit bureau but through the card issuer itself. Some issuers operate in many countries and carry your customer relationship across borders. If you move, you can apply for a card with them in your new country, and the issuer may use your account history from your previous country. Your existing cards at home stay open, and you remain liable for all balances in every country.

The catch is timing. The relationship has to exist before you need it. If you only think of it after the move, there's no history at home for the issuer to rely on. That's why we often advise clients planning a move to get a card with an international issuer while they're still living in Europe. Which countries an issuer includes, and on what terms, is up to the issuer, and so is the decision on your US application.

Here too: the card you get in the USA builds your US credit history from day one. Your history at home opens the door, but you have to walk through it yourself.

6What a US issuer checks when you have no file

Without a credit file, a card issuer doesn't decide in a vacuum. Two federal rules set the framework. The first is in Regulation Z: before an issuer opens a credit card account or raises a limit, it must check whether you can afford the minimum payments, based on your income or assets and your current obligations. Under the rule, giving a card to an applicant with no income and no assets would be unreasonable.

For you, that means your income and assets count even when your history doesn't. Proof of both belongs in every folder you prepare for an application, whether you earn in euros, kroner, pounds or dollars.

The second rule is Regulation B, which implements the law against discrimination in lending. A lender may consider your immigration status and anything it needs to assess its rights to repayment. It may not, however, consider your national origin. So an issuer asking about your visa, or being more cautious with an applicant who doesn't live in the USA, is permitted. Turning you down because of where you're from would not be.

That explains why a real US address, a tax number and an account with a US bank make such a difference: they reduce exactly the uncertainty an issuer sees in an applicant from abroad.

7What counts in the USA: your first reported account

In the end, every route leads to the same place: the first account in the USA that reports to the three nationwide credit bureaus. From that day, your clock is running. A FICO score only exists once your file has at least one account that has been open for six months or more and at least one account reported in the last six months. As a rule, no score is generated before roughly six months have passed.

What gets reported is credit, not balances. Debit cards, cash and prepaid cards usually aren't reported to the nationwide credit bureaus. The classic way in is a secured credit card, where you put down a deposit. Then there are small credit builder loans and being added as an authorized user on the card of someone who trusts you.

You don't necessarily need a Social Security Number for this. Experian matches reported accounts using all the identifying information a lender submits, not just the SSN. So an account you opened with your ITIN can show up in your file. We explain how the ITIN helps in our article ITIN and credit cards.

8Start early, while you're still in Europe

Because your credit history can't be transferred, time is the only thing that counts. If you only start your US credit history after the move, you'll spend your first months without a score, exactly when the lease, the car and the phone plan come up. Start two years ahead, and you arrive with two years of history.

You can do this while you still live in Europe. You need a number, an address, an account and a first card: an ITIN, a genuine US residential address, an account with a US bank and a card that reports to all three credit bureaus. Pay on time and keep your utilization low; at the start, that is all it takes. Our guide US bank account and US credit walks you through every step.

9If you get an SSN later

If you move to the USA on a visa that allows you to work, you get a Social Security Number. From then on, you use only the SSN for tax purposes. The IRS requires you to tell it your new number; it then merges your tax records under the SSN and retires the ITIN.

Give the new number to your banks and card issuers too, so your existing accounts carry on under the right number. The on-time payments you built up under your ITIN are part of your history. That is exactly why an early start pays off: time is the one thing you cannot make up in America.

In short

• Your credit rating from your home country cannot be transferred to the USA; credit bureau data stays in the country where it was collected.
• Services that translate foreign credit files into a US-ready profile can make an application easier, if your country and the issuer support it.
• A card issuer operating internationally may use your account history from another country when you apply in the USA.
• You only get a FICO score once you have an account that has been open for at least six months and has been reported within the last six months.
• The most reliable route is to start your own US credit history early, even while you are still in Europe.

How we help you

• Credit BuilderCredit for your company and for you, built step by step.
• US Bank Account OpeningYour own access to the American financial system, even without an SSN.
• ITIN ExpressYour ITIN through our special procedure, no tax return needed.
• ConsultationOne hour with the firm: your case, your questions, a clear answer.