Does credit score transfer overseas?

Does credit score transfer overseas? Ugh, right? Moving to Spain was already a nightmare – packing, saying goodbye to everyone, the sheer terror of navigating a new language… and then the credit score thing hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s so incredibly frustrating! I mean, all that work building up a good credit score back home in the US, for nothing! Poof! Gone.

It makes sense, I guess. Data privacy and all that. Each country has its own system, its own rules. But seriously? It feels like such a setback. Trying to rent an apartment in Barcelona? Forget about it without a local credit history. Even getting a phone plan was a hassle. I spent hours filling out forms, providing proof of address, references… the whole nine yards. It was exhausting. Starting from scratch is, like, the worst feeling ever. It’s like you’re a financial nobody again, even if you’re not. I remember thinking, “Is this really how it works everywhere? Are all my years of responsible credit use just… irrelevant now?”

I wish there was some kind of international credit score, you know? Something that actually traveled with you. Wouldn’t that be amazing? But nope. Just a whole bunch of individual systems, each one as complicated as the last. I think I saw some article about how some countries are trying to improve international credit sharing, maybe through some kind of data exchange? But from what I could tell, it’s a long, slow process. So, yeah, if you’re moving abroad, get ready to rebuild from the ground up – at least financially. And prepare for some serious paperwork. Maybe pack extra patience? You’ll need it.