Yeah it is so strange to all the young Europeans - until it slaps them in the face once they need a loan and must scramble to learn about it and have to suffer the consequences of having none of it because they thought it's some weird American thing.

The US way is extreme, but credit absolutely does exist here and works the same way - you'll get much better deals for insurance and loans if you have it, and it takes years of payments without issues to build it.

It depends on the country. Some countries subscribe to the idea that all credit is bad credit.

I grew up in a system where only negative credit history was shared between banks. If you had no credit history, you had perfect credit history. Your creditworthiness depended on having regular income and paying bills in time. Based on that information, banks determined an overall limit for all your loans and other forms of debt. If you had a credit card, you would get a smaller mortgage. Large credit limits relative to your income and spending signified risk rather than creditworthiness.

Does it really work like that in practice, or are there """bonuses""" you can get if you prove your credit?

Here in Czechia, it's like you say, no history = perfect credit - but as I said, you'll get much better deals (after counting in bonuses) if you have proven your credibility - and the normal deal you get with only "perfect" credit is nearly a financial suicide. Building your credibility by having a credit card (and paying on time) is as good idea here as it is in the US because you don't pay interest until the next month so it's free.

The only difference is, in the US it's institutionalized (and thus transparent) whereas here I have to do under-the-table dealings with the bank's independent sales representative. Sucks, IMHO.

Creditworthiness is (was?) based on stable income and spending habits in Finland. Credit cards used to be niche products for foreign travel and later online purchases.

Used to be niche here as well, but nowadays it's a useful tool, especially with the modern banking apps. It also has really cool and free year-long worldwide travel insurance, something that would cost me a lot of money otherwise. And I get discounts for using it to pay for hotels and car rentals and accumulate airline miles with every purchase.

Really, we in EU get all the good features with none of the bad things that the US people suffer from. I recommend to ask your bank about their available deals.

In the banking app, I was watching my credibility directly affect the loan offers available to me in real time. I got my interest rate down to half of the usual deal (which is based on my income and expenses) after a year of paying back on time. It really pays off.