# Does Credit Score/History Follow



## jaelyn27

I'm a single American woman planning to move to (hopefully permanently) Japan in the next year to teach English. I've been trying to find out if my US credit score/history will follow me when I get to Japan but can't get a concrete answer. 

By the time I move to Japan my credit will be average on an american scale.


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## Bevdeforges

US credit reports/histories generally don't transfer overseas when you do. Basically, you start over at zero and have to establish your credit worthiness in a completely different system. (Only the UK and Canada seem to use the same type of credit reporting that the US does.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## Joppa

Bevdeforges said:


> US credit reports/histories generally don't transfer overseas when you do. Basically, you start over at zero and have to establish your credit worthiness in a completely different system. (Only the UK and Canada seem to use the same type of credit reporting that the US does.)


Yes, so your US record is of no consequence for you in Japan. The difficulty for you, like other expats in Japan, will be to find anyone willing to give you any credit for a long time. Even those with perfect home credit record, with a visa and well-paid work in Japan, find Japanese financial institutions unwilling to consider giving credit (e.g. a credit card) to a foreigner until they have lived in Japan for some years. Many in fact survive by using their cards from home, which isn't really satisfactory because of exchange rate fluctuations. This isn't a problem just confined to Japan - here in UK, migrants from abroad usually have a tough time getting established financially, even opening an ordinary bank account. So I suggest you go prepared, don't close your US accounts - checking, savings and credit cards, and ready to wait for some considerable time before being eligible for credit in Japan - credit card, mortgage loan, car loan etc.


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## larabell

Many so-called "credit" cards issued in Japan are actually charge cards. At most, they allow you to pay for a purchase over one to three months (and you have to make the decision at the time of purchase). Once the monthly bill comes in, you're expected to pay in full almost immediately. Those kinds of cards aren't hard to get, even for a resident foreigner, because they really don't convey long-term credit.

I have a hunch (with no real evidence) that Citibank has access to US-based credit data and does check before issuing a card. But from what I can tell, centralized credit reporting doesn't really exist in Japan. Since Japanese are mostly net savers and don't pile on the consumer debt like Westerners, there's little need for a thorough check. Heck, even for a home loan, they seem to do very little checking.


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## heartface

Your credit score won't transfer, but if your bank/credit card company operate in Japan then they might be able to take your credit history into account. I bank with HSBC in the UK and they said that for a one off fee of GBP100 HSBC in Japan would look at my HSBC UK account history when making any loan decisions.


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