As far as I know, USA is the only country that uses such terrible credit system. In most other countries credit rating is controlled by the government itself or is at least heavily regulated. I haven't encountered any problems with my credit system -- nobody can check my credit rating without my prior written (or digitally signed) permission and I can login online anytime to see who has checked it. Furthermore, once in a year I can get a complete, free report to explicitly see how my credit rating is calculated.