> The difference is that the BKR acts more like a blacklist: if you never have taken any loans you will never have a bad rating
This is how credit ratings in the US work as well.
This is how credit ratings in the US work as well.
I was effectively required to get a secured credit card to demonstrate my "ability" to repay "debt". After doing this for some time, I was able to get a normal credit card, with a far higher limit and no security.
It's a little farcical really, that my ability to pay back a few hundred dollars monthly granted me access to a credit line far in excess of my monthly income.
Yes, that's not because you had a bad credit score, but because lenders in the US are more conservative and are generally unwilling to lend money to a person who doesn't have a good credit score. This applies especially to people who aren't citizens, even if they have legal residence and work authorization. You didn't have a good credit score - or any score at all. That doesn't mean you had a bad rating. If you'd had a bad score, it would have been much worse that what you describe.
The original statement was that "if you have never taken any loans, you will never have a bad rating". This is true in both the Netherlands and the US (barring cases of fraud and identity theft, which occur in both countries).