Yes. This happened to a Swiss friend of mine who moved to South Africa. Born and bred in Switzerland, he had never been in debt of any kind, had always paid his taxes and all other bills on time, had never taken out a loan, nor bought anything on an instalment payment scheme. In this sense, he was a model Swiss bill-payer.

In South Africa, he struggled to sign a rental contract (had to rent from private, careless landlords only) or to buy a phone contract. They all threw up their hands in disbelief, asking him, amazed: "What do you mean, you have no credit score? Does everything in Switzerland work in cash only? Do you even have a birth certificate?"

He, in turn, really struggled with their advice to go out and open up not one but two or better three separate credit accounts at large departmental stores and to buy himself a few shirts on 6-month credit, and pay off the specified amount each month.

He was also advised, once he'd earned a salary for a few months, to get a letter from his landlord confirming that he'd paid his rent punctually, and with that to apply for a smallish loan from a bank, and then pay that back punctually. If he got his employer to sign surety, they told him, that would improve his standing, too. His Swiss toes curled!