Compare this country early use of credit to its use today?

A credit is a financial transaction where someone takes a loan for a certain amount of money to another person, and this another must pay this money in a period of time, determinate from both parts, in this case, a country can get a credit, if this country pay this debt, the country will have a good record, and they can to ask another credit, but if they don't pay, the debt will be bigger.