“Trivial Amounts and Creditworthiness: The Impact of Schufa Scores on Loans and Contracts”

The Schufa is often the first point of contact for landlords or banks when it comes to the creditworthiness of their customers. This can already be destroyed by trivial amounts.

The Schufa (protection association for general loan security) is always contacted if a customer wants to buy something in installments, get a loan or agree on a housing or mobile phone contract. Providers want to be sure that their customer is creditworthy. This is indicated by the so-called Schufa score. A score of more than 95 percent is considered good to very good, and therefore absolutely creditworthy. At 50 to 80 percent, there is talk of a “very high risk”, with a score of less than 50 percent, the creditworthiness is classified as critical.

The score decreases with negative entries, which can arise, for example, from official credit inquiries, ongoing dunning procedures or having more than two credit cards. The amount of these partly open amounts is completely irrelevant: Even less than ten euros ensure an entry in the Schufa score and can massively stand in the way of a loan.

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The consequences of the Schufa score: Because of 8.04 euros, three years of negative entry

For example, one author wrote in daily mirror about his experience with the Schufa and how he lost a loan because of 8.04 euros. In the article, the author wrote that he changed his current account, but used the old one until he received the new bank card. What he didn’t know: his old bank canceled the overdraft facility and so the entire fuel bill could not be paid with the card. 8.04 euros initially remained open.

He received a reminder from the collection agency two weeks later. Among other things, including the bank return debit and address determination costs, business fees and expenses, the claim amounted to 83.05 euros. On the advice of an acquaintance, he gave up and ignored the warning. A mistake, as he admitted, because even if the company may not go to court over such small amounts, there is a high probability that Schufa will be informed.

Months passed, then mail came from lawyers who also added fees and the total amount of the claim was then 131.76 euros. Disproportionate, found the author of the article daily mirror and sat the subject out stubbornly. Until he wanted to apply for a loan and had to pay twice the usual interest rate for it: “When I asked why, they said my Schufa score was bad.”

Schufa: Negative entries remain for three years

If an invoice is not paid immediately and a dunning procedure is in progress, this is reflected in a low Schufa score. The negative entries that can be found there usually remain for three years. exception here loud German Press Agency (dpa): The storage period for entries on completed private bankruptcies has been reduced from three years to six months. Ole Schröder (board member of Schufa) says: “With our decision we are creating clarity and security for consumers. In this way, we enable those who are freed of residual debt to have a quick economic restart.”

Unfortunately, in most cases this does not apply to small amounts and would therefore have the daily mirror-Authors also not helped. The latter has now settled the claim and is awaiting a verdict from the court European Court of Justice regarding the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and thus a new European legal basis in data protection law.