Wiesbaden Consumers can now check their creditworthiness at any time. Because the data on creditworthiness stored by the Schufa can now be viewed online free of charge. A new Schufa service should make this possible. This requires registration with the Bonify subsidiary’s app, into which the so-called base score calculated by the credit agency is integrated.
So far, consumers have only had the opportunity to request the score, which assesses their creditworthiness, free of charge. Otherwise the service was chargeable.
“The new Schufa aims to increase transparency and give people more control over their data in the future,” said Schufa CEO Tanja Birkholz at the presentation of the project on Tuesday.
The Bonify app is operated by Forteil GmbH, which took over Schufa last year. However, both companies are separate from each other in terms of data protection. Mutual access to the respective data is not possible, it said.
Little works in the business world without credit agencies such as Schufa, Creditreform or Bürgel. Banks, online retailers and telephone providers check the creditworthiness of their customers by asking the credit bureaus. The largest, Schufa, has collected data from 68 million Germans. It facilitates 300,000 transactions between companies and customers every day.
The creditworthiness is determined using the stated score. With this value, companies can estimate the likelihood that customers will be able to pay off their debts.
Creditworthiness: Schufa score is recalculated every quarter
Schufa does not want to leave it at the notification of the score value. “The data stored by Schufa, which is important for determining creditworthiness, will be available via the Bonify app in the course of the year, Birkholz announced. The Schufa score is recalculated quarterly.
In addition, the credit agency wants to proactively inform consumers about negative entries in the coming year if they have downloaded the app. Negative entries can arise if customers have not paid their bills despite multiple reminders.
Under its new CEO Birkholz, a former Commerzbank manager, Schufa is in the process of shedding its previous secrecy. This also has something to do with a change in perspective at Schufa, which in the past saw itself primarily as a partner to its corporate customers.
Schufa: Score simulator for consumers
Now she sees herself more as an intermediary between private individuals and corporate customers. In order to increase understanding of how Schufa works, the credit agency has already made a simulator available online. Consumers have the opportunity to use the score simulator to understand how certain events affect the credit rating of the Schufa – for example a move or an installment loan.
But the transparency offensive launched by Birkholz does not go far enough for critics. Gerhard Schick, head of the Finanzwende citizens’ movement, criticizes the fact that Schufa does not disclose the algorithm used to calculate creditworthiness.
Those affected should know which factors are included in the score and with what weighting, Schick told the magazine “Der Spiegel”. However, the Federal Court of Justice ruled in a 2014 judgment that Schufa does not have to specify the exact criteria for how the score is achieved.
Bonify: Critics fear “screening” of consumers
Another project by Schufa is more controversial: From 2024, consumers should be able to use Bonify to look at their own accounts. However, this should only happen with the express permission of the account holder.
This is likely to be aimed at customers whose financing or purchase request was initially rejected or who feel that the existing Schufa data does not adequately reflect their financial situation.
The consumer organization Finanzwende doubts the voluntary nature of data transfer. There is no real freedom of choice for customers “if I don’t get a rental apartment without a good Schufa rating,” says Schick.
Finanzwende fears that Schufa could screen people even more intensively in the future thanks to additional account information. “Keep your hands off my bank account” is therefore the slogan of a campaign that is currently driving the financial turnaround.
Schufa boss Birkholz cannot understand the criticism. It’s about getting a better credit rating in terms of income. “Whether someone donates to Greenpeace or is committed to a party is irrelevant for the credit rating,” she said in an interview with “Zeit”.
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