📷 Schufa boss Tanja Birkholz: More people are having payment problems. Photo: Marc-Steffen Unger for Handelsblatt
Consumers will soon be able to understand how their credit ratings are calculated. The first banks and companies are already using the new score, but so far, there are still only a few.
Schufa is postponing the launch of its new score, which indicates the creditworthiness of private individuals, until next year. “By the end of the first quarter of 2026 , the number of companies that have converted their processes to the new score will be so large that we will be able to activate the new score explanation tool,” said Schufa CEO Tanja Birkholz on Wednesday at the Handelsblatt Banking Summit. The plan was previously for the new score to be implemented starting in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The new score replaces the so-called Schufa basic score, which consumers have previously received from Schufa. However, the basic score is not the value that Schufa displays to businesses. Schufa aims to be more transparent in this area. In the future, consumers and businesses will be shown the same score for each individual.
Nevertheless, the new score is already productive, Birkholz said. “The first customers are using it in their decision-making processes.” Furthermore, about two-thirds of Schufa’s largest customers have agreed to switch to the new system with the credit agency.
Schufa, which is primarily owned by German banks, is of immense importance to both consumers and many companies. Before signing a contract, banks, telecommunications services, and energy suppliers usually inquire about the creditworthiness of potential customers with private credit agencies like Schufa.
The higher the score, derived from Schufa’s stored data about the customer, the better the creditworthiness. If the score is poor, consumers often have trouble getting a loan or signing a cell phone contract.
Schufa has long been under fire for its ability to calculate credit scores, a claim that consumer advocates have repeatedly criticized. However, shortly after taking office about five years ago, Birkholz began making the credit agency’s procedures more transparent.
For the new score, Schufa uses twelve out of 250 possible criteria and awards points. Consumers can achieve a maximum of 999 points, which corresponds to the highest creditworthiness. The criteria include, for example, the remaining term of existing loans, the duration of current accounts and credit card agreements, and possible debt collection proceedings.
More people with payment problems
Schufa is currently registering more and more people who are at risk of experiencing payment difficulties. In the first half of the year, a total of 325,000 people were reported negatively to Schufa for the first time. This means that these individuals were unable to pay a bill or service a loan for the first time despite repeated reminders.
This is 14 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. A similar trend had already been observed in the first quarter of 2025.
According to Schufa, this was the highest quarterly figure ever. The figures go back to 2019. Birkholz doesn’t expect the situation to ease. She said no slowdown is evident in the third quarter either.
The difficult financial situation of many consumers is also affecting consumer finance providers. Teambank, a subsidiary of the leading cooperative institution DZ Bank, reported a loss of five million euros in the first half of the year. Risk provisions for non-performing loans increased by more than a third to 118 million euros.
Source: handelsblatt.com
