New Schufa regulation since March 2023 - the most important things at a glance!

Shortened Schufa deletion period after residual debt discharge since March 28th, 2023.


According to the Schufa announcement, the data of those affected should only be stored for six months after the end of a private bankruptcy. Schufa is thus reacting to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that is being processed.


Deletion of the residual debt exemption entry: Now after six months instead of three years!


The credit agency Schufa shortens the data storage period (for private bankruptcy) to six months!

Schufa has announced an important change for people who have gone through personal bankruptcy: instead of the usual three years, data will only be stored for six months after a private bankruptcy has been completed. This move comes in anticipation of an upcoming judgment from the European Court of Justice (ECJ).


With this change, Schufa wants to create more "clarity and security for consumers”, according to a spokeswoman for Schufa. The changeover will take place immediately (change of procedure by the end of April 2023), even if the technical adjustment may take a few more weeks. This gives people who have settled their debts through personal bankruptcy the opportunity to put their financial past behind them more quickly.

Betroffene machen sich Sorgen

Was es für Schuldner bedeutet und wen es betrifft.

The reduction in the storage time of data after private bankruptcies at the Schufa will affect an estimated 100,000 people in Germany every year. Although there are many people in Germany with financial problems, only a few take advantage of the possibility of bankruptcy, which often enables faster debt relief and should actually be common practice.


Die Änderung wird sich auch auf diejenigen auswirken, die Schufa-Einträge für Entscheidungen verwenden, wie zum Beispiel Vermieter oder Kreditgeber.


In the past, the long storage of the Schufa made it difficult for consumers to start over again after a personal bankruptcy. This made it much more difficult to conclude contracts, purchases and new debts, which are often required in entrepreneurship.


Although those affected had settled their debts through bankruptcy, their financial reputation was usually affected by the Schufa entries. This meant that lenders and banks were often reluctant to extend credit when they saw that someone had gone through bankruptcy.

>> Hier finden Sie alle Informationen zu einem Kredit OHNE Schufa


The new regulation now enables those affected to enter into new obligations more quickly, for example renting a new apartment or taking out a loan. "Reducing the storage time improves the situation for debtors overall," experts say.


However, it should be noted that this change also increases the risk of people going back into debt more quickly. Neither the discharge of residual debt nor the reduction of the storage time are associated with financial advice. Therefore, it is important to be responsible when taking on new commitments.


Already after the decision, there were clear effects on stored data for some consumers. Because in March/April 2023, as a result of the change, Schufa deleted entries from around 250,000 consumers who had gone through personal bankruptcy.


Further details on the Schufa decision and the announced ECJ judgment follow in this article:

Is the Schufa score also "tilted"?

An expert from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) also found that Schufa violates European law by creating score values for creditworthiness. This was recently widely publicized in the media (here Tagesschau). (LINK: https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/finanzen/schufa-scoring-verstoss-eu-recht-101.html)


The ECJ justified the critical examination with possible violations of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)


An expert from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has stated that the scores produced by Schufa, which assess an individual's creditworthiness, violate EU law in relation to the GDPR. The storage of entries from public insolvency registers by Schufa has also been criticized. A verdict is expected in a few months. You can find more information on the possible GDPR violation at wbs.legal.


Score values are created by Schufa to assess how reliably a person meets their payment obligations. These ratings are commonly used by banks, telecom providers, and energy companies to assess an individual's creditworthiness.

Dabei werden nicht nur Finanzdaten berücksichtigt, sondern es werden auch Vergleichsgruppen nach Alter, Geschlecht, Namen und Wohnort gebildet, um möglichst genaue Vorhersagen darüber zu treffen, wie zahlungsfähig eine Person ist.


The criticism arose in the context of several cases in Germany. In one case, a person asked Schufa to delete an entry and grant access to the relevant data after being denied a loan. However, the Schufa only provided him with his score value and general information for the calculation.

The Schufa score is created so “mysteriously”:

Die Auskunftei und ihr Geschäftsgeheimnis

The method for calculating these values is a trade secret, as the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) decided years ago. The Administrative Court of Wiesbaden referred the case to the ECJ to clarify the relationship with the European General Data Protection Regulation.


According to the regulation, decisions that have legal effects for data subjects must not be made solely on the basis of automated data processing. The Advocate General noted that the automated generation of a probability value, such as the score value, already constitutes such a prohibited automatic decision. This also applies when the final decision is made by third parties such as banks.


Ironically, the Schufa also provides information if they have no information about the people concerned. In this case, she simply checks the living environment and draws conclusions from it. How exactly these ratings come about remains a trade secret of Schufa to this day.


However, this could mean further problems for Schufa, as private credit agencies such as Schufa are often used by banks, telecommunications service providers or energy suppliers to obtain an assessment of a person's creditworthiness. A verdict on the score is expected in summer 2023.


What does this mean for Schufa and consumers?

  • Sollte der EuGH das Vorgehen der Schufa als rechtswidrig einstufen, könnte dies weitreichende Auswirkungen haben.
  • Die Schufa müsste möglicherweise ihr Bewertungssystem überarbeiten und transparenter gestalten.
  • Für Verbraucher könnte dies bedeuten, dass ihre Kreditwürdigkeit fairer und objektiver bewertet wird, ohne dass persönliche Daten und Betriebsgeheimnisse als Grundlage dienen.


Es bleibt abzuwarten, wie das Gericht in einigen Monaten entscheiden wird und welche Konsequenzen dies für die Schufa und andere Auskunfteien haben wird.

Schufa has already acted here

Die bereits im März/April dieses Jahres umgesetzte Entscheidung der Schufa könnte sich auf mehrere bevorstehende Gerichtsentscheidungen auswirken. Der Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) hat dieses Jahr bekannt gegeben, dass er ein Verfahren vorläufig aussetzt, um auf eine Entscheidung des Europäischen Gerichtshofs (EuGH) in zwei ähnlichen Fällen zu warten.


An example is the case of a former self-employed person. He had to file for bankruptcy in 2013. Consumer bankruptcy allows individuals to get rid of their debts even if they are unable to pay it all back.


The so-called residual debt exemption is published for a period of six months on an official internet portal. In the plaintiff's case, the discharge of residual debt was granted in 2019 and noted in the nationwide insolvency portal. The Schufa had retrieved and stored the man's data.

What does this mean for debtors?

Schufa's decision to drastically reduce the storage period for entries from private bankruptcies is expected to have positive effects. The creditworthiness of those affected will improve because this information is no longer stored for so long. This will probably make it easier for them to sign contracts again or make larger purchases.

However, it remains to be seen how the court decisions will turn out in this context and whether further changes in the handling of Schufa data are imminent.

The exciting judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is expected in the summer of 2023.

Es bleibt abzuwarten, ob der EuGH in allen Punkten dem Vorschlag des Generalanwalts zustimmt. In der Vergangenheit hat sich gezeigt, dass der EuGH in den meisten Fällen den Empfehlungen der Generalanwälte gefolgt ist. Das Urteil des EuGH wird in einigen Monaten erwartet und mehr Klarheit bringen.


Die Schufa selbst hat sich nur knapp zu den Schlussanträgen geäußert. Zudem bleibt offen, ob sie und andere möglicherweise betroffene private Auskunfteien ihre Datenverarbeitungsprozesse anpassen müssen. 


The effects of the ECJ judgment on the Schufa and other credit bureaus will only be clear after the judgment has been pronounced. It will be interesting to see how the industry develops and what the consequences are for the processing and evaluation of personal data.


Criticism continues to come from the managing director of the German Parity Welfare Association on Twitter. Apparently, he thinks the data storage is still going too far despite changes. Ulrich Schneider on Twitter, still extremely critical: “Now hopefully nobody wants us to celebrate, right? This data octopus #SCHUFA should be dissolved.”


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