Berlin. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cell phone contract, online shopping or a loan: you need Schufa. Now there must be a drastic cut.
Some companies ago in Germany people are so afraid of it Shoe. Its products, called scores, decide on online purchases, loans, cell phone It is Rental contracts. Now the Wiesbaden credit bureau is planning a drastic reduction: the criteria will be simplified, in the future there will only be a single score instead of many different ones; One that consumers can easily understand.
Economy in Berlin
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“Our goal is high accuracy and good understanding,” says Tanja Birkholz, head of Schufa, which has been changing for about three years and wants to become more open, especially for. consumer. The aim is to improve the image of the Wiesbaden company – and, in the long term, to encourage some people to voluntarily provide data to Schufa. The credit agency is questioned more often how to improve your scoresays Birkholz. This is often done through additional data.
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Schufa assesses how high the risk is of a customer not paying their invoice or having a credit cannot operate. A score is calculated for this. The formula includes information about existing loans and whether anyone has previously been unable to pay. So far, however, Schufa has not determined one score, but up to 20 different scores – with different data and with different weights. There is one score for retail, one for telecommunications and one for banks. The latter is used more frequently.
This is what Schufa scoring will look like in the future
In the future there will only be one score for everyone. The model is being radically simplified and should no longer be understandable only to statisticians, but also to consumers. Schufa promises the new scores are as accurate as the old ones – important for Schufa customers like them Bankstelecommunications companies, traders who use the score to decide contracts.
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More than 50 different factors are taken into account in the six sector scores alone, says Andre Muhle, responsible for the new scoring at Schufa. In the future, 10 to 15 will be enough. It doesn’t mean which data affects the score. Information on installment loans, mortgages and defaults will likely be included. As before, address data should not be used. How do they do it punctuation Schufa does not reveal the exact calculation – a trade secret as before. Artificial intelligence In any case, it is expressly not used because the technology would have increased the complexity again.
In the future, you will be able to check your creditworthiness
Currently, experts are also testing the new score with companies. It should be completed by the end of 2024. Then it will likely be one to two years before it is introduced to the market, says Birkholz. Banks, among others, must have the new score certified; banking regulator Bafin will take a closer look. This takes a while. In the future, there will only be the new score; Schufa will no longer determine any other scores. The approximately 30 scores that the credit agency each one developed for a company.
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Once the new score has been established, German citizens will also be able to view their results. Currently, they only have access to the so-called base score, a kind of average of all Schufa scores. However, companies do not use it; it exists solely to inform consumers. Schufa also wants to change the scoring simulator. Anyone interested can use it to try out how theirs works solvency appears under certain circumstances. General information about the number of Credit cards or the second run of the current account – then the simulator calculates a score between 0 and 100, where 97 is a very good value and 50 is a bad value. The program also shows under which conditions the score would worsen or improve.
Schufa also revised its website. The credit agency’s offer can now be found in plain language and in English. One Turkish The version is being prepared. Furthermore, the company can now carry out digital consultations through standardized forms with just a few clicks. This also simplifies your work, said Schufa boss Birkholz. So far most of them have come requests for per publish or email, sometimes worded in such a way that you have to ask frequently.
Schufa collects data from 68 million Germans
The credit agency collected data from 6.4 million companies and around 68 million German citizens. According to information from the company itself, only positive information is stored in more than 90%. Every day, Schufa receives 340,000 inquiries from companies wanting to assess whether they want to do business with a client. Companies can change scores according to the decision of the European Court of Justice are not used exclusively and fully automatically to conclude contracts. Banks usually also provide information about the checking account or securities account appearance.
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Schufa was founded in 1927 as a general credit protection association and is the largest and most important credit agency of its kind in the country. Germany. More than a quarter each belong to cooperative banks and savings banks. The remainder is held mainly by commercial banks. The Wiesbaden-based company employs around 1,000 people and recorded sales of 276 million euros last year.