What is Schufa and how to apply for one?

If you are moving to Germany and want to rent an apartment, you will come across this term “Schufa”. Usually, the landlords and other entities require this information to evaluate your creditworthiness. Schufa is an abbreviation of “Schutzgemeinschaft für allgemeine Kreditsicherung”. It is usually tracked and recorded by Schufa Holding AG, Germany’s biggest credit agency. In this article, we will describe about Schufa, information stored in Schufa, how to apply and get one.

What is a credit score?

Schufa (the credit score), also refers is used by the landlords to check your creditworthiness. Not just for landlords, but also for any further contracts like bank account, mobile, internet, applying for credit and so on, you might need this score. In German it is called Schufa Auskunft, meaning  “Schufa score, Schufa report or Schufa rating”. With your Schufa score, they can check whether you have unpaid debts or calculate the interest you might have to pay for a loan.

Where to apply for Schufa Auskunft?

You can order Schufa Bonitätsauskunft from meinschufa.de or download it from bonify immediately. You can also order the score via other sites like ImmobilienScout24, Immonet and Immowelt.

How is your score calculated?

When you do your Anmeldung, your Schufa is created automatically. The score is calculated based on whether you have paid your bills on time and in full. In most of the cases, your bills are automatically paid every month by direct debit in Germany. If you change bank accounts often or buy more credit cards, this affects your Schufa score as well. In the next article, you can read in detail about how to get your schufa score for free.

Which factors affect your score?

– Arrest warrants

– Unpaid invoices

– Overdrawn accounts

– Late repayments for loan

– Many inquiries for credit (Check here to know how to check for credit and not affect your Schufa score)

You can improve your score by

– Always pay your bills and installments on time

– Canceling unused checking accounts and credit cards
– Verifying the correctness of every entry in your report and delete the incorrect entries

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