A case from Germany is currently causing a stir. Depending on the outcome in court, a lot could change in terms of the Schufa score.
According to a recent report, the so-called Schufa score violates existing EU law. This is relevant in a case that is currently still being negotiated. The verdict could also have far-reaching consequences.
Schufa score is determined automatically
When it comes to Schufa, opinions often differ. The value determined by the Schufa is given as a number between 1 and 100. The aim is to accurately quantify a person’s creditworthiness. That is why landlords, for example, usually ask for the Schufa score, just like banks do before granting a loan. None of this is a problem if you have a good value of 95 percent or more. Incidentally, the percentages indicate how high the probability is that the person will comply with a payment request. If you have a lower score, however, you have to reckon with considerable disadvantages.
Nobody knows exactly how the Schufa score is calculated – and that is probably at least partly a problem. According to a judgment of the Federal Court of Justice in 2014, secrecy in and of itself is legal; Key word: trade secret. For the score, Schufa refers to data from public registers, but also from contractual partners. Based on this data, the value is then automatically determined and that is the sticking point to which a current report refers.
Concrete case from Hesse
The Document comes from Priit Pikamäe, Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). According to Pikamäe, the automated creation of the Schufa score contradicts the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The right of every person not to be subject to a decision that was made on the basis of purely automated data processing is enshrined there.
The report is about a specific case from Hesse. There, an applicant was apparently denied a loan because of the Schufa score. The person concerned then requested both personal inspection and the deletion of the relevant data. However, Schufa only provided the general score and the methods on which the calculation was based. In the report it says explicitly: “You [die Schufa; Anm. d. Red.] did not give him any information about what specific information was included in this calculation and what importance was attached to it in this context and justified this by saying that the calculation method was subject to commercial secrecy.”
According to the Advocate General, this is not compatible with the GDPR. The person concerned is exposed to a considerable restriction through the automated process – more precisely: the automated creation of a probability value.
Effects on the Schufa score
In general, one can argue about how proportionate the creation score is. As already mentioned, if you have an unfavorable value, you may have problems renting a new apartment or even with online shopping. A frequent criticism is that those affected are often not even aware that there is a “negative” Schufa score.
The current case at the ECJ could now have fundamental consequences. If the person concerned from Hesse is right, then all decisions made on the basis of an automatically generated Schufa score would be contestable. However, the verdict will probably only come in a few months. It remains to be seen whether the court will follow the arguments of the Advocate General.