German mobile phone providers could face a significant class action lawsuit. The reason is the possible illegal transfer of contract data to Schufa. Two law firms now want to sue for damages on behalf of those affected.
Mobile phone providers are said to have passed on their customers’ contract data for many years. This was the result of an evaluation by two consumer law firms, WBS.Legal and Legalbild. Accordingly, they requested around 15,000 Schufa statements for their clients and found that mobile phone providers had passed on data from over 3,500 data sets – they could now be threatened with a major class action lawsuit.
A few months ago, the Munich I Regional Court ruled that the passing on of positive data to Schufa was unlawful. At that time, a customer of Telefónica (O2), with the support of the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer center, sued and was right. The consent of the customer is required for this to be passed on. It should be mentioned, however, that the judgment is not yet legally binding.
Those affected are entitled to 5,000 euros each if the verdict is successful
A statement from the law firms states: “We are currently assuming that those affected are entitled to compensation of up to 5,000 euros. These are compensation payments that many courts have awarded in the past for illegal Schufa entries.”
The problem is that Schufa knows that you have concluded a contract with a provider at a certain point in time, even though Schufa doesn’t need to know that. The law firm also mentions that the conclusion of several contracts could also be interpreted negatively by Schufa.
In addition to the 5,000 euros in compensation, customers would also have another claim. The information transmitted to Schufa about a concluded mobile phone contract would have to be deleted if the lawsuit is successful.
Passing on despite clear regulations
As already mentioned, positive data from mobile phone customers was passed on. However, there are clear rules here too. In 2018, as part of the Data Protection Conference (DSK), it was decided that “for the transmission and processing of so-called positive data, effective consent from the person concerned is regularly required, taking into account the high requirements of voluntariness,” which was confirmed again at the DSK 2021 .
Positive data is information that arises when a contract is concluded. These are not negative entries, arrears, etc. In the positive data you can see when and with whom a contract was concluded.
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TECHBOOK asked WBS.Legal
TECHBOOK reached out to WBS.Legal for comment and asked some questions about the possible class action lawsuit. Chistian Solmecke is a lawyer at WBS.Legal and specializes primarily in IT and media law. He says: “We firmly believe that the lawsuit will be successful. […] We are basing our lawsuits here on existing judgments and statements.” In the latter case, he refers to the judgment of the Munich I Regional Court and the decision of the Data Protection Conference.
However, he could not say whether mobile phone providers are currently still passing on data. It is important that further information is requested and checked, says Solmecke. According to the lawyer, around 32,000 inquiries have been received so far.
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It’s been an issue for a long time
As early as 2021, the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and NDR found out that almost all mobile phone providers in Germany had passed on contract data to Schufa without the customers’ consent.
If you would like to know whether you are affected, you can also contact the law firms. You can do this free of charge Form available. After filling out the form, the law firms will check whether your contract data has also been passed on.
It is not yet clear whether there will ultimately be a class action lawsuit against mobile phone providers. For this you would have to evaluate further Schufa information.