SCHUFA Must Explain Your Score From November 20: How to Ask

From November 20, 2026, credit agencies such as SCHUFA must explain your credit score to you on request. They have to tell you which data and criteria they used, which factors weighed most, what your score means, and which companies received it.

The rule is a new section of the Federal Data Protection Act (§ 37a BDSG). It is part of the consumer credit law published in the Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt) in May 2026, the same law that puts Buy Now Pay Later under consumer credit rules from that date.

Here is what changes:

• A right to an explanation of your score in clear, simple language, on request.
• Banned data: your age, gender, name, address data, social media data, and the money flowing in and out of your bank account may no longer be used to calculate a score.
• No scores for minors.
• Unpaid bills: the existing rules on which debts may count, for example after two written reminders, move unchanged into the new section.
• A right to challenge a decision based on your score and to have a human decide.

NOTE: The new rules apply from November 20, 2026. Until then, you can already request your free data copy from SCHUFA, but the detailed score explanation is only required by law from that date. SCHUFA already includes the scores it sent to companies in the past 12 months in the free data copy, beyond what the law currently requires.

What Must SCHUFA Tell You From November 20?

Any company that calculates a credit score about you must give you the following information on request (§ 37a(4) BDSG):

• the personal data and criteria used to calculate your score,
• how the categories and individual criteria are weighted against each other, at least those that influence your score the most,
• what your specific score actually means (its significance), and
• the scores calculated about you and who received them.

The agency must keep the information needed for this for one year. It must answer within the time limit of the EU data protection rules (Art. 12(3) GDPR). That is generally one month, which can be extended by two further months for complex or numerous requests.

This goes beyond the free data copy (Datenkopie) you can already request under Art. 15 GDPR. The data copy shows what is stored about you. The new right also covers how your score was built.

What Has SCHUFA Announced?

SCHUFA said in September 2026 that it will adjust its data copy for the new law. It plans to show the scores calculated in the past 12 months and the most important criteria behind them (SCHUFA press release).

According to SCHUFA, the legal right only applies when a score was decisive for a company’s decision. The law text itself does not mention this condition. SCHUFA says it will provide the information anyway, regardless of how much the score influenced the decision.

SCHUFA switched to a new score on March 17, 2026. It runs from 100 to 999 points and uses 12 published criteria. Companies are switching over gradually until the end of 2028, so a bank, phone company or online shop may still receive one of SCHUFA’s older industry scores. Read our guide to how the new SCHUFA score is calculated.

Which Data Can No Longer Be Used for Your Score?

From November 20, a score may only be created or used if it does not rely on (§ 37a(2) BDSG):

Scores about minors are not allowed at all. The data used must also be relevant for the prediction according to a scientifically recognized statistical method.

NOTE: Under the old rule, a score could not be based only on address data. The new law bans address data from the calculation entirely. SCHUFA’s current score lists the age of your current address as one of its 12 criteria. How SCHUFA applies the new ban to this criterion has not been officially explained yet.

Which Unpaid Bills Can Hurt Your Score?

These rules are not new. They move unchanged from the old § 31(2) BDSG to § 37a(3) BDSG. A credit agency may only include unpaid debts that:

• a court has confirmed, or for which an enforceable title exists,
• you have expressly acknowledged,
• were confirmed in insolvency proceedings and not disputed by you,
• you did not dispute, if you received at least two written reminders after the due date, the first at least four weeks earlier, and you were told about possible reporting to a credit agency beforehand, but no earlier than with the first reminder, or
• stem from a contract that can be terminated without notice because of payment arrears, if you were told beforehand about possible reporting.

WARNING: If you think a bill is wrong, dispute it in writing and keep proof. A debt you have disputed generally cannot count under the reminder rule. Ignoring reminders can still damage your score.

Can You Challenge a Decision Based on Your Score?

Yes. If a company makes a decision about you based on a score, for example a bank, a phone provider, or an online shop, you have the right to (§ 37a(5) BDSG):

• contest the decision,
• explain your own point of view, and
• have a human being make the decision.

Address this to the company that made the decision, not to SCHUFA. If the data stored about you is wrong, ask SCHUFA directly to correct or delete it (Art. 16 and 17 GDPR), as the Hessian data protection authority points out.

Lenders have new duties too (§ 30(6)–(7) BDSG). If a lender uses an automated credit check for a general consumer loan (Allgemein-Verbraucherdarlehen, not a mortgage), you can ask for a person to step in: you get a clear explanation of the check, can state your view, and can have the check and the decision reviewed. If a lender turns down any consumer loan because of a credit agency’s information, it must tell you straight away and share that information, which database it checked, and which data categories it used. These rules also apply to other credit such as installment purchases (§ 506 BGB).

Why Does This Matter for Expats?

New arrivals often have a short SCHUFA history, yet landlords, phone companies, and banks still check it. One wrong entry can cost you an apartment or a contract.

• A clear explanation helps you see whether a low score comes from a real payment problem or from missing history.
• You can spot errors early, such as a misspelled name or an old debt that should have been deleted.
• You can check which companies received a score about you in the past year.

If you are still building your history, start with our guide What is a SCHUFA score and how to improve it, or see how to open a bank account without SCHUFA.

How Do You Ask SCHUFA to Explain Your Score?

Getting your SCHUFA score explanation takes a few minutes:

• Request your free data copy on schufa.de or in the SCHUFA app.
• From November 20, ask specifically for the score explanation under § 37a(4) BDSG: data and criteria used, their weighting, what your score means, and the recipients.
• Keep a copy of your request and note the date. SCHUFA generally has one month to answer.
• Check every entry, especially your name spelling, previous addresses, and closed accounts.
• Ask for corrections in writing if something is wrong, and attach proof.

You can phrase your request like this: “Please provide the information under § 37a(4) BDSG on the scores calculated about me in the past 12 months, including the data and criteria used, their weighting, the significance of each score, and its recipients.”

If SCHUFA does not answer or refuses to correct an error, you can complain to the data protection authority. For SCHUFA, based in Wiesbaden, this is the Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection (HBDI), or the authority in your own state. For a dispute with a lender or landlord, an English-speaking lawyer can help.

How to improve your SCHUFA score ->

What else changes on November 20 ->