How does your credit score work in Germany?

The creditworthiness of everyone registered in Germany is recorded and stored by different companies, for example by Schufa Holding AG. Schufa is Germany's largest credit agency. The abbreviation Schufa stands for "Schutzgemeinschaft für allgemeine Kreditsicherung".
It is a measure of how reliably you have met financial obligations such as utility bills and credit card payments to date and how likely you are to continue to meet them dutifully.

Your Schufa score (between 0 and 100) will lose points if you have not made payments of bills in full or on time. Also, you should not change your bank too often and open too many accounts, this could negatively affect the score. Otherwise, you should not have any problems with the score.

Your Schufa score will be checked e.g. if you apply for a loan, want to rent or buy real estate and occasionally internet- and telephone providers ask for it too.

If you want to konw your exact credit score, you can apply for it on the Schufa Website (free for one time per year). There is also the possibility to register in person at one of the participating Postbank and Volksbank locations (in this case, a fee will be charged).