Gelsenkirchen and Co.: Schufa-ärger threatened financial situation of the citizens!

Gelsenkirchen and Co.: Schufa-ärger threatened financial situation of the citizens!

The financial situation in Germany remains a much discussed topic, and the regional differences could not be clearer. According to the current data from the Schufa credit, cities such as Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and Bremerhaven have the highest quota of negative Schufa entries. 19.3% of adults in Gelsenkirchen and 19.1% in Duisburg have difficulties with their creditworthiness, which affects the quality of life of the people on site. How rnd.de reports, these cities are also among the regions with the highest unemployment rates in Germany.

In contrast, Bavaria shows a lower rate of negative entries, where people are most reliable. Land districts such as Eichstätt and Erlangen-Höchstadt even have 3.9% and 4.1% with negative Schufa entries-and that with an unemployment rate below 4%. So what could be the reason for these strong differences?

Schufa score and creditworthiness

Schufa has a total of 68 million people in view, with more than 90% of the data being positive information. The company's business model is based on collecting information about the solvency of consumers: collecting inside and passing it on to partner companies. But how does that work exactly? Consumers can simulate their own score themselves and see how different living conditions, such as the number of loan inquiries or the age of their bank accounts, influence their creditworthiness. Tagesschau.de explains that the new Schufa score, which is to be available from the fourth quarter of 2025, is based on 12 criteria from over 250 possible criteria.

This transparency is urgently needed, because the effects of a low Schufa scores are clear: difficulties in borrowing, problems with mobile phone contracts and even the search for a new rental property can quickly become an hurdle. The details that influence these scores range from payment history to the age of the oldest credit card up to the number of inquiries in the past 12 months. Consumers should be aware of this, because a low score number indicates a high probability that invoices will not be paid, and this can have an impact on future contractual terms for banks and service providers.

The role of consumer protection

The consumer advice centers emphasize that the rights of consumers have achieved some gains by judgments by the European Court of Justice in recent years. Consumer center.de informs that information is bound to certain rules when it comes to how they collect and pass on data. This includes that customers have to be informed in good time before their data is passed on to Schufa and that consumers have the right to view their data once a year and to request changes if necessary.

Schufa plans to make its credit rating more transparent from the first quarter of 2026 so that consumers receive more control over their data, but it remains to be seen how quickly and effectively these changes are actually implemented. The pressure from consumer advocates can certainly not be overlooked, because it is about the financial future of thousands of people in Germany, which could be influenced, for example, by switching to a new rating system.