SCHUFA – The hammer judgment from the ECJ!
The ruling states that Schufa may no longer carry out credit assessments by analyzing data and assigning a credit score with the help of AI systems. For you as a consumer, this approach has significant consequences for the assessment of your creditworthiness.
The background
Back in March of this year, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice expressed concerns regarding the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Schufa. He made it clear: Schufa has a massive problem with the General Data Protection Regulation. Why? Because Schufa does not have its scores created by humans, but by AI-controlled software systems. That is their core business and their trade secret. The Advocate General criticized this back in March and now the judges in Luxembourg have proven him right.
The General Data Protection Regulation allows data processing and analysis, but the automated scoring system is now obsolete. It violates the GDPR because it runs without human intervention. And this system makes far-reaching decisions about our lives – whether we can get a loan, finance our home or whether we can afford a cell phone or a car. Such an important decision should not be made by machines. This is why the European Court of Justice ruled on December 7, 2023 under case numbers C-634/21, C-26/22 and C-64/22: Schufa is no longer allowed to do this.
What does that mean for you?
You can refer to this judgment and have your Schufa entry checked and deleted. However, Schufa will probably not clean up its databases of its own accord. So you have to take action yourself to assert your rights against Schufa.
Your rights vis-à-vis SCHUFA
- Right to injunctive relief: You have the right to demand that Schufa no longer stores and collects your data and no longer uses the scoring procedure.
- Right to information: You have the right to request information from Schufa about what data it has stored about you and with whom it has shared this data.
How to assert your rights
To enforce your rights with Schufa, use our new PepperPapers legal document that we have created for you based on the new ruling.
You can find it right here: Schufa must delete your data
Simply fill in online, download and send!
Conclusion
The ruling of the European Court of Justice marks an important step towards data protection and consumer rights. You should make use of your rights and ensure that your Schufa entries comply with the new legal requirements. By taking the right steps, you can ensure that your financial future is no longer determined by automated scoring systems.
