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Wiesbaden (dpa) - An offer from Schufa to assess the solvency of consumers in the future based on their account statements is causing a stir.
In cooperation with the mobile phone company Telefónica / O2, the credit agency tested whether consumers are willing to have the account data relevant for the assessment stored by Schufa for twelve months.
"There is currently no data flowing," said Schufa board member Ole Schröder on Friday the German press agency.
Consumer advocates and politicians criticized the project, which the group declared to be over on Friday evening.
"Unfortunately, the results of this test did not meet our expectations," said Telefónica / O2 to the dpa.
"That is why Telefónica / O2 decided today to end the test and no longer use the Schufa" CheckNow "procedure."
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During the test, potential new customers who would normally not get a mobile phone contract due to their poor rating could have the Schufa look at their account.
"Because at Telefónica there are a few potential customers whose contract request had to be rejected due to missing or inadequate or older negative credit information, although their current financial situation was completely unproblematic," says the group.
Around 100 people took part in the pilot project.
For this they had to give the Schufa an express order.
The group emphasized: "The Schufa offers the process to consumers under their own responsibility under data protection law."
The account information used was not saved.
Klaus Müller, board member of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, accused Schufa of “account snooping”.
"Such a deep data analysis of the account movements for scoring purposes allows conclusions to be drawn about the personality, economic status and even political orientations of the customers and ultimately leads to the completely screened consumer."
Check legal steps in the event that the credit agency implements these plans.
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Schufa board member Schröder emphasized: "Sensitive data such as the payment of a doctor's bill are automatically filtered out and must not be processed."
According to the company, the stored account data is limited to data relevant to creditworthiness assessment and fraud prevention.
With the voluntary storage of data, the consumer can avoid further future account access by third parties and still use his data advantageously for him in a Schufa credit rating.
The account analysis takes place only once at the Schufa.
"The aim is that consumers can benefit from current, positive account information for future transactions and credit checks," said Schröder.
"This means that the data is more up-to-date, and we also meet the demands of consumer advocates."
For consumers who have not given an order to look into the account, the classic credit check remains, said Schröder.
"If the evaluation is negative according to the account data, the consumer can revoke his consent."
The classic credit check then remains.
"From our point of view, it is better for consumers that Schufa collects the data in trust as a neutral authority than companies that do business with it directly."
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Since the introduction of the Second EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2), it has been possible for third-party providers such as financial start-ups to gain insight into accounts.
The prerequisite is that the customer agrees to this.
Schufa bought the Munich account information service Finapi GmbH at the end of December 2018.
According to Schröder, the project is now a common procedure in Europe, "which other credit agencies have also been using for some time".
The Schufa is constantly in close coordination with the data protection authorities.
"You were informed before the test, the data protection officers do not have to agree."
A spokesman for the federal justice ministry said this new business model raises legal questions.
Therefore, the ministry, which has only now found out, will "look closely" at it.
After all, this is about "particularly sensitive data" and consumers must always be able to understand what they are giving their consent for.
The Green politicians Tabea Rößner and Konstantin von Notz criticized that Schufa already had access to extensive information about consumers, "who still cannot understand how and in what way this data is weighted for the personal score".
The deputy FDP parliamentary group chairman Stephan Thomae said it was alarming that the Schufa wanted to screen bank statements of consumers.
"Citizens should pay with their data for lower prices and more opportunities in right-hand traffic."
If, in the end, citizens could only conclude a mobile phone or rental contract with the consent to this data processing by Schufa, they would in fact no longer have a free choice.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201127-99-491485 / 2
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