Germany/Housing/Schufa

Schufa is the biggest German credit score system. Basically, it collects data about how well you paid your bills until know. From that, they estimate how well you will pay your bills in the future.

Clearly, landlords want such information. This is why nearly always when you rent an apartment directly from a landlord, you need to show a Schufa-Auskunft (Schufa report).

Where to get a Schufa report?

You can get a report immediately at a branch of Postbank or Volksbank – but this costs 29.95 EUR.

Or you can get it within 3 weeks by mail.

Paid

Find a branch of

• Postbank or
• Volksbank

walk in with your

• ID or passport
• and a Meldebescheinigung (certificate of registration)

and get the report immediately.

For free

You can obtain the report for free by a GDPR request.

• Go on MeineSchufa.de: Datenkopie (nach Art. 15 DS-GVO)
• There's a table with two columns. Down on the 'right column (titled Datenkopie), click Jetzt bestellen

A page with a form opens, fill it out. Here's a dictionary:

• Vornamen: First names
• Nachname: Last names
• Geburtsdatum: Date of birth
• E-Mail-Adresse: e-mail address
• Geburtsname: birth name (maiden name)
• Geburtsort: place of birth
• Frühere Namen: previous names

Upload a copy of

• your Personalausweis (ID card) or passport
• your registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung)

More guides

• How to get a free Schufa by All About Berlin
• Free Schufa report online & paperless by BerlinCheap.com