Germany's top court sends Schufa scoring cases back for further review

Four individuals filed lawsuits against the credit bureau Schufa, claiming its scoring method lacked transparency and that the information supplied in data copies was inadequate. The Dresden Oberlandesgericht had previously mandated Schufa to reveal the weighting of score factors, but the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) dismissed those rulings, stating they did not address the core issue. The BGH ordered a new hearing, requiring the Dresden court to determine if the Schufa score was a decisive factor in any third-party contract decisions affecting the plaintiffs, such as loan approvals.

The court noted that plaintiffs need only show that a score was transmitted to a company and that an adverse decision followed, creating a presumption of relevance. The cases concern Schufa's legacy scoring system, which the agency is gradually phasing out in favor of a more understandable model. A forthcoming amendment to data-protection law aims to make credit scoring more transparent overall.