How do I actually request a SCHUFA self-disclosure?
This road will not be an easy one....
Many people do not know that they are entitled to a free SCHUFA self-disclosure at regular (reasonable) intervals. But the way to get it is well hidden. Here is the exact procedure that SCHUFA wants us to follow:
Step 1: You go to the SCHUFA website, scroll all the way down to the footer menu and click on "Private Clients". This opens the page that tries to sell you one of SCHUFA's fee-based products. Please do not get distracted here, what we are looking for can be found at the very bottom again in the gray footer as "Data copy according to Art. 15 DS-GVO".
Step 2: A so-called landing page opens. You will also initially find some SCHUFA products that are subject to a charge. Please do not get distracted again, not even by the pop-up that tries to sell you the online subscription. We click the pop-up away and scroll all the way down again to the point "Data copy according to Art. 15 DS-GVO" and click on "More info and order".
Step 3: Again, a landing page appears offering the paid products. And here it is again: the pop-up that wants to sell us a subscription. Again, we simply click it away. We see a juxtaposition: on the left, the fee-based product offered by SCHUFA, which SCHUFA tries to make palatable to us with 10 green checkmarks. To the right, then, what we are looking for: the free data disclosure, which is just about sufficient for our purpose. We see a green checkmark next to "Overview of your data" - perfect, that's all we want! We ignore the nine red warning signs suggesting that the free SCHUFA self-disclosure is a pretty stupid idea, because we know we don't need anything else. We boldly click "Order now" at the bottom.
Step 4: a form opens that is deliberately (?) much more complicated than necessary. In order for SCHUFA to find you in the database, only your name, your address and your date of birth are relevant. But so that it is not too easy for us, the SCHUFA asks here for previous addresses and secondary residence. Furthermore, 3 dropdowns suggesting that we should upload our identity card, passport and certificate of registration here. We know that these documents are only required if there is considerable doubt as to whether the person making the request is actually ordering the data for themselves. We don't do all that for now, just enter name, address and date of birth, try to read the security code and type it into the field. Then we click on "Next".
Step 5: We see an overview of the data we entered and finally submit the form. It's done. In about 2 weeks we will have the required documents in the mail.
Why is the way to the SCHUFA self-disclosure so complicated?
Simple answer: it's about money. Not just a little money, but a lot of money. According to our estimates, around 10,000 people apply for a SCHUFA self-disclosure every day. And now two different interests collide:
Our right according to Art. 15 DS-GVO to our data, and free of charge - on the one hand. SCHUFA likes that about as much as a hole in the knee, because: it's much more fun to sell the personal data collected about us not only to the affiliated banks and companies, but also to ourselves. That's the other side. And that's exactly why the road to our free data copy is rocky and difficult.
The alternative: simply apply informally yourself!
Yes, even if SCHUFA doesn't like it - it is legally obliged to process every request for data information according to Art. 15 DS-GVO. How do you do that? Send a short e-mail to SCHUFA requesting information. Identity card or signature is not necessary. If there are any doubts, e.g. because two people with the same name live in your house, SCHUFA will get back to you and may ask for the ID card. However, this is the exception and completely okay.
SCHUFA makes things unnecessarily difficult for us!
Let's imagine that the German language is not our native language or we don't know our rights very well, but we urgently need a SCHUFA self-disclosure. We google and of course fail on the way described above. At one of the steps, we get worn down and decide to use the SCHUFA's paid service.
selbstauskunft.de makes it easy!
Many people who simply do not want to spend hours on the subject of SCHUFA self-disclosure use our service. We create the appropriate cover letter and automatically send it directly to SCHUFA. The documents will then arrive by mail a few days later - directly from SCHUFA. So it's also easy!
