SCHUFA is the abbreviation for "Schutzgemeinschaft für allgemeine Kreditsicherung".

The idea of founding SCHUFA

The idea of founding SCHUFA in 1927 originally came from an employee of the Berlin electricity company: as their electricity meter readers had a good overview of who paid their electricity bills regularly and punctually and who did not, he had the idea of selling electrical appliances such as refrigerators to "good payers" by installment. They knew that they would meet their payment obligations. This meant that significantly more people were able to use modern electrical appliances.

The principle of facilitating credit transactions on the basis of existing payment histories also aroused the interest of other companies. As a result, the "Schutzgemeinschaft für allgemeine Kreditsicherung" - SCHUFA for short - was founded, where companies can report and request information on their customers' payment history.

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