For consumers, the SCHUFA basic score was previously the best-known score. The basic score is an orientation value that was calculated from nine SCHUFA industry scores and thus provided a cross-industry assessment of creditworthiness.

However, SCHUFA has never passed it on to corporate customers. It has therefore never played a role in a decision-making process.The new SCHUFA score is different: for the first time, people see the same score as companies and banks. This means that consumers can communicate with banks and companies on an equal footing. The new score is based on points so that it is easy to add up. The points cannot be compared with the percentage values of the basic score, which is why 98.5 percent does not equal 985 points.