SCHUFA has developed a new score made up of twelve criteria. One of them is called payment defaults. You can find out how this criterion will affect your creditworthiness in future here.

• Subject of the criterion: Payment disruptions
• Points in the score: 100 to 264 points
• Allocation of the minimum number of points: Payment disruption has been resolved
• Maximum points awarded: No payment disruption present

An important factor influencing the SCHUFA score is previous payment behavior, i.e. how payment obligations such as bills or loans have been handled. If payment obligations are not paid or repaid in accordance with the contract, SCHUFA speaks of payment defaults. These can be transmitted to SCHUFA by companies if, among other things, an amount that has fallen due is not disputed and has not been paid even after at least two written reminders. In addition, persons must have been informed of an impending transfer to SCHUFA at the earliest at the time of the first reminder and the first reminder must have been sent at least four weeks ago at the time of the report to SCHUFA.

SCHUFA checks whether

• no payment disruptions,
• settled payment defaults - i.e. claims that have been settled in the meantime - or
• outstanding payment defaults - which have not yet been paid -

are available.

In the case of outstanding payment problems, SCHUFA does not calculate a score, but merely transmits the information that one or more payment problems currently exist to the requesting companies.

A distinction can be made between two types of information on payment defaults: those reported to SCHUFA by companies and those from public directories, such as the debtor register or insolvency announcements.

As soon as the claim has been paid, it is stored in the SCHUFA database for three years as a "settled payment default". SCHUFA stores information from public directories in mirror image. Deletion from the relevant directory also results in deletion from SCHUFA.

If you are involved in ongoing insolvency proceedings , some of your assets and income will be used to pay off your debts. An entry in the debtor register is publicly visible and shows that you have not met your payment obligations. In these cases, it can be helpful to make use of free and recognized debt advice.

SCHUFA transmits a score for settled payment defaults. However, they have a negative effect on the score for up to three years after settlement. The influence decreases over time.

It also has a negative effect if a debt collection company has obtained a credit report from SCHUFA after creating the registration requirements for a payment default. This is an indication that people have not paid despite multiple reminders. As a result, SCHUFA learns at an early stage that an outstanding payment default could occur in the near future. Debt collection inquiries therefore have a negative effect on the score for 12 months to the day and are then deleted.

If there is no payment disruption, people receive 264 points. 100 points are awarded if a payment disruption has been resolved. If the payment disruption was resolved one year ago, 135 points are awarded, and from two years ago 152 points. No score is calculated for outstanding payment defaults and therefore no points are awarded.

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