𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚋𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚔𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚝 𝚟𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚞𝚜𝚔𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚒𝚎𝚗 𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗

Schufa knows everyone, but there are several other providers that collect data to evaluate you. Even if you are not interested in credit, a query is useful.

tl;dr get a lot of reading material and / or paper for the fireplace for free

Once a year, a free information can be obtained. In principle, I would at least query the Schufa annually. But also other credit bureaus should be queried, because so outdated data or other problems can be detected early. Other problems could be confusion or data misuse where people try to conclude contracts with your data. Such misuse could be detected if your master data is correct and you see requests from companies that you cannot explain. Errors or misuse are the exception, but it still doesn't hurt to check.

𝐖𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐢 𝐰𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧?

Now how do you know who to make requests to. Ideally, when you signed your contract, you read which credit bureaus your contractors work with. Otherwise, you can of course simply make a sweep and inquire at the most common ones. Here is a list of them: [1]

𝐖𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞?

The simplest way is via selbstauskunft.net. Here you can create 3 requests for free after registration and have them sent. In addition, there is the possibility to receive generated pdfs for the providers / authorities stored there, which you can then send yourself.

A generator without registration can be found under [2]. Here you select the provider, add your data and you can generate a pdf.

Alternatively, you can of course also take a sample letter, manually adjust and send by fax / mail. A sample letter can be found under [3].

𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐤𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭 ?

You should have some patience. 2 - 8 weeks are the usual response times. If nothing has arrived after a longer time, you can send a reminder. I personally have never had this case.

If you were diligent in sending the requests, you will get a lot of reading material in the following weeks. Usually, the answer of Schufa should contain the most information about you and other providers it is less, little or often it is also informed that there is no data about you.

You should check the answers and if there are discrepancies it is advisable to clarify these with the provider. Here you can of course go the written way. In the case of old contracts that were still registered, I took the telephone route.

[1] https://www.datenanfragen.de/categories/credit-agency/

[2] https://www.datenanfragen.de/generator/

[3] https://www.datenanfragen.de/blog/musterbrief-dsgvo-anfrage-auskunft/