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In brief
On Wednesday, 21 October 2026 the BGH set aside four OLG Dresden rulings against Schufa and sent the four cases back for a new hearing and decision.
A plaintiff who shows Schufa passed a score to a company and an unfavourable decision followed soon after, such as a refused loan, benefits from a presumption that the score was decisive.
Schufa has used a new score since 17 March 2026, with scores between 100 and 999 across twelve criteria, and plans to fully abolish the old score by the end of 2028.
- 17 MarSchufa introduces its new score, with a range of 100 to 999
- 21 OctFederal Court of Justice sets aside four OLG Dresden rulings
- 20 NovAmended Federal Data Protection Act is due to take effect
- End of 2028Schufa plans to have fully abolished the old score
What the court decided
On Wednesday, 21 October 2026, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe set aside four rulings of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Dresden that had gone against Schufa. The cases now return to the Dresden court, which must decide again whether the four plaintiffs were significantly affected by the Schufa score. The plaintiffs are private individuals who argued that the scoring process is intransparent and that the information Schufa gave them was insufficient.
The dispute over disclosure
Under the so-called Datenkopie procedure, Schufa had already provided the plaintiffs with their stored data and the score values it had transmitted over the previous twelve months. The Dresden court found this inadequate and ordered Schufa a year earlier to disclose more, including how the score criteria are weighted. The BGH's first civil senate held that the Dresden court's findings did not support that order.
When a score counts as decisive
The BGH said the Dresden court should have examined whether the score is decisive for a third party entering into or ending a contract with the plaintiff. Under the BGH's approach, a plaintiff who shows that Schufa transmitted a score value to a company, and that an unfavourable decision followed in close time, such as a refused loan, benefits from a presumption that the score mattered. The court also stated the burden on this point.
“In principle, the plaintiffs must present and prove this, although they are entitled to considerable relief in presenting and proving it.”
The score and the reform
The disputed cases concern Schufa's old scoring procedure. Since 17 March 2026 Schufa has used a new score that consumers should be able to follow more easily, and it plans to abolish the old system completely by the end of 2028. Under the new method, points are awarded across twelve criteria, producing a score between 100 and 999, with 779 points and above in the top class "hervorragend". Schufa records contract and payment data, such as bank and credit card contracts and payment defaults, but holds no information about income.
What comes next
The Dresden court will retry the four cases on the basis of the BGH's findings. Separately, an amendment to the Federal Data Protection Act takes effect on 20 November, which is intended to make consumer credit scoring more transparent and understandable.