Janis Ehling, federal chairman of the Left Party, sharply criticized the reform of the Schufa credit score and called for the credit bureau’s abolition. “Schufa is not reformable; it must be abolished” he told the news portal Watson.
Ehling said it is unacceptable that a private company can “collect intimate information about millions of citizens and store it indefinitely”. He added that it remains unclear what is done with that data, and that the new score discriminates against certain groups. The exact percentage weighting of the various factors remains opaque.
He urged the federal government to dissolve Schufa as a joint‑stock company and replace it with a neutral, transparent state agency. The new body should function similarly to a debt counseling service, helping people find a way out of debt.
To explain his stance, Ehling cited the large number of over‑indebted people in Germany. “Almost six million people are over‑indebted, partly because life is becoming unpayable. With rent, food and energy becoming so expensive, many have to take out a loan even for the simplest purchases” he said.
