Are you searching for apartment for rent and suddenly the landlord is asking you for SCHUFA? But you have literally no idea how to do it or even what it is? Don’t worry! I can help you here! So, let’s find out what SCHUFA is!

SCHUFA is abbreviation for “Schutzgemeinschaft für allgemeine Kreditsicherung” or to put it in English “General Credit Protection Agency”. The company basically holds credit scores for more than 67 million people as well as 5 million companies. “But what do I have to do with some General Credit Protection Agency” you might ask. Well, the thing is, that in Germany some landlords want to know if they can trust you and if you will be able to pay the rent on time or if you had some financial issues before. In order to do that, they will ask you for either proof of income or SCHUFA. Or both in some cases. And here is exactly when it comes to SCHUFA! They will provide you with your credit score report, which you will be able to give to your landlord. The report price is 29,95 Euros.

So how do I get this mysterious SCHUFA? It is very easy! Just follow few steps below:

1. Visit the website of SCHUFA – https://www.schufa.de/en/
2. Go to the Information for private customers section – Press SCHUFA-BonitätsAuskunft (SCHUFA-Credit Report). It will redirect you to the page where you can get your credit report;
3. Scroll down to the bottom of page and there you will see “Jetzt bestellen” button. Press it and insert your personal data

In the section of personal data you will be asked to provide following info:

• Anrede – Salutation or Title
• Name – Surname
• Vorname (-n) – First name (-s)
• Geburtsdatum – Date of Birth
• Geburtsname – Name at Birth
• Geburtsort – Place of Birth
• Frühere Namen – Previous Names (e.g. Maiden Name)

Then just insert “Sicherheitscode” (“Security Code”) and press “Weiter” (“Next”). After you will need to provide payment option, which include direct debit, credit card (Visa or MasterCard) and PayPal. The processing of your request take very less. You will be able to directly download your report in form of PDF after payment processing. Receiving it per post takes a bit longer ranging from 1 to 3 days.

There are also other options of doing SCHUFA Auskunft. For example via websites for Accommodation search like WG-Gesucht, ImmobilienScout24 or ImmoWelt. I hope you found this article helpful. If you are interested in websites for apartment search, visit our other article Accommodation Search in Germany.