Schufa’s proposal to use account data to specifically support people in financial difficulty with interest-free loans has drawn criticism from the parties. “I am skeptical that borrowing through the proposed loan will provide the necessary support and security in the current crisis,” said Martin Rosemann, social policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, on Thursday.
Rosemann referred to measures that the federal government has already enacted, such as gas and electricity price brakes or housing allowances, which will be significantly expanded in the coming year. “It’s important that complaints are known and procedures are in place for support to arrive.”
Andreas Audretsch, deputy chairman of the Greens in the Bundestag, said that cooperation with the credit agency is not necessary to support people. “Forcing people in difficult situations to give Schufa access to their accounts is an absurd idea. People need security right now, not the replication of a private rating platform,” said Audretsch.
Schufa head Tanja Birkholz had suggested in an interview with SZ that the credit agency, together with the financial start-up Bonify, offer a hardship certificate with which people in payment difficulties could prove “unbureaucratically and digital” that it needs help from the government. They could then receive a government loan, comparable to the Bafög student loan. To do this, the Schufa subsidiary would have to take a one-time look at their respective bank accounts to see how energy costs would have developed against net income and other variables.
“But we have to get to the root of the pricing problem. Loans will not solve the problem.”
The federal government’s aid packages have repeatedly been criticized for also benefiting people who don’t need the money and because the procedure is too long and complex.
However, the Union also considers it wrong to distribute the money with the help of the Schufa. He shares the Schufa head’s assessment that many people have only limited reserves. “But we have to get to the root of the price problem. Loans don’t solve the problem,” said Stephan Stracke, the Union faction’s social policy spokesman in the Bundestag.
First and foremost, the federal government is expected to receive targeted aid and relief along the way. Interest-free loans should only be a last resort. “I’m skeptical that Schufa and its subsidiaries would be the right institution for the job,” Stracke said. Schufa should continue to give objective ratings on creditworthiness. People’s misery should not “become a business model”.
