[mschuster91]

> Landlords will more often than not demand a document from the Schufa (supplied at your own expense) to consider you eligible for renting a flat or a house.

Not just landlords, employers do Schufa checks too, same for phone/mobile contracts, cable TV, and for what its worth even power/gas companies. The latter is really bad because it locks poor people into the highly expensive "Grundversorgung" tarriff (regulated, the local utility MUST offer it) by the local utility, thus taking away even more of their money.