[hocuspocus]

Not defending the Schufa, I strongly believe that any kind of aggregated credit history should never be in the hands of private companies.

But when I moved to Germany, I was under the impression that potential landlords just want to make sure you don't have negative entries, and didn't care much for the actual score. Luckily I managed to find an apartment belonging to a Russian investor, who didn't ask for my record at all. In the end I never got myself to even request a free report.

[a254613e]

Yes, that's what's important for landlords. You get a letter from scufa saying "There are no negative entries for this person". That's enough.

However if you try to get a phone contract, credit card, internet contract, or anything else that requires payment in the future then your score is pretty much the only relevant part.

And that score is (maybe it varies by country) completely abysmal by default if you've moved to Germany - and it improves very slowly (<1%/yr).

[hocuspocus]

I had no issue signing up for internet with 1&1 for two years, and got a free SIM card in the process.

As for credit cards, that's pretty common, traditional banks want to see your salary landing on your checking account for a few months before they issue you a credit card. Comdirect gave me a prepaid VISA in the meantime.

Anyway I ended up using a debit card (the MasterCard from N26) for almost everything, and later on I got a Gold credit card from Advanzia (I believe they do get information from the Schufa, but you also start with a pretty low monthly limit and need to prove them you pay your bills before they raise it).

[kuerbel]

You really shouldn't use N26. I don't know if they have improved the security of their app during the past two years, but here is a talk from 33c3 https://media.ccc.de/v/33c3-7969-shut_up_and_take_my_money

It's worth watching. They show how they where able to take over accounts and such.