Caution regarding threats of Schufa entry

Customers are repeatedly informed of an impending data transmission to Schufa in order to move them to pay. But under what conditions is the customer entitled to threaten with a Schufa notice? In the case to be decided by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Celle, the debt collection company threatened a Schufa notice despite existing invoice objections by the customer. This went too far, the court decided.

Data protection law permits data transmission concerning claims to credit information agencies where certain prerequisites are met. In the case to be decided by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Celle, however, the customer disputed the claimed demands after receiving a "final reminder" from the creditor. He subsequently received reminders from a debt collection company, which threatened him with data transmission to Schufa. The customer objected and sought an injunction against the Schufa notice as well as an injunction against the threat of such notice. The court upheld his claim.

The court's decision

The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Celle indicated in itsUrteil vom 19.12.2013 – Az. 13 U 64/13that in the case of a Schufa notice due to claimed payment arrears, it is indeed even required that the person affected is informed in good time before transmission of the information about the impending transmission. However, a further requirement is that the claimed claims are not disputed. In the present case, however, the customer had already disputed the claim amounts. The reference to data transmission had been misused as an extra-judicial pressure tactic for enforcing the claim.

The court granted the customer the claimed injunction rights (for a comparable case from the perspective of unfair competition law, seefollowing article). The court assumed on the basis of the unlawful references to an impending Schufa notice that there existed a serious and imminent threat that the company would transmit the data impermissibly and thereby violate the customer's general right of personality.

Conclusion

When references to a threatened Schufa entry are made, caution is advised. If the reference does not comply with the statutory requirements, those affected face the risk of costly injunction proceedings.