Transport company in Berlin and Brandenburg
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“Deutschlandticket” available in the region largely without a Schufa check
The 49-euro ticket is intended to make local transport more attractive for people with low incomes. A negative Schufa entry could become a problem – but many transport companies in the region want to do without an examination.
Throughout Germany with (almost) everything except long-distance trains: From May 1st the 49-euro ticket is valid, advertised by the federal government as the “Germany ticket”. Owners can then use local public transport for 49 euros per month, can be canceled monthly and either as a mobile phone ticket or as a chip card.
The transport companies are already overwhelmed by the pre-orders: Within the first three days of the pre-sale, for example, Deutsche Bahn, according to its own statements, sold 250,000 tickets – in the future, 17 million users are expected, which would then be a sixth of the population in Germany.
But anyone who was or is in debt or has not paid a bill can run into problems: Because some transport companies have the “protection association for general credit protection”, in short: Schufa, check the creditworthiness of the applicant before they sell them the “Germany ticket”. Almost all consumers who have ever taken out a loan or even opened a checking account are listed with the Schufa. If you do not have an impeccable so-called Schufa score, the company can refuse to buy the ticket.
Train and S-Bahn check, BVG and others not
Die Deutsche Bahn has already announced that it wants to check the creditworthiness when concluding a “Deutschlandticket” subscription, as does the payment service provider Logpay, which is used in more than 250 public transport ticket shops. That’s how she does it too Berliner S-Bahn. “We want to minimize the risk of fraud attempts and payment defaults. The service provider infoscore has been carrying out this credit check for us for many years,” a company spokeswoman told rbb|24 on Thursday. Customers would be “transparently informed”. The app for the “Deutschlandticket” also uses the Schufa score as a basis for evaluation.
Most transport companies in Berlin and Brandenburg, on the other hand, do not have the Schufa score checked, as shown by inquiries from rbb|24. The official statement of BVG also suggests that for the time being no credit checks will be applied to customers who want to buy the “Deutschlandticket”. “The Germany ticket is accessible to everyone at the BVG. Nobody has to worry about not being able to take out this attractive subscription because of a negative Schufa entry,” says BVG spokesman Jannes Schwentu.
“Consistently terminated when an account is not covered”
Die Cottbus traffic also announced on Wednesday that it would refrain from such credit checks for subscription applications. “However, the card will be blocked as soon as the first debit is not made or the cardholder’s payment is withdrawn from the bank upon revocation,” deputy press spokeswoman Maria Schiemann told rbb|24.
Most other transport companies do the same, for example the day. If the monthly debit by direct debit does not work and if the defaulting customers do not pay even after several reminders, Odeg will contact a debt collection agency and cancel the subscription, said a spokeswoman. It is similar with the Regional bus Potsdam-Mittelmarkthe Niederbarnim Railway (NEB) and the Transport company Brandenburg an der Havel – they all told rbb|24 that they wanted to do without a credit check.
The decisive reason: Unlike an annual subscription, with the “Deutschlandticket” the transport companies can only sit on the 49 euros for a monthly ticket at most, because the subscription can be canceled monthly. “Checking the creditworthiness of each individual customer in advance would be too time-consuming. Instead, the contract is consistently terminated if an account is not covered,” says Holger Reimann, NEB spokesman, rbb | 24.
This is how a Schufa score works
A credit check is intended to ensure that the customer can also pay – creditworthiness means creditworthiness. During the check by the Schufa, the so-called Schufa score is also queried. The Schufa score is a percentage that is updated every three months. You can look at your current so-called base score have the Schufa send it to you free of charge [meineschufa.de].
The Schufa keeps secret how exactly it is composed. According to the company, however, a role is played by whether, for example, you have not paid a bill in the past or whether you have paid one has repaid the loan in accordance with the contract [schufa.de]. In mid-March, an expert at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) assessed that the creation of such score values violates European law [tagesschau.de].
What is known is that the maximum value of the base score is 100 percent; if it is over 97.5 percent, companies regard it as a very low risk. Already at 90 to 95 percent, as a customer, you already have one satisfactory to increased risk [t-online.de]. In addition, there are special scores depending on the industry, a different one applies to mobile phone contracts than to real estate loans or public transport subscriptions.
Online purchase possible from companies throughout Germany
According to the Schufa itself, the creditworthiness is generally only checked for subscription orders via direct debit. When paying by credit card, the respective bank has already checked the Schufa score when it issued the card. In the case of payments in advance, for example by direct transfer or Paypal, there is also no credit check, because this payment has already gone to the transport company in any case.
If you want to complete your “Deutschlandticket” subscription with Deutsche Bahn without checking, you have to go to a DB travel center – and there you can advance the sum for the entire year in one go: 588 euros, in cash, with an EC card or credit card.
It is easier to use providers such as the “Transdev” group, the second largest bus and train company in Germany based in Berlin. According to the group, they first debit the amount for the first month and only then send the Germany ticket by email: “If our SEPA direct debit fails, you won’t be issued a ticket either,” says the website on which the Transport company that offers “Deutschlandtickets”.
Which company in the Federal Republic you buy your ticket from is ultimately of secondary importance, it is valid one way or another with all participating transport companies. Incidentally, they are not allowed to exchange customer data with each other – this is prohibited by data protection.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, April 12, 2023, 8 a.m