Schufa annual evaluation: for the first time over ten million new installment loans

Shopping on Pump is booming: For the first time, Schufa has more than ten million newly recorded installment loans within a year. The brand was exceeded by almost 17,100 contracts last year. The steady increase for years has been declared primarily with the strong growth in small loans below 1,000 euros, the information agency from Wiesbaden places the figures for 2024: Every second installment loan now falls into this category.

Buy now, pay later (“Buy Now- Pay Later”)- Such offers attract consumers, especially in online retail, where you can quickly buy with a click of the mouse.

Almost half of the new installment loans below 1,000 euros

In the case of loans below 1,000 euros, Schufa recorded a significant increase of around 14.6 percent to around 4.99 million new contracts compared to the previous year. In 2020 there were still about a fifth (20.4 percent) of the newly completed installment loans small loans, their share was 49.8 percent last year.

The number of newly accepted installment loans of over 1,000 euros increased comparatively moderate almost four percent to a good 5.03 million contracts compared to 2023. Together with still ongoing contracts, banks were sufficiently 19.6 million in installments to consumers based on the SCHUFA data – a good 574,000 more than a year earlier.

In particular, people in middle age have more and more ongoing installment loans. In the age group of 35- to 44-year-olds, the number increased from almost 4.1 million in 2020 to 5.2 million last year. An increase is also evident among young people between the ages of 18 and 34, but less clearly.

Impending over-indebtedness by trend towards “Buy-Now-Pay-Later”

Consumer advocates regularly warn that consumers overestimate their financial strength and buy more on pump than they can afford – especially if the financing is advertised at the zero tariff.

“This strong increase in ongoing small loans underlines the potential risk of over-indebtedness through too many small loans such as Buy-now-Pay-Later,” says Schufa board member Ole Schröder. “Consumers are easier to lose track of the monthly rates and thus the total debt burden.”

However, in accordance with the contract, installment loans are largely served. As with Schufa analysis a year earlier, consumers paid reliably back the money in 98.1 percent of the cases. According to Schufa calculations, the proportion of contracts in which the repayment had problems was 1.9 percent unchanged.

EU demands more protection in mini -loans

If you want to take out a loan in Germany, you usually have to go through a credit check. Part of this is often a creditworthiness of an information egg – such as Schufa. The exam is intended to provide banks and savings banks about how high the risk is that a borrower does not repay a loan. Small and short -term loans of up to 200 euros have so far been excluded from such an exam.

Because on October 30, 2023, an EU consumer credit directive came into force, which provides for an examination to submit an examination when awarding such loans. If you borrow money from the bank, you should be informed more clearly in the future what that costs. The aim is to protect households with low incomes from excessive debts. By November 20, 2025, the EU member states must implement the requirements into national law. In June 2025, the Federal Ministry of Justice presented a draft speaker.