Survey: Schufa: Two thirds of people are very worried about the future

Increased prices and economic uncertainty are putting more and more people in Germany under strain. “The concerns reach the higher earners,” said the CEO of the credit agency Schufa, Tanja Birkholz, in an interview with RTL/ntv.

In a survey commissioned by Schufa, more than half (55 percent) of households with a net income of more than 4,000 euros said they were very worried. Households with a monthly net income of less than 2,000 euros are under even more pressure: three quarters (75 percent) of those surveyed in this group expressed very high to great fears about the future. Across all income groups the value was 65 percent.

Schufa regularly carries out consumer surveys. In October, she had 1,000 people surveyed online by market researcher Nordlight Research.

Inflation rates have recently increased again

The big wave of inflation is over, but inflation in Germany has picked up again in the last two months. Recently, the main price drivers have been food and services.

In order to reduce their living costs, 91 percent of those surveyed said they tried to save energy. Almost three quarters (73 percent) are trying to heat less.

Three quarters of those surveyed (75 percent) said they consciously spend less money when shopping. More than half (56 percent) avoid traveling. Almost nine out of ten respondents (87 percent) generally reduce their spending.

The financial reserves of many households are limited. While a quarter (25 percent) of those surveyed said they had enough reserves to cushion the increased costs, almost one in five (16 percent) had already used them up. Almost a third (32 percent) fear that remaining reserves will not be sufficient, and 22 percent say they have no financial cushion at all.

Increasingly problems with loan repayments

Another sign of the tense financial situation of many people in Germany: More than half of those surveyed (53 percent) said they found it very difficult (13 percent) or rather difficult (40 percent) to have someone taken in in the past six months to repay the loan.

According to the Wiesbaden-based credit agency, the number of people who have a negative entry in their Schufa data for the first time because they cannot pay bills on time or service loans is almost 20 percent higher than a year ago, according to the latest figures.

Schufa’s assessment of consumers’ creditworthiness is important: banks, mail order companies, energy suppliers and mobile phone companies inquire about the creditworthiness of their customers from private credit agencies such as Schufa. In addition to Schufa, there are other credit reporting agencies: such as Creditreform and Crif.

Regarding the growing number of reported consumer loans with problems, Schufa boss Birkholz said in an interview with RTL/ntv: “It could also be that we are facing a trend reversal, after admittedly a decade of declining payment defaults as a result of high employment.”