USE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA BY CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCIES IN GERMANY
Why do we need credit scores?
Some PayPal Services require that we make advance payments and therefore take creditworthiness risk in relation to our customers (for example in case you pay with direct debit, or in connection with a credit product of PayPal). Therefore it is necessary, that we confirm the willingness and ability to pay of our customers for the purpose of certain services, by requesting creditworthiness information. This helps us in making the decision whether we can offer the product to the customer.
Why do we share personal data with credit reference agencies?
We share your information (name, address, and date of birth, bank account details) for purposes of credit checks, for the acquisition of information to assess the risk of default based on mathematical methods utilising address data, and for verifying your address.
The legal bases for such transmissions are found in Article 6, paragraph 1, letter b and Article 6, paragraph 1, letter f of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“EU GDPR”). Information may be shared on the basis of these provisions only insofar as doing so is necessary to safeguard the legitimate interests of PayPal or third parties and where this does not override the data subject’s interests or fundamental rights and freedoms that require the protection of personal data.
Detailed information on ICD within the meaning of Article 14 of the EU GDPR, i.e., information on the business purpose, on the purposes for storing data, on the data recipients, on the data subject’s right to obtain information, on the right to have information deleted or corrected, etc. can be found at the links in the table below provided by the Credit Reference Agencies.
Please see the table below for links to the credit reference agencies for more information on how they use your data and how to contact them.
How to Find Out More
You can contact credit reference agencies currently operating in Germany and ask them about the information they have stored about you.
| Name of credit reference agency and seat | Address, contact details to obtain information on what data are stored about a consumer |
| Accumio Finance Services GmbH | Accumio Finance Services GmbH |
| CEG Creditreform Boniversum GmbH | Creditreform Boniversum GmbH Konsumentenservice Hellersbergstr. 11 D-41460 Neuss |
| CRIF Bürgel GmbH | CRIF Bürgel GmbH Radlkoferstraße 2 81373 München |
| SCHUFA Holding AG | SCHUFA Holding AG
See more here |
| infoscore Consumer Data GmbH/Arvato | infoscore Consumer Data GmbH |
What Data will be sent to the credit reference agency for obtaining the Score? What data will remain with the database of the credit reference agency?
In cases where PayPal has requested a credit score about you with such credit reference agency, information may be provided to the credit reference agencies on a subsequent “negative behavior” on your side, i.e. certain instances of breaches of our contract. This includes where you have not paid an outstanding amount on your PayPal account despite there being several reminders, or any enforcement measures taken against you. This information will only be transferred if this is required in the legitimate interest of PayPal, the credit reference agency or their customers, and if no reason exists to believe that your justified interest in not transferring this information would prevail.
This information will be stored in the data base of the credit reference agency and may be used to determine a scoring value with the agency, as specified below.
How a credit reference agency uses data about "negative behavior" and use of address data for credit scores
The credit reference agency stores and uses the information received. The use includes the calculation of a probability value on the basis of the data available to the agency, to assess the credit risk (score). For the calculation of the score the credit reference agency may, on the basis of a mathematical-statistical procedure, also use address data. The data received may be transferred to contract partners in the European Area and Switzerland, in order to give these persons information for the assessment of creditworthiness of individuals. Contract partners of the credit reference agency are companies, which bear, on the basis of their services, financial credit risk (in particular financial institutions, credit card companies and leasing companies, but also traders, telecommunication companies, and energy suppliers, insurances and debt collection agencies). The credit reference agency will only make available the information to these customers, if they can establish a legitimate interest in the individual case, to require such information, and the transfer of such information is permitted after weighting all involved interests. Therefore, the information made available may vary between contract partners of the credit reference agency.