Overview

• Schufa reports more than ten million new installment loans in 2024 for the first time, with roughly 4.99 million under €1,000 and small loans up 14.6% year on year.
• Total running installment loans reached about 19.6 million, up roughly 574,000, with the strongest increase in the 35–44 age group and a near‑tripling of ongoing small loans in recent years.
• Despite the surge, repayment performance stayed high as 98.1% of installment loans were serviced as agreed and 1.9% showed problems, unchanged from the prior year.
• The government’s draft would require BNPL and other short‑term credits, including sums under €200, to undergo documented creditworthiness checks that may include income data, payslips or account statements, and it bars using social media data.
• The rules are slated to take effect next November and carve out limited invoice‑purchase exceptions, while BaFin warns current BNPL gaps can be a debt trap and the vzbv criticizes vague ‘proportionate’ checks as a potential loophole.