BGH: Seven-year-old disputed energy bill reported to SCHUFA

Germany’s Federal Court of Justice ruled that a debt collector cannot file a negative SCHUFA entry for a claim the debtor has disputed in writing and whose validity was never clearly proven. A drop in your credit score already counts as compensable harm – even if other negative entries also exist.

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Disputed, unexplained bill – SCHUFA report ruled unlawful

Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) ruled on 12 May 2026 (case no. VI ZR 375/24) that a debt collection company acted unlawfully when it reported an old, disputed electricity bill to SCHUFA – Germany’s main credit reference agency, roughly equivalent to a credit bureau in the US or UK. If you are in a similar situation, you can demand that the debt collector formally withdraw the entry. The court also clarified that a drop in your SCHUFA score that causes contracts to fall through already qualifies as harm you can claim compensation for – even if other negative items in your file also played a role.

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What happened – a disputed bill from 2014

A man had an electricity contract that ended in 2014. The supplier sent a final bill for €529, which he disputed in writing, describing it as inflated, and asked for a corrected invoice. None ever arrived. Five years later, a debt collection company took over the claim. In 2021 and again in 2022 it reported the now €800-plus debt to SCHUFA as an unpaid negative entry. The bill itself was a jumble of line items – actual electricity consumption, a so-called „non-performance charge”, reminder fees, and two different sets of late-payment costs – that neither the man nor the court could fully make sense of.

A note on SCHUFA for readers new to Germany: SCHUFA is a private company that collects payment history data on almost everyone living in Germany. Landlords, mobile phone providers, banks, and insurers routinely check your SCHUFA score before signing a contract with you. A negative entry – say, an unpaid bill reported by a debt collector – can lead to a refused apartment rental, a rejected phone plan, or a declined credit application. Unlike in some countries, you cannot simply opt out; the system is deeply embedded in everyday German life.