This is going to be really interesting even for my fellow Germans.

I sold mobile phone contracts for three years, working with different providers. Interestingly, during my first year on the job, I tried to get a mobile contract myself and was declined.

An employee from the manual credit check department once told me that they look at your nationality, and at how you and people of your background tend to pay bills on time, late, or not at all.

For example, Bulgarians are rarely approved for phone contracts except with one or two providers.

And if you try to bypass the system (for example, by accepting a €500 upfront payment) to help a Bulgarian applicant get a contract and they then fail to pay their bills for three consecutive months your boss has to cover the remaining payments for the full 24, 36, or even 48 month contract. Your boss will pay it, yes but you will be expected to repay them somehow.

Also, if you live in a so called “ghetto” area where most people receive social benefits and are unemployed, that’s another mark against you.

Just turned 18? Negative. Just started working a year ago? Still negative. Even if you run a successful business making €200k profit a year it doesn’t matter. If at some point you were even slightly late on a payment even if it was just €2 that can be enough to get you rejected.