Getting a loan with a Betreibung

A Betreibung (debt collection) does not rule out a loan by law, but a lender can see it, and sometimes a loan is the wrong answer. The Consumer Credit Act does not forbid lending to someone with a Betreibung. It requires the lender to check that you can repay without touching the part of your income the law protects, and it lets the lender ask for your debt collection extract. Beyond that, each lender decides which entries it accepts. If the Betreibung is open because you cannot pay a bill, talk to a debt advice service before you look for a loan.

What a Betreibung is

A Betreibung is how a creditor in Switzerland uses the state to collect a debt. It works in steps:

1. The creditor files a request at the debt collection office (Betreibungsamt). Your name goes into the debt collection register. The creditor does not have to send you a reminder first.
2. You receive a payment order (Zahlungsbefehl), delivered by the post or the office to you or an adult in your household. It gives you 20 days to pay.
3. You can object (Rechtsvorschlag) if you do not owe the money. You do this orally or in writing when the order is delivered, or at the office within 10 days. You do not have to give a reason, and the objection stops the Betreibung. The creditor then has to go to court to have it set aside.
4. If you do not object, or the court sets the objection aside, the creditor can continue. The office can then seize (Pfändung) income and assets, for example by telling your employer to pay part of your salary straight to the office. A wage seizure runs for one year at most.
5. If the seizure does not cover the debt, the creditor receives a certificate of loss (Verlustschein) for the rest.

What a lender sees

A lender sees what is on your extract from the debt collection register (Betreibungsregisterauszug). Under the Consumer Credit Act, a lender may ask you for it, along with proof of your salary (KKG Art. 31). The extract shows:

• the Betreibungen opened against you in the past 5 years
• certificates of loss, which stay on the extract until they are deleted or time-barred

Each extract covers one debt collection district only. If you moved in the past 5 years, a full picture needs one extract from each district you lived in. A standard extract costs CHF 17, or CHF 18 if it is sent to you (GebV SchKG Art. 12a). Our guide Ordering a debt collection extract shows how to get yours.

A Betreibung is in the register as soon as the creditor files it, even if you dispute the debt. That is why it helps to know your own extract before a lender does.

Does a Betreibung rule out a loan?

Not by law. What the law sets is the credit check. For a credit under the Act, you count as creditworthy if you can repay without using the part of your income that cannot be seized (KKG Art. 28). The lender works this out from your canton’s rules on the minimum needed to live, and it must include:

• the rent you actually pay
• your taxes, worked out from the withholding tax tables
• the credits you already have, as reported to the IKO

The lender must also assume that the loan is paid off within 36 months, even if your contract runs longer. If it doubts what you tell it about your money, it must check it against documents (KKG Art. 31).

Within these rules, each lender sets its own policy on Betreibungen. Before you apply, ask the lender how it treats an entry like yours: open or paid, recent or old, small or large.

Your situation, and what you can do

If you paid: get the Betreibung withdrawn

An entry is deleted automatically 5 years after the procedure ends. Before that, the law lists the cases in which the office no longer shows a Betreibung to others, such as a lender or a landlord. A creditor withdrawing the Betreibung is one of them. Paying the debt is not on the list.

So once you have paid, or agreed a plan with the creditor, ask the creditor to withdraw the Betreibung. Then order a new extract and check that it no longer shows.

If you object: asking the office not to show it

Since 1 January 2026, this rule reads as follows (SchKG Art. 8a, paragraph 3d):

1. You objected (Rechtsvorschlag) to the payment order.
2. At least three months after the payment order was delivered, and before third parties’ right to see it ends, you ask the office not to show the Betreibung to third parties.
3. The office gives the creditor 20 days to prove that it started, in time, a procedure to set your objection aside.
4. If the creditor cannot prove it, the office no longer shows the Betreibung to third parties.

If the creditor proves it later, or continues the Betreibung, it shows again, unless you prove that the creditor’s request to set aside your objection was finally refused. Your debt collection office tells you its conditions and costs.

When a loan is not the answer

If Betreibungen come because the bills are already more than your income can carry, a new loan adds one more monthly payment. It can make things harder, not easier.

Schuldenberatung Schweiz is the umbrella association of the non-profit debt advice services in Switzerland. It lists its services by region on schulden.ch and runs a free advice line, 0800 708 708, Monday to Thursday from 10:00 to 13:00. Our guide Debt help in Switzerland explains the options, including ones that are not a loan.

Offers of a loan «despite Betreibung»

Be careful with them. A lender that grants a consumer credit under the Act must check your creditworthiness before you sign (KKG Art. 27a), so a genuine lender cannot skip the check. And if a broker arranges a consumer credit for you, you owe the broker nothing for it (KKG Art. 35). A broker who asks you for a fee is breaking that rule. Read Spotting loan scams and Loans «without a credit check»: what’s true.

If a lender has already said no

Our guide Loan rejected: what now covers what to ask the lender and what to do next. For how the Betreibung register fits with the ZEK and the IKO, read What lenders check.

Next step

See what Swizeo asks for, and why, before you apply: the requirements are on the personal loan page.