Sixteen self-governing Bürgschaftsbanken, one per Land, backstopped by Bund and Land. They exist to close the collateral gap for a business the Hausbank would otherwise refuse. Groups hear “Bürgschaft” and hope — usually the fit is poor.
- Cover: Ausfallbürgschaft of up to 80 % of the loan; the Hausbank must keep at least 20 % of the risk.
- Cap: “der insgesamt für einen Kreditnehmer übernommene Umfang von Bürgschaften € 1 Million [darf] nicht überschreiten” — small next to a building.
- Eligible: “Alle bestehenden und neu gegründeten gewerblichen Unternehmen und Freie Berufe” lacking sufficient collateral, with an economically viable project. Restructurings and refinancing of existing loans are excluded.
- Cost: a one-off Bearbeitungsgebühr plus an annual Bürgschaftsprovision (rates per Land). Backstop: the state carries 52 % of the credit risk behind the guarantee.
- Path: normally through the Hausbank; most Bürgschaftsbanken also run “Bürgschaft ohne Bank” (BoB), where the group applies direct and takes the approved guarantee to a lender. GLS offers a matching Bürgschaftsdarlehen product.
Related
- gls-bank-financing — Bürgschaftsdarlehen as a product at an ethical lender
- baden-wuerttemberg-buergschaft-wohnungsgenossenschaften — a Landesbürgschaft built for co-ops
- hessen-darlehen-gemeinschaftliches-wohnen — a state line that names a Land-Bürgschaft
- bremen-bab-rund-ums-haus — BAB, which also issues Bremen’s Landesbürgschaften
- hamburg-ifb-vorfinanzierung-wa-genossenschaften — the Hamburg equity bridge groups reach for instead
- eg-cooperative, gmbh-ggmbh-project — the borrower forms that would carry it
- soziale-wohnraumfoerderung — the public money that more often closes the gap instead
Detail
- The cohousing catch: the gate is gewerbliches Unternehmen. Letting flats is normally Vermögensverwaltung, not Gewerbe, and property purchase is asset finance rather than the working capital these banks are built for. A group’s commercial side — a Café, a Werkstatt, a Pflegedienst, an Inklusionsbetrieb in the ground floor — is the part that plausibly fits.
- Open question (not a fact): no Bürgschaftsbank page found today states outright whether a Wohnungsgenossenschaft’s building loan is eligible or excluded. Ask the Land’s Bürgschaftsbank before building it into a plan.
- Landesbürgschaften are a different instrument — state-level, not the Bürgschaftsbank, and they do reach housing co-ops. Baden-Württemberg runs a €10 m Bürgschaftsrahmen specifically for Wohnungsgenossenschaften (baden-wuerttemberg-buergschaft-wohnungsgenossenschaften); Hessen documents a Land-Bürgschaft alongside its Hessen-Darlehen (hessen-darlehen-gemeinschaftliches-wohnen). If a group needs a guarantee, this is the door to try first.
- Per-Land institutions, one national frame. Bürgschaftsgemeinschaft Hamburg and the guarantee arm reachable through Bremen’s BAB are members of the same VDB system and publish no housing-specific terms of their own — the 80 % / €1 m / gewerblich frame above is what applies in every Land; only Provision rates and forms differ. There is no reason for a separate Hamburg or Bremen note.
- Open question (not a fact): whether BAB Bremen’s own Landesbürgschaften (a state instrument, distinct from the Bürgschaftsbank) reach Wohnungsgenossenschaften was not verifiable today — its public pages name Bürgschaften without terms. A systematic list of Landesbürgschaften across the remaining Länder was likewise not verified.