Loan intermediaries in Germany are about to face a new permit requirement, and the Sachkundeprüfung under § 34k of the Gewerbeordnung is the exam behind it. Its pass rule is unusually simple for this family of exams, but its format is left almost entirely to the chamber administering it.
What is the §34k Darlehensvermittler exam?
The Sachkundeprüfung that loan intermediaries must pass under § 34k Gewerbeordnung, governed by the Darlehensvermittlungsverordnung (DarlVermV). The regulation was promulgated on 31 July 2026 and entered into force on 1 August 2026, ahead of the permit requirement itself, which takes effect on 20 November 2026.
What score do you need to pass?
At least 50 percent of the attainable points, and only one threshold applies. § 3 Absatz 3 DarlVermV states it plainly: “Die Prüfung ist bestanden, wenn der Prüfling mindestens 50 Prozent der erreichbaren Punkte erzielt hat.” That is the whole rule, applied to the exam as a whole rather than to each subject area separately.
This is simpler than the neighbouring §34d Versicherungsvermittler exam, which requires 50 percent in four of five areas and only allows one weaker area down to 30 percent. §34k carries no such per-area carve-out: one overall bar, evenly applied.
How many questions are on the exam, and how long do you get?
Neither is fixed nationwide. § 3 Absatz 5 DarlVermV hands the details of the examination procedure to the Industrie- und Handelskammer (IHK) you register with, which sets its own written-exam format under its own Satzung. If a study source quotes a specific question count as the official figure for every candidate, that number belongs to one chamber’s practice, not to the regulation.
Written, oral, or practical?
Written only. § 3 Absatz 1 DarlVermV provides for no oral or practical part at all. That distinguishes §34k from its closest relative in the same family: §34d Versicherungsvermittler pairs its written exam with a simulated client-advice conversation, admitted only after the written part is passed. §34k has nothing of the kind.
What three subject areas are tested?
Anlage 1 zur DarlVermV names three Prüfbereiche, and § 3 Absatz 1 Satz 3 requires the exam to cover them “in einem ausgewogenen Verhältnis zueinander”, in a balanced relation to one another:
- Kundenberatung: service expectations, preparing for client meetings, conducting the client conversation under ethical principles, safeguarding against risk, and client care.
- Vermittlung und Beratung zu Allgemein-Verbraucherdarlehen: the legal basis for consumer credit and consumer loan contracts, intermediary law, consumer protection, competition, data protection, supervision, and financial fundamentals.
- Finanzierung und Kreditprodukte: reasons for financing, credit products, comparing terms, financing offers, creditworthiness checks, credit security, risk, and how a credit contract ends.
Kundenberatung is worth noting for a different reason too: because §34k has no separate practical part, client advice is examined here in writing through praxisbezogene Aufgaben, practice-oriented tasks, rather than being carved out into a spoken exercise the way it is for §34d.
Who administers the exam?
The Industrie- und Handelskammer (IHK). Each chamber sets up its own examination committee, which grades the result as passed or not passed and issues a certificate under Anlage 2 without delay once a candidate passes.
Who is exempt?
Anyone continuously active as a loan broker since 1 January 2021 may be exempt from the Sachkundeprüfung under the transitional rule of § 162 Absatz 3 GewO, provided they apply in time. Whether an exemption applies in an individual case is for the competent authority alone to decide, not something a candidate can assume in advance.
Are past exam questions published?
No. § 3 Absatz 2 DarlVermV states the exam is not public, and no official question catalogue is released. Every question in a legitimate prep resource, this one included, has to be written independently from the statutes the exam draws on rather than from retired papers, because none are published to draw from.
Every fact above comes directly from the Darlehensvermittlungsverordnung, freely available at gesetze-im-internet.de, together with the federal statutes its Anlage 1 names (BGB, KWG, GwG, UWG, BDSG, PAngV, InsO). RiverMap Learning’s §34k practice pack drills all three Prüfbereiche with original questions citing the specific provision behind each answer, and its mock applies the same 50 percent overall threshold the regulation itself sets.