Because TransUnion CIBIL is India’s oldest credit bureau, people commonly refer to credit scores as CIBIL scores. Your credit score is a numerical representation of your credit history and repayment trends. It is a three-digit number that runs from 300 to 900 and is based mostly on the applicant’s financial history. Closer to 900 is regarded as an excellent score, and vice versa. According to the credit bureau data, the majority of loans accepted are for applicants with CIBIL score of 750 or higher. Your credit score is essentially a representation of your financial situation.

Banks in India typically consider your CIBIL score before granting approval on a loan application. As a result, keeping a credit history and acquiring a credit score is critical because it allows you to apply for loans on favourable terms. Otherwise, lenders will find it difficult to assess your trustworthiness if you do not have a CIBIL score or credit history.

Importance of CIBIL Score

Your CIBIL score reflects your financial management skills. You can use your credit report to analyse where you are and what areas you need to focus on by reviewing your report to further improve your CIBIL score. Your credit score or report is an overview of your current and prior credit actions. Monitoring your report may also help you detect and address any inconsistencies that contributed to your lower score.

Most financial organisations and lending platforms consider a CIBIL score of 750 or more to be acceptable. A strong credit score and history are vital since they allow you to apply for loans with favourable terms. Lenders struggle to assess your creditworthiness if you have no credit history or score.

Charges to check your CIBIL Score

It is important to check your credit score in order to obtain any kind of credit. In India, you can check your score for free on the official CIBIL partner websites, or you can even use the official CIBIL website to check your CIBIL score for free. For two credit reports per year, TransUnion CIBIL costs INR 550 for a basic credit report and INR 800 for a standard credit report. If you wish to check your credit score more than twice in the same year, you must pay an additional cost. The official website offers a range of subscription packs through which you can check your credit score in India. Following are some of the subscription packs that you can avail to check your credit score:

The Basic Pack

The Basic Pack will cost you INR 550 per month. You will have full access to your CIBIL dashboard and Score Simulator with this set. Using this package, CIBIL will personalise loan offers for you.

The Standard Pack

This standard pack, on the other hand, costs INR 800 and is valid for six months. This membership includes credit monitoring and CIBIL alerts for a whole year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The benefits stated above are in addition to the features of the Basic Pack.

The Premium Pack

This is the most costly pack available on their website, with a price tag of INR 1200. This pack is valid for 12 months. This pack’s benefits are the same as the standard pack’s. The main distinction is that its advantages would persist for more than a year.

These are the three subscription packs that are available on the official CIBIL website, that you can avail to check your CIBIL score. Moreover, you can head over to one of the official CIBIL partner websites to get your CIBIL score and report for free. 

Steps to Improve your CIBIL Score

You must practise disciplined credit management behaviour to maintain a good CIBIL score. Although you will not be able to improve your score overnight, there are a number of measures that you can take to improve it. However, improving your CIBIL score can take anywhere between six months to a year. Also, if you have a significantly lower credit score, there are numerous strategies that you might adapt to enhance your credit score. Below mentioned are some of the following measures that you can adapt to improve your credit score.

On-Time Repayments

In order to have a high CIBIL score you might want to pay your loan EMIs and credit card bills on time . This would help to increase your credit score. Regular EMIs demonstrate to the bank that you are responsible about your credit repayments, which may help you enhance your CIBIL score.

Types of Loan

A well-balanced mix of secured and unsecured loans will assist you in improving your credit score. If you only take out unsecured loans, you may convey the impression that you are a high-risk borrower.

Low Debt to Income Ratio

While loan repayments might reduce the amount owed over time, it is also recommended that you do not often exceed your credit card limit, as this will have a negative impact on your creditworthiness.

Do not apply for Multiple Credits

Applying for multiple credit cards at the same time may appear appealing since they give a quick source of cash, but it impacts your credit score. Since it makes you look credit hungry, banks. Moreover, managing too many credit cards at the same time can be a difficult task at times, and missing out on even a single EMI can harm your overall credit score.

Apart from these above mentioned reasons, your CIBIL score could be low due to a lot of reasons. Reasons such as your poor repayment habits or an inaccuracy in your credit record that you are unaware of. As a result, it is advisable that you should check your credit report on a frequent basis to ensure that it is error free. In such a case, you can make a CIBIL score login to be aware of your reports and if it contains any errors. There is also a possibility that your Credit score might appear as “Zero” on your credit report. Having a zero CIBIL score is not always a bad thing; you can still apply for and receive loans or credit cards from many banks or NBFCs. Nevertheless, having a zero CIBIL score reduces your chances of receiving the best offers when compared to having a decent CIBIL score. This occurs if you have not applied for a loan or credit card, or if credit bureaus do not have sufficient information about your credit history. In this situation, your credit score will include a note regarding their lack of credit history.