Have you ever considered taking a loan to buy a new house, or to purchase that dream car of yours? Maybe even start that business of yours?

If you’re not sure what to do, we have all the answers covered.

If you want to borrow or take a loan from the bank or a financial institution, make sure you have a good credit score.

What’s a credit score, you ask!

A credit score is a number used to denote the merit of credit of an individual.

How does one check credit score?

You have to go through a CIBIL check.

Firstly, let’s get some insight as to what is CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited. CIBIL is a leading credit rating agency in India that reflects your creditworthiness. Due to CIBIL, one can easily say that India is a financially literate nation. It has made the financial markets more transparent, reliable and structured to spread awareness among financial institutions and business to manage risks and control bad loans.

A CIBIL check is performed online. We shall look at the step by step guide of how to check CIBIL score a little later.

Banks and financial institutions check CIBIL score formerly before granting any loan.

The CIBIL check generates a credit score, which is a 3-digit number usually ranging between 300 and 900. A score below 300 is poor whereas the score of 900 is ideally the best.

Every month, various banks and NBFC’s furnish their reports to check CIBIL score for multiple individuals and businesses. This, in turn, assists them to choose the appropriate customers and monitor the repayment patterns of existing customers.

When the banks and financial institutions check credit score, it would be adequate to keep in mind that the score should be above 700.

Now, let’s get to the central aspect of -check my CIBIL score. Surely, by now you have understood what a credit score is and what CIBIL is.

So How to check credit score is the question?

Follow our step-by-step guide of check CIBIL score.

How to check credit score for free :

Since January 2017, the Reserve Bank of India has mandated that all the four licensed credit information companies enable you to check credit score online and provide one free credit score and credit report every year.

Here is how to get a free CIBIL report once a year.

Step 1: Go to the CIBIL website

Step 2: Fill out the provided form that requires your necessary information such as name, contact number, email address and click continue to step 2

Step 3: Fill out the additional details about you including your Pan number. Make sure to enter your Pan details correctly to proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Answer all the questions correctly about your loans and credit cards, based on which your CIBIL score will be calculated, and your completed credit report generated.

These are the four main steps to be performed to check CIBIL score

However, the ones below are a continuation of the above listed main steps.

Step 5: You will be suggested various paid subscriptions ( if you need more than one report in a year). If you require only a one-time, free credit score and report, then proceed to select No Thanks at the bottom of the page.

This is the stage where your account is created, and a confirmed message is displayed on the following page.

Step 6: Using your login and password that was created in Step 2, you can log in to your account.

To proceed further, you need to authenticate yourself. You will receive an email on your registered account. Click on the link and enter the one – time password provided in the email.

You will be prompted to change your password and login again.

Step 7: Once you log in, all your personal details will be auto-populated by default ( please provide the accurate information if the fields are not auto-populated). Please enter your contact number and click submit.

Step 8: Once you submit that form your dashboard will be revealed with your CIBIL score. Additionally, you can get your credit report on the dashboard.

However, it’s not advised to only check credit score once. One needs to monitor the ups and downs in your report as the banks, financial institutions and various credit agencies renew the report on a month on month basis.

To maintain a good credit score let’s look at the constraints, factors and overall recommendations that impact your CIBIL score.

Constraints	Factors	Recommendations
Loan portfolio mix	- Percentage of secured loans - Percentage of unsecured loans	- Keep your CIBIL report error free. - Do not neglect or defer your payments - Do not revolve your credit card balance - Limit the utilisation of your credit limit. - Avoid multiple loan applications
Credit Utilisation	- Credit limit utilisation - The number of loans.
Former repayment track- record	- Well-timed loan payments, - Loan evasions and defaults - Excessive over dues.
Other constraints	- Number of pipeline applications - Number of loans

CIBIL is one of four credit rating agencies in India.

You can get a credit report from the other agencies from the links below:

Experian

Highmark

Equifax

If you are looking to apply for a Personal Loan, click here to get started.

You can read more on what is a CIBIL score and why It matters here.

* The information provided in this article is generic in nature and for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for specific advice in your own circumstances. You are recommended to obtain specific professional advice from before you take any/refrain from any action.

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