You must have heard a lot about “credit report” and CIBIL lately. What are these? How do these impact your financial life? Read on to know more.
India is changing rapidly – where the previous generation believed in saving and making purchases only from the accumulated money, young India is different.
This generation believes in purchasing products through loans and Equated Monthly Installments (EMIs).
(Read more about purchasing a house through a home loan: An introduction to home loans and factors to consider)
Banks have also readily facilitated this transition by extending easy loans to consumers.
Why is a Credit Score / Credit Information Report (CIR) needed?
But before a bank extend a loan to you, it needs to take a decision: Would you be able to repay the interest and principal to it, or would you default? How much is the risk involved in lending money to you?
Banks rely on many factors to take this decision – it includes your income, your other loans, your previous repayment history, etc.
In the past, the banks had to collect all this information from you before analyzing it. But now, they have a readily available tool to make this decision simpler for them – your credit history or your Credit Information Report.
Credit Report and Credit Score – The International Practice
In short, your credit score is a number that sums up your credibility!
It is derived by analyzing many factors that affect your credit worthiness – like mentioned earlier, some of them are your income, the other EMIs you are paying, whether you have defaulted earlier or not, etc.
All these factors are analyzed and summed up in the form of a number which is your credit score. In the USA, the FICO credit score is between 300 and 850. This number tells a bank how credit worthy you are – the higher the number, the better you are as a borrower! The credit score forms a part of your overall credit report in the USA.
Indian Scenario – the Credit Information Report (CIR)
In India, we don’t have a credit score yet. But we do have the detailed “Credit Information Report”, or CIR.
The Credit Information Report is a compilation of your repayment history which is compiled from the information received from various banks, financial institutions, non-banking financial companies (NBFC), housing finance companies (HFC), credit card companies, etc.
CIBIL – Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited
In India, the Credit Information Report is created and maintained by a company called Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited, or CIBIL.
CIBIL was promoted primarily by State bank of India (SBI) and HDFC. Now, most banks, financial institutions, non-banking financial companies, housing finance companies and credit card companies are its members, and regularly provide it with data about borrowers.
Advantages of a Credit Information Report
- Helps banks take well informed decisions, which means that they have a lower probability of having a defaulting customer
- Helps you get a better rate if you have a good credit history – banks can reward good borrowers by charging a lower rate of interest from them
- Helps banks take a speedy decision on your loan – your application is processed faster, which means you get your money sooner
What information does your Credit Information Report contain?
The CIBIL Credit Report includes the following information:
- Basic information about you like your name, address, identification numbers (PAN number, passport number, voters number, telephone number, etc) and date of birth
- Records of all the loans availed by you
- Your past payment history
- Any amount overdue
- Number of inquiries made on you by different members of CIBIL (how many banks financial institutions have checked your credit history)
- Suit filed status
What information is not present in your Credit Information Report?
The CIR does not contain:
- Your income details
- Amount(s) deposited by you with the banks
- Details of your assets
- Details of your investment(s)
Please note that the Credit information Report only provides factual credit information to banks and financial institutions – it does not contain any opinion about whether a loan should be granted or not. The banks take this decision themselves, and the credit report only facilitates this decision.
Download a sample Credit information Report
{filelink=32} You can download a sample Credit information Report (CIR) – the sample also contains a detailed explanation of each section within the report.
Please come back to read:
– Understand factors impacting your credit report and improve it
– How can you access your Credit Information Report (CIR) from CIBIL?
– CIBIL’s Credit Information Report (CIR) – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)