CIBIL is based on two major sections, i.e. the Consumer Bureau and the Commercial Bureau. The Consumer Bureau has the duty of maintaining credit records of individuals while the Commercial Bureau looks after the credit records of enterprises.
The CIBIL consumer report deals with your personal information, such as name, date of birth, gender, telephone and mobile numbers, Permanent Account Number (PAN) and addresses. The consumer report displays your latest as well as past addresses. Make sure that the spellings and dates mentioned are correct and your latest address is updated.
The CIBIL score is a three-digit numeric summary of your creditworthiness and the most important part of your CIBIL report. The score is calculated using the credit history found in the CIBIL Report. The CIBIL consumer report contains details of an individual’s EMI payment history across various credit lines such as loan from banks and related institutions over a time period. The credit information report is devoid of details on your savings, fixed deposits and investments.
Remember that banks or credit institutions need to be convinced that the loan applicant is capable of repaying the loan, so they need to know applicant’s borrowing and repaying history. Assume you apply for home loan from Lender A. Before Lender A gives you a home loan, it must check multiple things, such as your salary, your age and your past EMI repayment history, among other factors. It gets access to previous repayment history information from Credit Information Report and Score. The report gives lending bodies an indication of the possibility of default by the individual as per their credit history. A high score gives the lending institution more confidence in your repayment capability, and therefore your chances of loan approval goes up.
Factors that affect your CIBIL score:
Hard Enquiries: When a lender or institute checks your credit score, the enquiry is called a hard enquiry. More than one enquiry will bring down your credit score.
Payment History: Timely repayments of bills reflect well on your credit report and can be useful when you apply for loans. Another reason why it is wiser to pay your bills on time, is to avoid late fees.
Credit Utilisation Ratio: It is good to keep a low credit utilisation ratio. The higher the credit utilisation ratio, the higher will be your debt.
As seen above, lending institutions check your CIBIL report to determine your credit behaviour. Lenders factor in details in the report while assessing whether or not to take you on as a client. It is thus very useful for establishing your credibility for availing credit card, personal loan, home loan, gold loan and loan against Property.
What is the nature of inaccuracies that mostly occur in CIBIL reports?
I have paid off the accounts, yet they are showing on my report. How to update my report?
CIBIL cannot change information in the database until there is a confirmation from the concerned credit institute.
Will CIBIL make correction to the data or any information in the CIBIL consumer report?
CIBIL is not allowed to make any direct change in your CIBIL report. Any change will have to be authorized and backed by the concerned Credit Institution.
Why does CIBIL consumer report function?
Credit and banking institutes require a larger picture of the payment history of the credit seeker. They must have access to the complete record of the applicant’s record which is spread over various institutions. CIBIL gathers commercial and consumer credit-based information and cross check such data to generate and distribute credit reports.
Where does CIBIL consumer report get its information from?
CIBIL consumer report largely collates data from its members and at a later stage it supplements this information it with public domain information so as to create a comprehensive view of the financial track record.
Why is encryption relevant for my CIBIL consumer report?
Encryption is the technology used to mask information so as to prevent its access by unauthorized means. This means that only authorized individuals who have the correct decoding script can view the information. Thus, providing security for individuals.