10 Things You Should Know About Your CIBIL Report

CIBIL Credit Information Report (CIR) or CIBIL report, as it is commonly known has become a vital tool used by credit grantors for deciding on loan applications. CIRs enable the credit grantor to gain complete picture of the past credit payment record of the applicant, that may be spread over different credit institutions. This helps the credit grantor to assess the applicant’s loan repayment capability and make wise lending decisions. Since the approval of your credit application is to a large extent dependent upon your CIR, along with other factors like your income, it is important for you to know some crucial facts on the CIR:

1. Your CIR is a month on month record of your loans (home loans, personal loans, automobile loans and so on), credit card or overdraft payments.

2. Your CIR is accessed by lenders when you apply for a loan. It helps them ascertain your ability to pay additional debt based on your past performance.

3. Your CIR is your “Reputational Collateral”. Individuals who appropriately manage their obligations build this ‘reputational collateral’ which may enable them to negotiate better terms with a lender.

4. Prior to commencing your loan hunt, it is advisable to purchase and review your CIR. It helps you understand what the lender will review while evaluating your application.

5. You can access your CIR for a nominal fee by filling up the application form available on the CIBIL website.

6. Understanding the CIR helps you identify the right time in your financial life cycle to apply for a loan and increase your chances of loan approval.

7. Most important attributes on your CIR are centric around your credit payment behavior which includes your Payment History, the Current Balances on various loans you have taken, the number of new Credit Facilities you have availed and the Number of new Enquiries made on you.

8. Your CIR is constantly changing. Lenders submit data to CIBIL constantly and this data gets updated in your credit report. So it is quite possible for your report to change from one day to the next.

9. CIBIL cannot make any changes to your CIR on its own. It can do so only when the lender authorizes the change and submits the updated data to CIBIL.

10. Financial discipline coupled with prudent credit management will ensure you have a healthy CIR and enable you to access credit faster and on better terms.

(Author Harshala Chandorkar is a senior Vice President – Consumer Relations, CIBIL)