About Equifax India

Equifax in India is registered as Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited (ECIS), and is headquartered in Mumbai. It is a joint venture between Equifax Inc., USA and seven leading financial institutions in India and provides credit information services amongst other credit-related services.

Equifax is a credit information company and is one of four credit bureaus in operation in India. It is an independent entity licensed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and registered under the Credit Information Companies Act, 2005, to provide its members with credit information products and related services. It has banks, NBFCs and other financial institutions as its members. Member institutions are required to provide data regarding every customer’s credit-related activity. It collates this data on individual consumers and businesses and presents it in a highly readable format.

This information enables lenders make informed decisions regarding lending and enables them to function in a more transparent and efficient manner and at a lower cost than is otherwise possible.

Member institutions report to the credit bureau (and the other credit bureaus in operation) on a periodic, generally monthly, basis about individuals’ credit behavior. The credit bureau, as mentioned before, then processes this information into a usable and readable form and provides credit information reports based on the information provided by the members. It also provides a credit score and a host of other services amongst other related products.

Equifax maintains records of all credit-related activity of individuals and companies including all transactions on loans and credit cards. This extensive data present with the credit bureau enables lenders to make informed decisions while evaluating prospective lenders for loans in India.

A credit information company provides credit related services to lenders, borrowers, businesses and consumers.

To the Lender, Equifax provides

A consolidated depiction of a borrower’s credit behaviour across all loan accounts held
The repayment history/behaviour as reported by the lenders
The identification information, address and other demographic information of the potential borrower as reported by member companies
Information on a prospective borrower creditworthiness based on the data provided by the contributing members
Access to Equifax ePORT (upon registration) which enables member institutions to view all the above information.

To the individual/business consumer, Equifax provides

Access to his/her credit record as reported by the lender. This enables borrowers to ensure that the information reported is accurate and up to date, thus helping eradicate duplication, incorrect information and help identify fraud or ID theft.
Access to credit information report helps keep a tab on one's credit worthiness and repayment track record leading to good credit behavior.

If you are an individual looking to borrow, it is advisable to first pull out your credit history and score to see where your credit health stands. It is also suggested that you go carefully through the same for errors and keep checking your credit information report (CIR) from time to time to prevent possible misinformation.

Who can access Equifax Credit Report?

Only Equifax members are allowed to access the Equifax credit bureau and its database. This includes Equifax Members and specified users, which could comprise of leading banks and financial Institutions. Only registered and authorized members can access information from the credit bureau.

Membership is granted as per the Credit Information Companies Act. Only those members who have provided the requisite data regarding borrowers, etc., to Equifax are permitted to access credit reports. Disclosure of information—to any other entity or individual— which is sensitive in nature is prohibited. Lenders generally turn to credit bureaus to check on a potential borrower’s credit history and score. In the case of individuals wishing to obtain their credit history, only the individual can obtain and access his own credit report. Individuals can request access to their Credit Reports directly from Equifax.

Other services provided by Equifax India

Equifax Dimensions - Equifax Dimensions helps in enabling lenders to make stronger, more accurate decisions by understanding consumer credit behavior patterns and trends.

Prescreen of one - Equifax’s credit screening acquisition tool helps organizations save time by screening consumers, by cross-selling additional services and further deepen customer relationships.

Credit Information Reports (CIR)- Equifax provides both lenders and borrowers with credit information reports. This enables lenders to quickly make a decision regarding lending to potential customers, and helps the borrower to check and verify whether the information provided by the lender to the bureau is correct and accurate.

Equifax Alerts - Equifax provides its members with two kinds of alerts.Activity Alerts, which are a series of credit event alerts delivered by utilizing data from Equifax's credit file. The other kind of alert, Collection Alerts, enables and empowers changes to the collection process by offering solutions and tools designed to optimize collection efforts and reduce the money spent.

Equifax Risk Score - A new product, the Equifax Risk Score helps leverage the most recent data from its members. This new product, the risk score is designed to predict the likelihood of a customer defaulting in the next 12 months.

Multi-bureau solution - Equifax India offers a user-friendly multi bureau solution that can seamlessly integrate into existing systems, that enables consolidation of data from multiple credit bureaus/data sources at a single point.

Value-added services- Equifax offers a host of value added services to support more profitable decisions thereby driving business.

It offers Credit Risk and Fraud Management Products and Solutions, which integrate the latest statistical techniques and bureau / bank specific data. This leads to more effective risk and fraud management.

Product and Pricing Design is another such value added service which provides the right product to right consumer at right time through superior understanding of the market.

Collection Products and Solutions enables prioritization of collector resources and collection strategies that align with customer willingness and help optimize money.

Portfolio Management services offer comprehensive valuation and consumer behavior scorecards.

Governance and Monitoring Frameworks to evaluate overall and segment level profitability on a real-time basis.

Process Redesign solutions to find that effective balance between origination efficiency, customer experience and credit effectiveness.

Industry diagnostics also comes under the blanket of value added services that leverages bureau and market data to provide insights into customer and macroeconomic trends.

Verification services

A fully automated tool with easy interface which is a one stop ID verification for all consumers. This tool verifies multiple data points – for instance, PAN Numbers and Aadhaar Numbers. It is currently linked to government databases like UIDAI and NSDL for Aadhaar and PAN validation.

Equifax India