What Is The CIBIL™ Score Needed For An SBI Credit Card

With the growing incidence of credit card frauds and default on credit card dues in India, banks are now exerting extra caution while approving new credit cards. CIBIL™ score is one of the key criteria considered by SBI bank while approving any new credit card or deciding on the maximum credit limit to be sanctioned. A CIBIL™ score of 750 and above is required to be eligible for availing of SBI credit cards.

CIBIL™ is one of the three authorized credit bureaus in India, the other being Equifax and Experian. The credit report and the CIBIL™ score are critical to the lending framework in India as it helps in evaluating the creditworthiness and loan repaying capacity of the potential borrower, thus protecting lenders from high-risk borrowers.

What constitutes a good CIBIL™ Score?

CIBIL™ score is a 3-digit credit score in the range between 300-900, which forms part of the comprehensive credit report generated by CIBIL™. A CIBIL™ score of 750 and above is considered a good credit score which leads to faster approval of your loan or credit card application.

Any CIBIL™ score between 550-749 is considered a medium score with a certain amount of risk to the lender but still, you could get your credit card approved, provided you fulfil the other credit card eligibility criteria set by the lender. Any score below 550 indicates a high-risk borrower who has not maintained any financial prudence and could continue to default on potential payments. Such a low score will not get your credit card approved by SBI.

Higher the CIBIL™ score, the higher your chances of getting an SBI Credit Card approved in an easy and hassle-free manner with better terms like higher sanction of the credit limit or a lower rate of interest.

What is the importance of the CIBIL™ score while getting an SBI Credit Card?

A minimum CIBIL ™ score of 750 is necessary to get your SBI credit card approved. So, any CIBIL™ score below 750 would in most cases lead to rejection of your application for an SBI credit card. This shows how important the CIBIL™ score is while availing SBI Credit Card as the bank considers a borrower with a low CIBIL™ score as entailing a high-risk who could default on his/her credit card monthly payments.

This does not mean that a CIBIL™ score below 750 would automatically stand rejected by the bank. SBI would still approve credit card applications of borrowers with low CIBIL ™ score but would mean the borrower would get a card with a higher rate of interest or lower credit limit.

SBI would conduct proper checks on the borrower’s credit history before actually providing him with the credit card to ensure that the borrower will not default on credit card payments and would also work towards improving his CIBIL ™ score.

Why SBI considers a good CIBIL™ score a key criterion for issuing credit cards?

There have been huge instances of credit cards frauds and risk of default on credit card payments in recent years. This has made the lending community wary of high-risk borrowers. They seek the help of credit bureaus like CIBIL™ for providing them key borrower credit information in the form of CIBIL™ score and credit report. This helps banks like SBI to assess the creditworthiness of potential borrowers before actually approving their credit card application.

Also, in India, credit cards are like an unsecured loan, ie, does not come with collateral and are provided by banks solely on the basis of a borrower’s credit history. So, SBI considers a good CIBIL ™ score as a key criterion for approving credit card applications of borrowers as this entails very low risk for the bank. A borrower with a good CIBIL ™ score is expected to show financial discipline by ensuring payment of credit card dues on a monthly basis.

What are the advantages of a good CIBIL™ score?

A good CIBIL™ score gives an SBI credit card applicant various benefit like

• Eligibility for premium SBI credit cards with attractive offers
• A higher credit limit would be approved giving the credit card user more money to spend
• The rate of interest would be on the lower side
• Easy to get SBI credit card approval or an additional SBI credit card
• A better relationship maintained between bank and credit card applicant would be useful for availing future credit card or loans.

Additional Reading: Is A Credit Score Of 800 Good

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Disclaimer

The 4 credit bureaus- CIBIL™, Equifax, Experian, and CRIF Highmark offer credit scores in India. The points mentioned above are true for credit scores from any bureau, not just CIBIL™.