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What Is Credit Score? Why Is It Important to Have a Good Credit Score in India?

Your Credit Score is a 3-digit number, between 300 & 900, that represents your credit behaviour, including your current liabilities and repayment habits. It is a yardstick for banks and NBFCs, from whom you get your loans, credit cards and other credit facilities, to let them know your creditworthiness, which is basically how well you have managed your loans, credit cards, Buy Now Pay Later facilities, overdraft, or other credit lines.

Lenders seek your credit score to assess the risk factor in lending to you, which is basically understanding whether they should lend to you or not, and if they want to lend, at what interest rates and loan terms should they lend to you.

What Is a Good Credit Score & How to Achieve It?

Your credit score ranges between 300-900. While a score of 750 and above is considered ideal to get the best interest rates and other terms on any loans or credit cards. To achieve a good credit score, aim for 750 or above and take necessary measures to improve it.

What are the Credit Score Ranges & What Do They Mean?

Credit Score Range	What It Means
NA/NH	“Not Applicable” or “No History” There is no credit history under your name since you have not availed a credit card or loan till date.
350 – 549	BAD This credit score could mean that you are in the high-risk group and are not good with managing your credit. This could be due to late payments, missed bill payments and other bad credit management traits. Credit score in this range makes it difficult to avail new loans or credit scores.
550 – 649	FAIR A credit score in this range means that you are fairly good at managing your credit, with room for improvement. While there have been occasional missed payments or late payments, your credit history remains fairly good. While a credit score in this range is not favorable, few NBFCs are willing to lend to borrowers with this credit score range, but with a higher interest rate.
650 – 749	GOOD A credit score in this range puts you in the less risky borrower and banks and NBFCs generally lend to you, albeit with tougher loan terms and slightly higher interest rates. Improving your credit score from this range into the ‘Excellent’ range is quite easy.
750 – 900	EXCELLENT A credit score in this range means that your creditworthiness is quite high and lenders are willing to offer you the best terms and interest rates on loans and credit cards. It means that you have maintained healthy credit habits with timely repayments.

Which Are The 4 Major Credit Bureaus in India?

In India the credit score of individuals is the domain of 4 credit bureaus – Equifax, CIBIL™, Experian™ and CRIF High Mark™.These 4 credit bureaus collect data of borrowers of various loans, credit cards and other forms of credits, and compile them into a credit report, based on which they calculate the credit score using their own proprietary algorithm.

Credit scores used to be an alien topic in India but not anymore. A survey found that 3 out of 4 Indians check do a credit score check credit score twice a year. Many Indians check credit score online to improve it while others check it to get a credit card or loan.

Even though many do the free credit score check to improve it, 3 out of 6 Indians were shocked to know that credit score is checked by lenders before approval of loan and that some mobile service providers check credit score before finalizing post-paid credit limit. This indicates that there is enough scope to educate Indians about credit score and its importance.

Another factor is that Indians with income higher than Rs.5 lakhs check their credit score at least twice in a year compared to people with lower income.

How And Where to Check Your Free Credit Score Online in India?

Checking your credit score frequently helps you take smart financial decisions. Based on the score, you can approach a bank to apply for a loan or credit card and bargain for better terms. Even a small reduction in the interest rate of big-ticket loans can save you a lot of money in the long run. You may wonder how to check your credit score online for free. Here’s how to check your credit score using different platforms.

Credit Bureaus: As per the RBI mandate, each credit bureau should give your credit report and score for free once a year. You can check it online at their official website or by mailing them.

Third-Party Financial Portals: Third party financial sites, like CreditMantri, provide credit score for free round the year. You can check it anytime from anywhere and it’s completely free. Checking your credit score does not hurt it, and you can check it for any number of times.

Banks: These days most banks provide credit score for free online on their official websites. While the first credit score and credit report might be free, they may charge a nominal fee for subsequent checks. It’s advised to check with your bank on the charges to check your Credit Score online.

To check your credit score online for free, you may need to enter the details of your Name, Date of Birth, PAN, employment, etc. After submitting the details, your credit score and report will be fetched from the credit bureau for your view. It just takes minimum of 2 minutes to check your credit score for free.

How To Check Your Credit Score for Free on CreditMantri?

CreditMantri offers free credit score check along with a detailed credit report analysis that helps you improve your credit score and apply for the best loans and credit cards in India.

Visit the official CreditMantri website
Click on the ‘Free Credit Score’ from the top menu bar to easily check your credit score.
Enter your mobile number and hit ‘Check for FREE’ button.
Verify mobile number by entering the OTP sent to your mobile.
Enter your Email ID, Date of Birth, PIN code, PAN, and Name.
Your ‘Credit Score’ will be displayed on the page.
The detailed credit report will be emailed to you.

What Are the Factors Affecting My Credit Score in India?

As mentioned earlier, the credit bureaus use data from your credit history to calculate or arrive at your credit score.

The factors that affect your credit score are

Payment History – The most important factor. How regular you are on your loan/credit card payments

Amounts Owed/Credit Utilization – Having very high debts or maxing out credit cards with dues continuing for many months will have a negative impact on your score

Length of Credit history – The longer the credit history, the higher the credit score

Credit Mix – Having multiple types of credit like personal loan, credit card and car loan shows that you can handle different type of credit efficiently and responsibly

New Credit – Taking out credits within short time negatively affects your credit score

Is Checking Credit Score on Third-Party Websites Safe?

Although, you can get your credit score from all the 4 four credit bureaus, checking it on third-party websites makes it easier as the process is minimal and hassle-free. Moreover, the credit bureaus provide your credit score and report for free only once a year. If you want to access your credit report multiple times from credit bureaus, you may have to pay a fee of certain amount. But third-party financial websites provide your score for free round the year.

While it’s a third-party, you may be apprehensive about the safety of your personal details and also wonder how they fetch your credit score from the bureau. Each website has tie-up with any one of the 4 bureaus and fetch your credit score from their records. The third-party websites ensure that it’s completely safe and you can check multiple times for free.

Some are sceptical if checking credit score from these sites will reduce it. Your credit score gets affected only if the lender checks it while you apply for a loan or credit card. When you check your score on these platforms, it is considered a soft enquiry, and it does not have any impact on your credit score. it’s indeed good to check your credit score multiple times to keep a track of your credit health.

How Can I Get a Good Credit Score Of 750+ In India?

Maintaining a good credit score can be done easily by doing the following:

1. Pay Your Bills on Time: Regular and on time bill payment has the highest weightage when calculating your credit score. So always pay your credit card bill or loan EMI on time. Make sure you have set up an alert to remind you about payments or opt for automatic payment where the lender withdraws the money owed on the day already decided by you.

2. Keep Your Credit Utilization Low: Keep your overall credit utilization low, i.e. say you have 2 credit cards which have Rs.50,000 and Rs.40,000 as their respective credit limits which adds up to a total credit limit of Rs.90,000. The recommended credit utilization ratio is 30% i.e. Rs.27,000. If a person keeps using a lot of credit especially maxing out their credit limit will negatively affect their credit score.

3. Don’t Close Old Credit Cards: When you close old credit cards the card issuer stops sending updates to the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus also give less weightage to closed accounts. This could bring about reduction in your credit score. Also, your overall credit limit reduces which means your spending capacity and staying below the ideal credit utilization ratio is difficult. You must remember that after 10 years the closed credit card account will be removed from your credit report which could bring down your score when you really don’t want it to happen.

4. Limit New Credit Application: It is best to limit new credit application within a short time period as each hard enquiry will be listed on your credit report, which brings down your credit score. Also, if lenders see a lot of enquiries listed on your credit report, they will get the impression that you are desperate for credit and don’t know how to manage your finances.

5. Monitor Your Credit Report Regularly: Check your credit report on a regular basis. RBI has mandated that all credit bureaus provide one free credit report each year to customers. But we suggest that you have a look at your credit report at least twice each year.

This is important because there could be mistakes on your report. Th mistakes could occur if the lender makes a mistake or due to identity theft or credit card fraud, which could bring down your credit score.

Why Should I Have a Good Credit Score?

Having a good credit score can help your secure loans and credit cards with ease. Lenders prefer applicants with good credit score as they show positive track record of repayments. Following are some of the benefits of having a good credit score.

Low interest rates on loans: Individuals with a good credit score can secure any type of loans with a good rate of interest. This is a bonus for having a good credit score. A high-interest rate loan can pinch your pocket and become a burdensome in the long run.

Greater chances of loan and credit card approval: As the good credit score is a representation of good financial habits, the lenders are no more reluctant to grant more credit to individuals with a good credit score.

Higher limits on credit cards: The good credit score can make you eligible for higher credit card limits. Higher limits can help keep your credit utilisation ratio low and thus improve your score further.

More negotiating power: With a good credit score, you can gain the power of negotiating with the lender. You can bargain for a lower rate of interest on loans and get your favourite credit card that comes with numerous benefits.

What Are That Factors Impacting My Credit Score Negatively?

To err is human. Poor credit score is the result of poor credit behaviour. It’s important you identify those poor financial behaviour to make things right.

Following are the reasons why most people may have poor credit score.

1: Late Repayments

You must remember that even one or two delayed credit card bill or loan repayments can affect credit score negatively. The more the number of delayed payments, the greater is the negative impact on your credit history and credit score. Though you may repay the amount later with a penalty to the lender, it gets reported by the lender as delayed payment to the credit bureaus.

2: Missed Payments

As major chunk of weightage in credit score calculation depends on repayment history, hence it is vital you do not miss a single payment on your credit card or loan EMI. Even a single default can hurt your credit score, making it difficult to avail credit in the future.

3: Poor Credit Card Utilisation

Maxing out credit card limit implies you are credit hungry which could impact your credit score negatively. Experts recommend that having a credit utilisation ratio of 30% and below is good for your credit score. In case you use your credit card often, you can request for a higher credit limit on your credit card or get another card to balance the credit utilisation ratio.

4: Multiple Loan Applications

As we already know that a hard enquiry can negatively impact your credit score, you must keep tabs on your loan applications. Applying for the same loan with multiple lenders can work against you as multiple enquiries are made. Hence, apply with the lender only where the approval chances are higher. You can check your eligibility for free for all loans on financial portal like CreditMantri which can avoid a potential rejection.

5: Administrative Error

Occasionally, there may be an administrative error that results in wrong information being recorded on your credit report. Sometimes, this might be the result of fraudulent activity as well. For no fault of yours, these errors could lead to a lower credit score, signalling to future lenders that you have bad credit.

Foreclosure: It happens in secured loans, wherein the lender sells the property through auctions and retrieve the outstanding loan amount. It can significantly reduce your credit score.

Written-off: The lender writes off your loan or credit card account if you have continuously defaulted on repayments for 180 days. This gets reported to the credit bureaus by the lender, and your credit report shows written-off status. This can affect your credit score negatively and make you ineligible to avail loans.

Settled: When you are unable to repay the loan, the lender allows you to settle the loan account for a mutually agreed amount which would be lower than the outstanding loan amount. This is a negative issue which will impact your credit score negatively.

How Can I Improve My Credit Score?

There could be people who have never taken loans or credit cards due to which they will not have a credit history and hence no credit score. Also, there are people who might have lower credit score as they could not manage their finances properly. For such people it will be difficult to get a loan and even if they do, the terms for the loan or credit card will not be good. These people need to improve their credit score which can be done by using any one of the following steps

Step 1: Understand your earnings and spending

Know how much you make, understand all the deductions, the reasons behind it and track where you spend your money. This will give you knowledge of your income and expense. You can also take the help of technology like mobile apps or online tools to track your spending, inflows and outflows. This can be a great help in your efforts to improve your finances.

Step 2: Plan your finances

Write down your financial problems and goals. Writing them down gives you clarity and finality, rather than constantly thinking and worrying about your finances without having a clear idea of what the issues are. After which you need to plan what you want to do for example, do you want to pay of your credit card debt in 3 months (or) save a certain amount of money before a certain time (or) pay the down payment for a new house. Decide on what you want to achieve. This will be your goal and mantra which your focus must be on and planning along this goal will help with you stay on course to complete the goal.

Step 3: Implement your plan

This is the most difficult part – doing. People will do all the above steps but almost always let go in this step. Implementation of your plan should include

Watch Your Spends: Do not spend more than what you have. Even better decide a cut-off point and save the rest. Try to keep your spending below your cut-off point. Credit card holders need to pay off their debts on time and keep their credit limited to 30% below credit utilization ratio.

Find ways to increase your income: Find alternate sources of earning income like freelance article writing, part time jobs in retail shops or any other means which you are comfortable with. Use this fund wisely or save it for emergency purposes.

Paying of your debt: Pay off your existing credit card, education loan, car loan etc. This needs to be your priority. This is eating away at your salary every month and needs to be closed as soon as possible. Aggressive payment of debts is what is required here.

Step 4: Review, Monitor and Adjust

After implementation review your actuals with plan. If there is deviation, adjust it accordingly. Continuously review your results on a weekly basis. This way you will know what you are earning and how much you are spending and if you are on track with your goal.

Also Read: Handy Tips For Fixing Your Poor Credit Score

How Long Does It Take to Improve Your Credit Score?

After you have identified you have a low credit score, you can subscribe for credit improvement services offered by various financial services companies or approach the lender to pay off your past dues. The first thing you need to do is to get your outstanding dues from the lender and pay them back in full. After having made the repayment, get a ‘No Due Certificate’ which confirms that you have cleared all the dues.

After making the payment, the lender will report your payment details to the credit bureaus who keep a record of your credit activities. Upon receiving the information from the lender, the bureaus will remove the negative issues from your account and update the latest payment details on your record. You have now successfully moved away from having bad credit. However, this is just the beginning.

For example, if you have a credit score of 480 at the time of removing your negative account, your credit score will remain the same in the future unless you have an active loan or credit card. On repaying the current loan and credit card bill consistently, you can improve your credit score considerably. A steady increase can be witnessed on being regular with repayment.

What is the Difference between a Credit Score, Credit Rating, and a Credit Report? -

Credit Report	Credit Score	Credit Rating
Contains information on current/past credit agreements (mortgages, credit cards, loans, inquiries). Reflects your credit management; you control the listings. Outlines how much you owe, payment consistency, and account age. Lists public records like court judgments, bankruptcy filings, etc. Can be accessed via credit reporting agencies or monitoring services.	A 3-digit number (300-900) based on your credit report. Scored by credit bureaus based on your credit habits, payment history and more. Indicates your creditworthiness; a higher credit score means your are low risk and gives you better loan eligibility. Forms part of your overall credit report from the bureau.	Indicates an organization's ability to repay loans. Assessed by credit rating agencies that analyse financial risk. Based on your organizations existing liabilities, credit history, and the ability to repay. Ratings range from AAA/A1 (safest) to D (lowest).

Why Choose CreditMantri for Your Credit Score Check?

Apart from providing Free Credit Score, CreditMantri also gives a detailed Credit Report Analysis based on the information available with the credit bureau. This detailed report helps you improve your credit score by making necessary changes to your credit habits.

Free Credit Score & Credit Report – Your credit score may not tell you much about your credit health and our detailed credit report helps you with that. Get an in-depth analysis of your credit score and credit history to avail the best loans and credit cards in India.

Instant Credit Score for FREE – Since it is a completely digital process, it takes less than 10 minutes to get your credit score and it is a fully online process where there is no need to submit any documentary proof.

Customized offers on Loans & Credit Cards – CreditMantri partners with more than 30 lenders to bring you the best offers on loans and credit cards.

Get Custom Action Plan to fix your Credit Score – Based on your credit score and credit report, CreditMantri will create an action plan to improve your credit health.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can I check my credit score for free?

You can check your credit score absolutely free through credit bureaus or financial services like CreditMantri by registering with your mobile number, date of birth and PAN number. This way, you get to track the credit health and know how the lenders view your financial profile.

2. What factors affect my CIBIL™ score?

Several factors affect your CIBIL™ score, including -

Payment history (whether you pay bills on time)
Credit utilization (the amount of credit used vs. available credit)
Length of credit history
Types of credit accounts (loans, credit cards, etc.)
Recent credit inquiries (too many can lower your score)

3. How often should I check my credit score?

Credit scores should be checked at least every 3-6 months. Checking credit scores regularly enables you to realize any errors existing in your report and be on top of maintaining a good credit score, especially before making any loan or credit card applications.

4. What is a good credit score in India?

In India, a good score is between 700 and 900. The chances of getting a loan or credit card at low interest rates and good terms is better with such a score. Less than 600 can get you a loan too, but will result in higher interest rates.

5. How Can I Improve My CIBIL™ Score?

These simple measures can help you improve your CIBIL™ Score -

Pay all your bills and EMIs on time.
Lower your credit card balances and credit utilization ratio.
Avoid applying for too many loans or credit cards within a short span of time.
Maintain a good credit mix between secured and unsecured accounts.
Review your credit report regularly for any errors or inaccuracies.

6. Will my Credit Score go down if I check it regularly?

No, checking your credit score through a service like CreditMantri won't decrease your credit score. Such inquiries are called "soft inquiries" and won't affect your credit score. On the other hand, numerous hard inquiries from lenders may lower your score.

7. How is my credit score calculated?

Your credit score is calculated on the basis of your past credit behavior. Weight is attached to all actions pertaining to your credit behavior right from submitting an application to credit to its approval or rejection and further on to repayment or default on a credit product. Everything has a bearing on your credit score.

While actions like prompt repayment of EMIs and clearing of credit card bills will add to your credit score and take it higher. On the other hand, actions, like missing your payments or totally stopping your EMIs or settlement of debt, bears a negative impact on your credit score. The other factors that bear an effect on your credit scores are the length of your credit history, mix of secured and unsecured credit in your portfolio and your credit utilization ratio.

8. Who can access my Credit Report?

Your credit report is a private document and is not available for anyone in the public domain. The only people who can access your report is you and the lender to whom you apply for credit.

Your lender can access your credit report only when you have submitted an application to credit like a loan or a credit card. In no other circumstances can the lenders gain access to your credit report.

Also if you take up Credit Improvement Service, the authorized agent may access your credit report but again it will be needed to be authorized by you.

Off late, some employers also ask for credit reports to be submitted for verification, however, these will have to be provided by you. Your employer would not have access to your Credit report.

9. What makes up my Credit Score?

Your credit score is broadly based on your past and current credit behavior. The factors that make up your credit score are

Repayment History : Prompt repayment on your past and existing credit products is the key to a good credit score.

Positive Credit Accounts : A credit score calculation takes into account your credit accounts and if they are positive (regularly repaid) or negative (defaults and delinquencies).

Credit Utilization Ratio : This ratio takes into account your spending on credit card to the overall credit limit on your credit card. A high ratio negatively affects your credit score.

Credit Mix : There are two types of credit, secured and unsecured. A judicious mix of both is one of the factors beneficial for your credit account.

Hard Inquiries : These inquiries get created each time you apply for credit. Many hard inquiries over a short period of time is not good.

Credit History : A long history of responsible behavior with credit is appreciated and contributes towards a good credit score.

10. Why is the credit score important for any individual?

When you apply for a loan or a credit card, your lender wants to ascertain if you will be able to repay the amount that you are borrowing. Credit score is a measure of your creditworthiness that is assigned based on your past and present credit behavior. It is one of the factors based on which a lender makes a decision to approve or reject your application for loans or credit cards.

A high credit score represents higher levels of creditworthiness and may earn you some brownie points in terms of lower interest or better terms for loans. On the other hand, a low score would mean rejected loan applications or approved on higher rates of interest.

All this makes a credit score important for any individual to be able to avail credit.

11. How are interest rates of banks and financial institutions linked with credit score?

When you make an application for a loan, banks do a thorough check of your application to ensure your creditworthiness and ability to pay back the loan on time. This is done with the help of a credit score.

An individual with high credit score presents a lesser risk to the bank or financial institutions as he/she comes across as a creditworthy person. When the risk is lesser, lenders are fine with allowing lower rates of interest to those individuals. But when the credit score is lesser, the risk on the part of the bank is higher, hence higher interest rates.

12. What are the information mentioned in the credit report of an individual?

A credit report is nothing but a reflection of the credit history of an individual. Therefore, a credit report contains details on all the aspects that affect a credit score.

A credit report would contain details of all your credit, present and past and their status. It also contains details of your repayment. Your detailed credit utilization report also makes a part of your credit report. The number of secured loans against unsecured loans can also be found in the report. The other details in the credit report would be the longest period for which you have held any credit account and the number of hard inquiries in the past 1 year against your PAN.

A credit report will also contain your basic information like name, PAN, address, phone number, etc.

13. Are there any chances of mistakes in credit report? If yes what kind of mistakes usually happens?

Errors are possible in a credit report. This may be due to oversight, where your name or PAN does not match correctly. Further, there can be errors where right credit accounts are not shown under your name or the amounts are not shown correctly. Some closed credit accounts might be erroneously shown as open.

Further, there can be grave errors like that of identity theft, where your PAN and details might have been used for obtaining credit cards or loans fraudulently.

14. How can I correct my Equifax Credit report?

To correct errors on your credit report, you would need to fill up the Dispute Resolution Form and attach clear copies of any documentary evidence you may have to prove that there is an error on your credit report.

The credit bureau will not make changes in your credit report, instead, they will direct your dispute with the evidence to the bank from where the error data had originated. Once the response is received from the bank's end, appropriate changes will be made in your report. The entire process may take 30-45 days.

15. How often should I get my credit score and credit report?

An individual can get a credit report once a year from any of the credit bureaus free of cost. This is as per the mandate of RBI. Further, there are memberships allowed by these bureaus at a payment of fee which allows you to access your credit reports during the period of memberships.

You could also check your credit score for free as frequently as you like on our website. In addition, you could also request for a credit report from us where we would provide you with all the details of your credit history and the areas where you need improvement. Credit Mantri will also provide you with easy actionable points that you can put into action to better your credit score.

16. Would checking my Credit Score reduce it or lower it?

When it comes to checking your Credit Score there are two kinds of inquiries. One is the hard inquiry which is caused when banks or financial institutions check your credit score with the credit bureaus. This is done only when you submit an application for credit ie., a loan or a credit card.

The other form of inquiry is called a soft inquiry when gets created when you check your own credit score at websites like ours or with the credit bureau. This method of checking your credit score is completely safe and causes no harm to your credit score.

In fact, our experts advise that you check your scores as frequently as possible to ensure that you have a good credit score.

17. Why do banks need to check my Credit Score?

Banks take a risk in lending to their customers. When a loan is lent, the lender wants to be sure that the amount is paid back with interest promptly. Therefore, lenders would like to ensure that they are lending only to the creditworthy or those who will pay back the amount responsibly. For banks or any other financial institutions, the only way to determine the creditworthiness of an individual is through his/her credit score.

Therefore any application for any form of credit is not approved without carrying out a credit check from the credit bureaus. Currently, banks have also started pricing the loans depending upon the credit scores.

18. Can Equifax or any credit bureau delete or change my credit information on its own?

No, Equifax or any credit bureau cannot delete or change any information on its own.

The generation of the credit data is done at the lender's end according to your credit actions. The same is reported to the credit bureau by the lenders. Your credit score is calculated based on the data shared by the lenders. So the credit bureaus have no role to play when it comes to data, it makes the calculations based on the information provided by the lenders.

In case of any errors in your credit information, you would need to raise a concern with the credit bureau who would then forward it to the lender to make necessary corrections. Only when the corrected data is sent by the lender, will the Credit Bureau makes changes to your credit information.

19. Does Equifax Credit Score affect my chances of getting a new loan or credit card?

Equifax is one of the credit bureaus operating in India based on the mandate of the RBI. The credit score assigned by Equifax is as valid as credit score assigned by any other credit bureaus like CIBIL™, Experian and CRIF High Mark.

A good Equifax credit score increases your chances of getting a loan or credit card, while on the other hand, a bad score can negatively affect your prospects. To maintain a good credit score, always remain responsible towards your credit and be prompt in your payments.

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