Published on Feb 26, 2020Updated on Aug 29, 2026
The Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL) generates CIBIL reports. It is a detailed record of a person's credit history and repayment activity. The report contains CIBIL score details, as well as information regarding the individual's credit accounts such as credit cards, loans, and other credit facilities. It also includes information regarding the individual's repayment history, such as whether or not they have paid their bills on time, defaulted on any loans, and the current status of their credit accounts.
Lending bodies and other financial organisations use the CIBIL report analysis to assess an individual's creditworthiness and choose whether to extend credit or give loans. A high CIBIL score implies that a person has an excellent credit history and is more likely to be granted credit. A low CIBIL score, on the other hand, shows that a person has a poor credit history and may be seen as a high-risk borrower.
The very first thing you would see in the CIBIL Credit Information Report is your CIBIL Score. This is an overall valuation of your credit history and is used by lenders to evaluate your creditworthiness. The score is a single number between 300 and 900. The higher the score, the more favourable is your application for a new credit extension as this means you have been repaying your loans on time and have enough disposable income to repay another loan if required. This is calculated based on the information you would find in the Account Information and Enquiry Information sections of the report. In a few cases the score may be displayed as NA or NH, this indicates one of the following:
The second section of the report presents your personal information like your name, date of birth, gender, etc. as registered with CIBIL. The section also contains all the identifying information that CIBIL may have about you. This includes:
Your addresses, telephone number, and email address are present in the next section of the report. These details are captured as shared by the lenders. As part of addresses, the report would capture your office address, and residential address - both permanent address and the current address. The report does not just contain the current information, but historic information as well. The historical information goes back to a maximum of four iterations.
This section contains information about your occupation and your income based on the information shared by you when opening an account for a credit facility or loan. Again, this information is presented as-is from what the lenders submit to the bureau as part of the repayment information.
This is arguably the most important part of interpreting CIBIL reports as your CIBIL score is greatly influenced by this. This section presents information about all your loans and credit cards and your repayment history. All the data shared by the lenders is summarized in a table including:
The status of the account could be one among the following:
STD is considered a favourable status. Every other status is negative.
Within the Account Information section, if any details are disputed then a red box with an alert message is shown above the account information along with the date of the dispute.
The inquiry section is the final section of the CIBIL report. It contains information about any recent inquiries made by lenders. Every time you apply for a loan or a credit facility, the lender sends an inquiry to CIBIL about your credit history. The same is recorded in your CIBIL report as well. Each entry includes the name of the lender, the date of the application, the type of the loan, and the loan amount requested.
When analyzing your credit report, it's important to understand the following common terms:
Maintaining a good credit history, and ensuring that the same is reflected in your CIBIL report is a must to be able to access loans when you need them the most. You can get your CIBIL report by applying for the same at the CIBIL portal. Read on to find out how to understand better the various sections provided in the report:
If anything in your credit report looks off, you can raise a dispute with CIBIL to correct the same. Follow the below steps for this:
A CIBIL score of 650-700 and above is considered healthy. If your score is lower than this, you may find it difficult to get loans and should work to improve your score. Some of the steps that you can take include:
If you discover inaccuracies on your CIBIL report, you can correct them by taking the following steps:
CIBIL will advise you of their conclusion regarding your disagreement after considering it.
Obtain a copy of your CIBIL report: Visit the CIBIL website and request a copy of your credit report. You will need to pay a nominal fee for the report.
|
CIBIL Score |
Creditworthiness |
Probability of loan approval |
|
Less than 600 |
Urgent action demanded for |
Extremely low |
|
From 600 to 649 |
Highly doubtful |
Hard even with high interest |
|
From 650 to 699 |
Just satisfactory |
Possible |
|
From 700 to 749 |
Good |
Good |
|
From 750 to 900 |
Strong |
Very high |
A CIBIL report is a crucial document that can significantly impact your applications for financial products such as credit cards or personal loans. By understanding how to read your CIBIL report and its various components, you can better assess your creditworthiness and take steps to improve it.
Already have a CIBIL score of 700 or above? You may be eligible to apply for an SMFG India Credit personal loan of up to INR 10 Lakhs*. Apply online today to avail of attractive benefits such as interest rates starting at just 12%* per annum.
* Please note that this article is for your knowledge only. Loans are disbursed at the sole discretion of SMFG India Credit. Final approval, loan terms, disbursal process, foreclosure charges and foreclosure process will be subject to SMFG India Credit's policy at the time of loan application. If you wish to know more about our products and services, please contact us
* Please note that this article is for your knowledge only. Loans are disbursed at the sole discretion of SMFG India Credit. Final approval, loan terms, disbursal process, foreclosure charges and foreclosure process will be subject to SMFG India Credit's policy at the time of loan application. If you wish to know more about our products and services, please contact us
In the CIBIL report, 000 is a code that is used to indicate that there is no credit history available for the individual. It means that the individual has not borrowed any credit or taken any loans from any financial institution or lender in the past, or has not done so in a manner that has been reported to CIBIL.
The CIBIL score is a 3-digit numeric summary of an individual's creditworthiness and ranges from 300 to 900, with 900 being the highest possible score. A CIBIL score of 777 is generally considered a good score, as it falls within the range of 750-900, which is considered a high score range.
A CIBIL score of 0 or -1 is not a valid score and usually indicates no credit history or a credit history less than 6 months old. 0 means that the individual has not borrowed in the past. -1 indicates that the individual has a credit history, but it is not sufficient to generate a credit score.
It is quite improbable that you will be able to obtain a mortgage with a CIBIL score of 0, as the absence of a credit history is seen as a high-risk factor by lenders. Without a credit history, lenders cannot assess the risk associated with extending credit to a person.
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