How to Read Cibil Report

Knowledge of how to read CIBIL Report is as important as being aware of the CIBIL Score. You should know the attributes that constitute the CIBIL Report and how each factor under the attributes can impact your credit score. If all is well and your score is in the top bracket then, not to worry. But the problem arises only when your score scales down. At this juncture, you should be aware of the contents of the CIBIL Report and how it can impact the score. This you will understand only when you know how to analyse the Credit Report, what has impacted your credit score range and how to improve the CIBIL Score.

A CIBIL report contains an individual’s account information and enquiry information. The information contained in these two attributes are

Account Information contains the following details of your credit facilities:

• Type of credit, for instance, home loan, auto loan, personal loan, credit card and so on.
• The name of the lender, Account Number, date of opening the account, date of last payment made to the account, loan amount, and current outstanding balance.
• Ownership details, i.e., whether singly held or in joint names
• The most important information is the repayment behaviour for the last three years.

This information is the basis for deciding your repayment ability. It will give the lender a fair idea about your debt ratio and the payment history. Checking this attribute is highly essential before you go for a loan.

Now, what is that you will have to closely scrutinise under the Account Information Section and how to read CIBIL Report? Details are given below.

• Details of your account: This comprises the name of the lender, ownership, i.e., whether singly held or in joint names, type of credit, i.e., whether it is a home loan, personal loan, credit card or any other loan, date of opening an account/date of closure of any account, the last date when updations were reported to CIBIL. You should check for the accuracy of this information. Sometimes there may be duplication of accounts, accounts that you are not aware of, account closure not reported etc. You should detect any of these flaws and get them sorted before approaching a lender for credit.  
• Account Status: A clean status of any account is what the lenders will be looking forward to. A written off or settled status is not welcome by the lenders as they predict potential default. The lenders will exercise caution while appraising the loan application of such candidates.

The lenders write off an account when the repayments are not made continuously for a period of 180 days. Account settled means a partial amount in consensus with the lender is paid as against the total outstanding in the account. This will be reported to the Credit Information Bureau and will find a place in your credit report. 

• Loans Past Due: The status of the account is determined depending on the number of days the monthly repayment is past the due date. The Standard or accounts with 000 LPD are the ones most preferred by the lenders.
• Standard: Payments within 90 days.
• SMA: Accounts inclined towards sub-standard
• Sub-standard: Payments beyond 90 days
• Doubtful: Accounts remained sub-standard for over 12 months.
• Loss: Recovery is not possible.

XXX against DPD for any account implies that the information for that month has not been provided. The number under DPD for any account indicates the number of days the loan amount is past the due date. For instance, 60 means the loan amount remained unpaid for 60 days, and 000 means the repayment is on time.

Enquiry information consists of 

• The number of hard enquiries that have been made
• Every time you approach a lender for a loan, a credit report is drawn, which is considered a hard enquiry and included in the credit report.

Too many enquiries listed in your credit report impacts negatively on the score as it interprets your hunger for credit.

Also Check - Cibil score by pan card

You access the CIBIL website and download your CIBIL Report. You will first see the Credit Score and will feel satisfied if you have a top  CIBIL score range, i.e., over 750. But do you know that there is much more to just checking the Credit Score on downloading the Credit Report? You should also know what constitutes the CIBIL Report and how to read the CIBIL Report. 

Here is a step by step process to read the different components of the CIBIL Report

#1. Credit Score: 

A valuation of your financial capability with the information in the Credit Report is the Credit Score. The lender evaluates your creditworthiness depending on the extent of the score allotted. The score will range from 300 to 900, and a credit score above 750 is considered a top CIBIL score range. If you do not have a credit history, then the score will be NA or NH. The required CIBIL Score for personal loan is 750, and the CIBIL Score required for home loan will be between 650 and 750.

#2. Personal Information:

This is the second section and contains the Name, ID number of any of the Government Identity Cards, date of birth and gender. The information will be as provided by you in your loan application.

#3. Contact Information

All your contact information like mobile number, address both present and permanent, email ID. It also contains a history of the information of the various contact address you have changed over the years.

#4. Account information

This is the most important section as the credit score largely depends on this information. This section consists of information about your various credit facilities in detail, namely:

• Name of the lender
• Account number
• Date of opening a loan account date of closure of an account
• The loan amount and current outstanding balance.
• Type of loan account, i.e., personal loan, home loan, vehicle loan, credit card, etc
• Type of ownership (single or joint account)
• Date of last payment made
• A month to month history of repayment for the last three years.
• No of days the payment for the loan account is due.

Depending on the payment pattern, the status of the account could be.

• Standard: the loan repayment made within 90 days
• Sub-Standard: the loan payments pending beyond 90 days
• SMA: The account is a Special Mention Account, i.e., it is likely to become a sub-standard account.
• Doubtful: The account has remained sub-standard for over 12 months.
• Loss: No possibility of recovery of the loan.

The most preferred status of the account by lenders is the Standard status.

Red Box

A red box with an alert indicates that that particular account information is disputed. The date of dispute will also be mentioned.

Enquiry information

Details of the number of loan applications submitted along with the date of the application, loan amount, the name of the lender. Every time a loan application is submitted, a CIBIL Report is drawn by the lender to do a CIBIL Score check which will be recorded in the CIBIL Report. Too many enquiries within a short span reflect your appetite for credit, which is not a good sign.

The Credit Score of all the CIBIL rating agencies is based on the information contained in the Credit Report. The credit score range is between 300 to 900, and the good CIBIL score range is 750 and above. When you do a credit score check online and find it low, then it means the loan approval chances are hampered. You should have a knowledge of the components of the credit report and how it impacts your score if you want to work towards improving your score. The key components of the CIBIL Report are

CIBIL Score: A three-digit numeric representation of your financial health and ranges from 300 to 900. A score closer to 900 is considered good.

Personal information: It consists of your name, gender, date of birth and number of any government identity card

Contact information: Comprises contact address, both current and permanent, email ID, mobile number as shared by you.

Employment information: The information regarding your income, type of occupation, employer’s details as shared by you while applying for a loan.

Account information: This is the most vital information and carries the maximum weightage. Details of the number of loans availed, type of credit, name of the lender, loan amount, date of opening the loan account, date of closure of a loan account, outstanding loan amount, the repayment pattern, overdue amount, the days past due, and the status of the account.

Enquiry information: The lenders draw a credit report when you approach them for any form of credit. This enquiry will be recorded in the credit report along with the nature of the enquiry.

Additional Reading: How to get instant loan for low cibil score?

CIBIL Score is computed on the basis of the components in the Credit Report. It is mainly based on the information in the Accounts and Enquiry Section of the Credit Report. A weightage is attached to each component in the Credit Report for finally allotting the score.

Payment history: This is about how you have handled the debt obligation in the past. The major weightage, i.e., 30%, goes to this factor.

Type and length of credit: The type of credit you have availed of and the duration of the credit history carries 25% weightage.

Credit Exposure: The total amount of loan carries another 25% weightage.

Others: Other factors like credit utilisation limit and credit enquiries carry 20% weightage.

Additional Reading: How to check cibil defaulters list?

The CIBIL Score range is between 300 to 900. But the CIBIL Score Range 750 to 900 is considered as a good Credit Score Range. The reason being it depicts sound financial health, responsibility towards debt obligations and credit utilisation. It indicates the overall creditworthiness of the individual.

Additional Reading: What is cibil grievance?

To improve the CIBIL Score in CIBIL Report:

• Make a payment of EMIs and credit card dues within the due date
• Do not miss even a single EMI or Credit Card due date.
• Utilise the credit card limit in moderation.
• Refrain from revolving payment of credit card dues. Always make it a point to clear the credit card liability in full.
• Maintain a secured to unsecured loans balance.
• Do not apply for too many fresh loans within a short gap.

Additional Reading: What is cibil dispute?