8 tips to Improve CIBIL Score !

POSTED BY Jagoinvestor ON April 2, 2012 COMMENTS (1,377)

Is your CIBIL report and Score messed up ? Then the biggest question you must be having is “How to Improve CIBIL Score ?”. “Bad credit score” is really a scary phrase these days. Many people are stuck with a bad credit score/report due to their own or credit card company mistakes, but most of the times I see that it happens due to poor credit behaviour and mis-management of credit officers. Everyone wants to improve cibil score, so that they do not face any issue in getting loans at some point in future. Now in this article, I will highlight few tips/points which will help you understand what makes a great credit report and good credit score. To understand this, just be clear that your credit score is dependent on several things and taking care of each point is very important. Read in detail about CIBIL Score here

1. Late payment / missed payments

The biggest reason for a bad credit score is bad loan repayment history. A lot of people pay their bills late or miss the payment completely. It’s so tempting to pay the minimum balance now and pay the balancing due later. Doing this just saves you from late payment fees, that’s all. The interest is charged and more than that you should be worried because this information is updated by your bank to CIBIL and the next thing is obvious, your credit report and score gets uglier each month because of this. So every time you miss your home loan EMI, car loan EMI, credit card payment or you make a late payment, it affects your score badly. If you have done a lot of late payments or missed payments earlier, its your time to fix it by being more disciplined from now on. Dont worry, if you now promise to pay things on time and do it regularly for next 1-2 yrs, it will surely improve cibil score for you.

Common sense Tip: Don’t pay your bills through cheque just 1 day before the last due date, because it does not mean that your payment is done. Some one will collect it, send it somewhere, then some one will make an entry for it etc, etc… This can take some time and result in delayed payment. Why not drop it 5 days earlier instead of 1 day? Please automate the payments for EMI’s and your bills. If the bills are not fixed each month, at least put a recurring reminder in your phone 5 days before the last date and then make the payment. If I can do this, why can’t you? In last 4 yrs, I have made my FULL credit card payment 48 times exactly 4-10 days earlier than the last date of payment. My CIBIL score is 831. You can also check your CIBIL score online

2. Large Number of credit cards and loans

There was a time when having 6-8 credit cards was a commonly practiced trend and something to show off, now you will pay for it! A lot of credit cards and loans above a “natural” limit is a big negative thing. That shows credit hunger and an extreme dependence on credit in your life. It shows that your life is too much dependent on external credit. Lets say you have two friends Ajay and Robert. Ajay asks for some credit from 2 people in whole year and then asks you for another Rs X and you have good friendship with him, I am sure you will think once and then may be give the money to him. But on the other hand imagine Robert who has taken a credit from 8 people in your office and 2 other people outside office, then when he comes to you and asks for even Rs X/2 amount, you will think 5-10 times before giving it to him. What kind of feelings you will be having in mind? What all doubts will be there in your mind? Some thing same happens in the loan industry, if you have more than “required” or acceptable limit of credits, it badly affects your score. Your score reduces point by point each month.

Common sense tip: If you have a lot of credit cards, better increase the limit of 2-3 of them and close the other credit cards. This way you will have same Credit limit in total and have reduced number of cards. Its better to have 2 cards with 25,000 limit each, than 5 credit cards with 10,000 limit each.

3. Utilizing your full Credit Limit each month

One of the easiest way to improve cibil score is to effectively use your credit card and do not utilize it fully to the limit. If your credit card limit is Rs 50,000 a month and every month you use 40,000 or 45,000, it will affect your score in bad way. Even if you are paying your dues on time, still what it shows is that you are utilizing your limit to fullest, companies don’t know that you might be doing it deliberately to “manage” your credit effectively, but the way it is seen is that your life is dependent on credit. So stop reaching 80% or 90% of your credit limit. A 30%-40% credit utilization is well accepted and seen as “positive” and make sure its the case with all the credit cards you have.

If you have 2 credit cards with limit of Rs 10,000 in first card and Rs 10,000 in second card and you spend Rs 9,000 from first credit card, but Rs 0 from second credit card, then your 1 st credit card utilization is 90% & 0% in second. Which means that you are seen negatively on your first credit card and “positively” on second card, but what you can do is spend 5,000 from first card and Rs 4,000 from second card, so that your credit utilization is 50% and 40% on both the cards and its “positive” on both.

Common sense tip: If you are reaching your limit, either make sure you move to cash/debit card for a part of your expenses and reduce your credit card limit, but in case you can not reduce your expenses on credit card, better call your credit card customer care or write to them that you want your limit to be increased. Most of the companies will do it. Just tell that you have few things lined up in next 2-3 months and you want the limit to be increased.

On the other hand think well before closing a credit card that you are not using. Your over all credit limit will come down if you close a credit card. So make sure you think twice before closing a credit card from credit utilization ratio point of view.

4. Higher percentage of Unsecured credit

A high number/amount of unsecured credit is bad. Unsecured credit here means credit card debt and personal loan debt, which are totally unsecured and you can run away with it. If you have total 1,00,000 worth of debt and out of that 80,000 is because of credit card and personal loan, then 80% of your debt is Unsecured. This is bad. If you had 80% of Secured debt like education/home/auto loan, then it was a different thing. I believe this is very obvious, the more unsecured debt you have, the bad it looks like. It shows that your life has more “emergencies” than a normal person, which makes you hungry for immediate credit. So this makes sure your credit score takes a hit. Remember that having a good mix of credit types is a good idea. So if you have home loan, education loan and credit card, that’s 3 types of loans, which is good. But if you have 5 personal loans and that’s all, it shows too much dependence on one kind of loan.

Common sense tip: Make sure your total unsecured debt, looks small in front of your total debt. You if have 80,000 of unsecured debt out of total debt of 1,00,000, then your unsecured debt ratio is 80%. If you take 5 lacs of secured loan, then your unsecured debt comes down in percentage, that makes things look better. Or make sure you prepay a part of your unsecured debt and bring down the percentage, Its one of the ways to improve cibil score !

5. Being a guarantor without giving a thought

If I take a home loan and ask you to be a guarantor for my home loan because I have helped you with so many things in personal finance, because I have answered so many of your comments and helped in solving your queries, what would you say? Don’t think more on this, you better say “Go to hell”. Because if I default on that home loan, you are held liable and your score will go down. While my score will be affected more, yours will also take a good hit! A lot of people because of various reasons become guarantor for other’s loan and then the primary person runs away or is unable to pay off the loan. Don’t do it, unless you are really sure you want to do it. I can do it for my brother, but not for you.

Common sense tip: Don’t leave your documents here and there, if you don’t agree to become a guarantor, many people try to make you guarantor by forging documents and misusing xerox PAN card or driving licence. Signature is easy to copy these days! Also when your friend who has spent good time with you in last 3 months, asks you to become a guarantor, tell him you were thinking of asking him to be guarantor for your home loan, good way to test the friendship!

6. Duration of your credit history – more is better

Longer the history, better it is. You will trust a 5 yrs old friend more than 3 months old one. That’s true in case of credit history too. If you are paying your payments/EMI’s for all loans on time from last 5 yrs, it’s very much a proof that you pay on time, you have a good history, but if I have a good history from last 5 months, that is not that strong. So higher the duration of good payment history, the better your score will be and will help you to increase cibil score.

Common sense tip: If you do not have a credit card, there is a good reason why you should get one now and do your payments with credit card and pay in full every month, so that your payment history is built.

7. Too many inquiries in short spam of time

Making too many inquiries in a very short time is not looked at positively. Imagine you have made a credit card inquiry, a personal loan inquiry, a car loan inquiry in last 3 months itself. What does it show? It shows credit hunger, it shows that you want to snatch any credit which you can get, you want to get things in life on credit. Hence have a respectable amount of gap between each inquiry you do. Dont apply for home loan with 6 banks. Note that each and every inquiry you do is reported in your credit report and if your report is full of inquiries, your score will stink! Any lender will doubt your payment capacity when you are so much dependent on credit. So the best way to improve cibil score is to keep your enquiries minimum.

Common sense tip: A lot of people just apply for loans even if they really don’t need it, keep this thing in mind and deliberately make sure that there is few months of gap between 2 loan applications (at least 6 months gap would really be good).

8. Settlement of your Loan Or running away

This is the worst mistakes of all. There are people who first take on a lot many loans and then are unable to pay it. So they either ran away (companies mark it as “write-off”) or at best just made some payment and settled the loan (companies mark it as “settled”). And this will make sure you are blacklisted for at least 7 yrs. You will not be given any loan, you can cry your eyes out for that 1 small credit card and you will be treated like you are nothing.

Common sense tip: Cut your debt, when it shows a sign of going out of control. One common ground rule which can be followed it that the overall outstanding credit at any point of time should not be more than 1 month of your take home salary. There is no solution of an out of control credit card debt other than paying it in FULL. Live a life with credit card as if you don’t have one!

Each tip on How to Improve CIBIL Score has its own weightage

Note that different factors which affect your credit score has its own weightage, so one factor can be more stronger than the other, but make sure you follow all the best practices and do not make any wrong decision. Look at your actions from the lender point of you. See what kind of people you would like to give credit if you were the loan provider. Just act like what you had expected

Did you understand how you can improve cibil score ? Can you share some top to increase your credit score , incase its not covered in this article !

1,377 replies on this article “8 tips to Improve CIBIL Score !”

  1. Bhaskar says:

    Manish sir, I need your suggestion very badly on improving my CIBIL score.

    I have had one loan account with the status ‘Written off’ for almost 3 years sir. I have another personal loan of Rs.2,00,000 and a Gold loan of Rs. 1,50,000 and a Credit card against FD of Rs. 45,000. All payments are going good and no delays. Right now I have a sufficient amount to PAY the EMIS of my personal loan and gold loan but I don’t have Rs.2,00,000 to repay the written-off loan.

    I can arrange the above amount within 3 months and I will clear the written-off loan.

    Here my tricky query is, Even though I make all EMIs on time for 3 months, does my CIBIL score increase or decrease while having a Written off loan?

    Today my CIBIL score is 686. Please suggest to me whether to clear the Written off amount first or continue with the rest of the repayments on time for 3 months to accumulate Rs. 2,00,000 to repay the written-off loan in 3rd month.

    Please reply sir. Thank you

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      I suggest keep paying the EMI.. dont stop that..

      And then once your have the money for clear the written off loan, then pay that too.

      Remember that all these activities will improve the score slowly, but dont expect very quick results just in 1-2 months. Only with good history score will change and building history takes time

      Manish

  2. Ajay Singh says:

    Nice piece of information and I completely agree that late payments actually hurt the credit score badly. So, I always pay off all my EMIs and credit card bill on time to maintain a good credit score.

  3. jyotishtha says:

    hi manish …i gave two cheques to a person of my salary account …for personal use…bt one of the check was bounced due to less payment in the account ….i have no any loan or credit card …is that check bounce will effect on cibiel

    1. Yes, to a very small extent ..

  4. vignesh says:

    Hi Manish sir,

    i contacted u previously also, thanks for ur previous suggestion.
    now my CIBIL score is now 775. I have a two wheeler loan ( total: 52000, for 36 installments, have cleared 9 installments now- no defaults in two wheeler loan ). since Jan-2016 have no defaults in any payments except for the months apr-2016 ( 009) and may-16(016)- default happened in my CITI credit card payments. i dont have any educational loan/ personal loan/housing loan . I have cleared all my credit card dues 7 months back itself. Can i go for personal loan with HDFC now or shall i wait till december-2016. please suggest

    1. I suggest wait for few months and only then go for another loan

  5. BalaV says:

    Hi Manish,

    I hold an Housing loan, it had a cheque bounce due to some reasons between my bank and housing loan bank, though I had enough balance. And I also did some 3 times 2days delayed payment of Housing loan emi, and am 24 years Old., holds an unused Credit card for couple of months. Will these details affect much on my CIBIL ? Pls advise.Since I had applied for 3 banks personal loans and all got rejected.!!

    Thanks!

    1. Yes, they will badly effect your Score

  6. vivek says:

    hi ,

    i’m vivek. i have my cibil score 580 and i have only one bank loan. My loan tenure is upto feb 2018. if i pay my loan in next two months(by this december 2016). will my cibil score improves ? if improve how much it would be , if not improves then why ?

    Kindly please suggest me the solution ?

    1. The score does not improve just because you closed a loan. It improves because you are paying your EMI on time and you have closed all your debts on time without dues.

  7. suraj dsouza says:

    Hi Manish,
    I have a small inquiry. I have an existing HDFC card with 50k limit and within 3 months of issues I’ve used up nearly 25k on the card but I’ve paid all my dues on time. I tried applying for CC in Citibank but it got rejected and they sent me an extract of my CIBIL score where it said High credit utilization. Could you please tell me how long would this reflect in my CIBIL and is there anything I can do to improve this area. Rest of the CIBIL report is fine.

    1. I think you should not use it to max level for some months OR increase your credit limit . In some months if you credit usage is less, then you might get another credit card.

  8. Vishal says:

    Hello Manish,

    1. I need to know how long is the bad credit reported to CIBIL incase u default on a credit card and it shows suit filed and written off on the report.
    2. My Credit is 520 at the moment. Will any bank provide a loan with higher interest rate and which.
    3. I have also been suggested to make all my transactions through cheques to increase score. Will that help?

    1. 1.Its more than 7 yrs

      2. Unlikely

      3. I dont think making cheque payment has any advantage!

  9. Syed says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have 2 Personal Loans running for an amount of 4.5 Lacs, I have 3 credit cards and unfortunately they are utilized completely. I have a Cibil Score of 746. What do you thing are chances of me getting a Personal Loan as topup. I earn 48 K per month.

    Thanks

    1. I dont think you stand a chance to get another loan

  10. Krishna says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have some huge amount o/s on my credit card (above 60,000) from past 6 months, and my card is blocked and under lean period. If i pay the total amount at one shot, will my cibil score will be good ? Suggestions required.

    1. Jagoinvestor Admin says:

      Hi Krishna

      Yes , the CIBIL score will improve . But in case you are expecting it to return to same level as before the answer is – No. As every time we default it has an adverse impact on CIBIL.

  11. Pradeep says:

    HI Manish, my credit score 550, I took personal and paid it completely however as per the bank there is an OD of 6000/- and it’s been updated in my CIBIL as written off, if I pay this amount to them, will it help me increase my credit score and in how much time.Please reply me on my email id pradeep_oct80@yahoo.com

    1. Yes, it will help , but it will not shoot up your score immediately!

  12. vigneshwaran says:

    in addition my fixed salary is 36000, living in rented house with family. can i avail personal loan or shall i wait for three more months

    1. Hi vigneshwaran

      I am not clear on what is your question. Please repeat it with more clarity

      Manish

      1. Vijay says:

        Hi manish,

        I had a credit card of HDFC, n I didn’t paid it finally after lot of reminder and they cancelled my credit card, now I am not able to get any credit card even after applying so many times.

        What to do to get the same.

        1. SO what else do you expect here? You didnt pay and it was reported to CIBIL. Now no lender is giving you the credit card or other loans because of that. Contact your lender for this.

  13. Vigneshwaran says:

    Hi Manish sir,

    i contacted u previously also, thanks for ur previous suggestion.
    now my CIBIL score is now 775. I have a two wheeler loan ( total: 52000, for 36 installments, have cleared 7 installments now- no defaults in two wheeler loan ). since Jan-2016 have no defaults in any payments except for the months apr-2016 ( 009) and may-16(016)- default happened in my CITI credit card payments. i dont have any educational loan/ personal loan/housing loan . I have cleared all my credit card dues 4 months back itself. Can i go for personal loan with HDFC now or shall i wait till december-2016. please suggest

    1. I suggest you wait for some more time and also apply for CIBIL once more before 1 month of applying for the loan.

  14. Vijay says:

    Hi Manish, have applied for SBI credit card in 2007 and before have received the card, i got the bill for premium to be paid for insurance which have not taken, have paid the amount as they mentioned that they will send the insurance documents, bot not sent, i was paying the amount for which i have used the card but not the insurance amount which have not opted, for last 6 years am not using the credit card and it got closed by bank, now in CIBIL report, i could see comment as “Written-off”, now am planing to take personal loan and credit cards, please suggest, Thanks

    1. Are you saying that you didnt pay the outstanding loan? If not, then pay it first, else that entry will always be there !

  15. kastubh says:

    Hi, my score is 664. i have taken many loans and all have been closed except one is continue with on time payment.
    but there is one error showing only RS.31( thirty one) OD from my personal saving account.i havent taken any OD service .So regarding the same i have raise the dispute, i got the reply from cibil that plz contact bank. i went to bank they say the system is showing all clear, we cant find any problem in account. Now in this situation what you suggest as i have to improve my cibil score. Plz guide.

    1. In that case you go back to CIBIL and give them a letter which you take from Bank

  16. Deepak says:

    Dear Manish Sir,
    I had two credit cards and one personal loan . I want to know if I have taken personal loan March 2016 and I want to pay all due amount and closed this loan. This is good or bad for my cibil score or its increase my score.

    Regards
    Deepak Singh

  17. Sumit says:

    Hi There,

    I would like to know something about CIBIL score.

    Over the past six months, between 2 CIBIL reports, my CIBIL score dropped from 810 to 793, although within that period, all my credit card payments were made within due date, no new credit card/Loan etc was taken.

    There was a big credit card bill of around Rs 2.5 lakh but was paid on time (even the credit limit on the card was higher than that amount). Can this transaction potentially cause decrease in CIBIL score.

    What can be potentially other reasons in your view. I am concerned if I don’t find out the reason, it may lead to further decrease in CIBIL score.

    Please advise

    1. hmm.. I dont think your actions should reduce the CIBIL score, but then its not a very big drop . Also we dont really know how it works internally and how its calculated. BEtter check it after 6 months again

  18. sravamsetti says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have CIBIL score 831 but have almost 7 check bounces in the current existing personal loan 2 years back.after that payment history is good. Due to this if i apply for any loan it is getting rejected. I am facing so much problem with this.

    Could you suggest me how to overcome this to avail some new loan. Or If i close the existing loan will the problem be resolved?
    Coudl you please help me on this.

    1. No , closing the loan will not solve that because that remark of cheque bounce is going to be still there. I am not sure what can be done here except meeting the bank manager and talking to him about this.

  19. Vicky says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have a loan over credit card for 24 months and I am paying the EMI’s on time. Will CIBIL score get affected if one taken a loan over credit card. I mean it is good or bad to take a loan over credit card. Please suggest on it.

    Thanks in advance!!

  20. PONVIGNESHWARAN says:

    Manish sir,

    My cibil score was 695 in march, ( mainly due to credit card issues). I have cleared all my dues two months back IN-TIME, )i have been paying in time). I have a two wheeler loan of 36 installments,( availed by march – since then i have been clearing it perfectly before due date). Will there be increase in my cibil score? i have to avail personal loan, kindly suggest.

    1. Yes, if you are paying off your dues on time and now there is not pending cases against you. Then your score will improve over time. Give it some time !

      Manish

  21. prasad says:

    hi, i have a personal loan i am paying my installment every month but not in time is cibil score increases

    1. It does not increase each month .. it will take time !

  22. narsing says:

    sir i dont know cibil score and i have 50000 thousand transaction every month in bank account can i get loan

    1. narsing says:

      i have pan card and bank account since 1 year

    2. One cant say for sure like that..

  23. Kripal says:

    Sir, my credit score is 748 and there is a settled loan in cibil. Am I eligible for getting a credit card or other loan. Or blacklisted for seven years.

    1. Most probably you will find it tough to get any kind of loans …

  24. raju says:

    Hi Manish,,

    i had 4 credit cards, which i didn’t pay it on time , now i had cleared all my credit card bills two months back , when i check my cibil score is less than 700, i want to go for personal loan , is there nay chance of increasing cibil score .

    1. Its not that easy .

      If you have not paid on time for 4 months, that will be marked under DPD section and will be there for 3 yrs, it depends on the lender to consider your request.

  25. Dipin says:

    Hi Manish,
    My CIBIL score is 650. and I have a credit card bill of 40 K. If i clear the bill at one go, will it help in increasing my score?

    1. Yes, instead of paying it in parts every month, its always a good idea to never had a credit card debt going on !

  26. javed says:

    Hi
    Manish
    i had a credit card,it was in default condition for 4 months with due 2400.and my cibil score was 675.i have paid all me due .the bank told me that the status will update in cibil after 2 months that i don’t have any due and closed the account.But i want to improve my score ,as i don,t have any credit card or loan so i decided to take secure cc against my FD for improving cibil.my question is that should i take the secure credit card now or should wait for 2 months to update my cibil that i don’t have any due it take two months?as i cleared my all due so can i go for a secure card instantly or wait the time till its updating my cibil?

    1. Yes, better wait for 2 months.. your cibil will get updated !

  27. Robert says:

    Hi Manish,

    I tried getting loans it got failed, So checked my CIBIL Score its 622, when cross verified one loan amount was showing pending, So have paid that also,
    So my question is will the points increase after this ?
    My date of birth is also wrong, when inquired with CIBIL they updated that check with Lender ?
    When checked with Lender they its take over company from other concern, it is not possible.
    Kindly suggest for further proceedings ?

    1. There are many issues in your case. First check with all teh lenders which are mentioned in your report and individually ask them to correct all the mistakes which are there in the report!

  28. Nagesam says:

    Hi, I want to apply for credit card, actually my CIBIL Score is 520 Can i apply for Credit Card
    Please reply me to asap bnagesh225@gmail.com

    1. It will be tough to get a credit card with that kind of score.

  29. venkat says:

    HI BRO… I had 774 CIBIL on march 31 2016.. After that i didn’t paid credit card payment for two months. Now cleared all… How much my CIBIL will reduce?

    1. One cant guess the reduction like this ..

  30. anup says:

    Hi…this is anup…today I went to buy a smartphone through emi…when the documents I have submitted like pan card voter id card, bank pass book, electricity bill of my father…still after showing all the documents..they searched sumthn through their laptop maybe my cibil score still it has been rejected by bajaj finserv. One more thing I haven’t taken any loan till today. So what will be the reason for rejction when I asked to them they replied that they don’t know its the system…system will decide whether it will approve or not…still I want to know the reason. And what I have to do to improve to get any kind of loan in future?

    1. It might be the CIBIL, but I dont think so because they cant get it so fast.

      I think they must have entered your income and other details (profile) and based on that the system must have denied the loan to you. Try to work on increasing your income !

  31. Sumit says:

    Hi,

    I want to know if I already have a credit card under my name, does applying for an add on card impacts the CIBIL score (does the add on card also gets counted in the No. of cards you hold). This is with my understanding that higher no. of credit cards impacts CIBIL score.

    1. Yes, if you take an add on card, there will be an extra entry in CIBIL on the primary card holder name.

  32. Sunny says:

    I have not taken any loan or credit card till now. But bank rejects my 1st loan saying you have bad cibil score? what will be the reason.

    1. Check your CIBIL report first, it might happen that someone has taken a loan on your name using your documents !

  33. SK says:

    Hi ,

    I just read in Nitin Bhatia blog that Car Loan is a depreciating asset and therefore it impacts negatively (damages score) on CIBIL. Also, I read on net that Credit card and low value loans also damages cibil score. I have done few settlements in past + have 2 Written off CC dues and currently using (since 10 months) credit card against FD (noticed dip in my score from 578 to 570 for no reason).I always pay 2 times in a month to my only CC bill to avoid any mistake in payment. so I am sure I did nothing wrong but my score was still reduced from 578 to 570 in 2-3 months. I had taken this CC to improve my score but it looks like it’s proving what I read on net..My previous score was far better when I was not using this CC. I was thinking to take a car loan also to improve my cibil further and faster. but after reading all these on net I am so confused and scared now. My worries are : 1. whether to continue using my current CC against FD or not . .. 2. Whether I should take a car loan (1-2 Lacs to build a repayment track and to earn trust from banks) or not. 3. I may also need a HL of 20 lacs within 6 months. I earn good enough to pay EMI of 25K PM. So, Kindly advise on financial products whether EMI of these products I mentioneed really impacts negatively on or Cibil or not. … What logic are they using ?
    Thank you,
    SK

    1. I m not sure how car loan will negatively impact CIBIL . please give me link

  34. Rajkumar says:

    Previously my cibil score is 748 , but currently i am using credit cards since 1 1/2 years . I didn’t made single late payment, resently i have got pre approved PL also. Now my cibil score is only 562 only. I getting feared , last 10months i am reached 100% credit limit due to financial requirement . Is it possible suddenly fall down ? For that single reson . And also please help me how to improve my score …
    Thanks a lot

    1. Yes, looks like your continuous high credit card usage is a reason for falling score in CIBIL

  35. Manjunath says:

    Hi Manish,
    I have 755 cibil score which is eligible for Personal loan and credit card.Using Credit card and got loan from bank every month am paying properly with out any due.But don’t know i am not getting any loans and credit card every one says issue with Cibil pas from two year.
    Could you suggest any person or best place to identify the issue and resolve it.

    1. Why dont you apply for CIBIL report ?

  36. Saurabh says:

    Hi, Last year my credit score was 815, whereas recently i have checked my credit score ( new score is 786) after hdfc refused to give credit card saying there is some problem with one of the credit cards that i already have. I am checking the report and dont see any problem with any of my other credit cards….what would have led to reduction of my score….few months back i took an AMEX charged card….would that be the reason of refusal or this refusal would have brough down my score…please help…..

    1. One can be sure on that !

  37. Anish says:

    HI Manish
    Myself Anish Mohan from Asan Ideas For Wealth. I have a query regarding point 7 which talks about too many queries in short span of time. If I make a quarterly download of CIBIL score to keep a tab on what is being logged in CIBIL against my name, will that be considered as too many queries or as a credit hungriness on my part ? The more reason I ask is because, now even ICICIDirect has allowed a facility where they will seamlessly pull the credit score on your behalf and display the same in your portfolio. They have tied up with CIBIL where they will display some important parameters of the CIBIL report in the portfolio section under a separate head called “Loans”. Now this is obviously not free but a paid service. Question is, will this facility also be considered as too many queries or credit hunger by CIBIL and negatively impact my credit score ? So, I would be grateful if you kindly ponder on my question, which is basically,1. are self initiated CIBIL report download considered as credit hungriness or too many queries on CIBIL that will have an adverse impact on the credit score ? 2. If I use the ICICI Direct service to seamlessly pull the CIBIL report on my behalf, will the same affect my score citing the same reason as No. 1

    1. Query here means loan queries, not CIBIL queries!

  38. Yash says:

    Hi Manish Sir kitna time lagta hai cibil score theek hone mein after paying all balance amt.

    1. Manish says:

      May be 2 Years. you can fill RTI to get exact info.

  39. pankaj says:

    hi Manish,
    i had buy a byke in 2010 on EMI basis but due to some financial problem didn”t make full installment the last payment was Nov2011 and my cibil score go down below 600 after that i made a new pan card with different pan number, Now in 2015 i applied for personal loan Rs100000/ from new pan card and the bank given the same amount but in my cibil score the byke loan is still showing in new pan no. now, i had surrender the old pan no. and continue with new pan but still my cibil score is 630 only on new pan no, and byke loan also showing, can u suggest how to remove my byke loan from new pan no and improve cibil score. (i m salaried)

    plz helpout the solution

    1. Hi Pankaj

      There is no short cut for this . You have to bite the bullet. Keep paying your loans on time ..

  40. Subin says:

    Hi Manish,

    In 2011 I applied for loan against property from HDFC and got rejected.
    Since then I have applied for few CC and few loan on two-wheeler and PL’s. Got few and rejected few.
    Now my CIBIL Score is 750.
    This month I applied for a 4 wheeler loan from HDFC and they verified home and office address. Initially guy at the bank said loan is approved, but still they have to check the reason why my loan against property got rejected in 2011. Few days later he called me and said that in 2011 the docs I presented in bank of office (ex: pay slip and office identity) was fraud as per bank. It was pretty surprising to hear, because I still work in same office which they considered fraud back then.
    Now what can I do clear this issue?

    1. Only the bank can tell you why they thought that time that it was fraud

  41. nitin says:

    Hi sir,

    My CIBIL score is 617 and some of the trades shows written off while paying all the dues……..Pls help me to improve my score

    1. The tips are already shared in the article itself !

  42. MANDEEP says:

    Dear Sir,
    My current CIBIL SCORE is 706, I currently own an AXIS bank credit card with credit limit of 1,10,000 and out of it only 44000 approx. is available. I haven’t made any default till date in terms of making any payment.
    I need to improve my score from 706 to 750 as soon as possible. So can you please help me with it and guide me also can you help me with how much time it can take to reach or cross the score of 750.
    THANKS IN ADVANCE.

    1. MANDEEP says:

      Hello Sir,
      Also my EQUIFAX score is 745. Recently my personal loan application got rejected. Can I apply for a new credit card in next 2-3 months whether secured or unsecured which may help in improving my score. Please guide me and suggest me what steps I should take further.
      Thank you.

    2. You should reduce you exposure to credit card usage i believe !

  43. Mukund says:

    Hi Manish,
    2 months back my CBIL was 696 and i started looking for personal loan with 3 4 banks, most of them decline my case. 1 bank gamve me personal loann. Then I started looking for home loan transfer due to lowert interest rates. When approached 2-3 banks , Last bank told me that your CBIL is just 658. I shocked. they gave me reasons of multiple rejection impacted ur socre even you are paying all emis on time regularly.

    Please suggest what can i do or how can i fight.

    1. Yes, the multiple rejections must have taken down your score. Stop asking for more loans and in some time, the score should again be back to normal

  44. Conrad says:

    Hi
    In your article you mentioned that if a cibil report shows written off or settled a person will be blacklisted for 7-8 years. I had a few credit cards in 2007, which I settled in the first half of 2015. I requested for my cibil score and it states 629. I have not used a credit card or taken a loan since 2008. May I know how long more do I have to wait till my score improves. It has been more than 7 years now since I last used a credit card. I am looking to buy a house and would need a bank loan, but wanted to be sure before I apply.

    1. 7 yrs is the minimum. It can even be higher like 10-15 yrs

      1. shah says:

        hi im shah nawaj……i used credit card and not done payment for long…now i want to mak d payment in full…no sattlemnt i want to do…i took in 2008 and my cibil score is 587…if i make d full payment ….my cibil score wl b impoved or not..if it wll be den how mch tim its gonna tak..wil i b eligibe for loan once again or nt…

        1. It will take a lot of time to get improved !

  45. Babitha says:

    Hi,
    I Taken educational loan on 2007-2010. The total loan amount was 275000. Due to some financial problem i was not able to repay the loan. Now the total amount reached 588904,
    and the account is NPA status and now bank has offered me one time settlement option for paying back the loan.
    I’m concerned about effect of OTS on my Cibil score, so i asked my bank manager to arrange the EMI option.
    But due to NPA account he told me to pay the Due amount of 313404 and pay the EMI monthly.
    Also i have very poor cibil score(cibil score:536) because My personal loan application has been rejected due to my cibil score
    Is there any option to pay the loan other than settlement. Also how to increase the cibil score??

  46. Gaurav says:

    Hi,

    I went to bajaj finance To grab EMI option while purchasing Phone , but they denied stating that The Credit score is -01 … Dont know why , I dont have any loan or haven’t applied for any EMI or any kind of loan before this .. Still confused why is it -01 .. Any guess Bro .. IS because of non maintenance of My salary A/C with AXIS bank and ICICI bank .. Long time back i had account in these two banks and i left the company and these A/Cs are still active With zero transaction .. ICICI one is 2 and half year old and AXIS one is 1 year old with zero transaction in both …. Please let me know if any solution available . Cos i will be applying for home loan shortly. and dont want things to be messed up

    1. Indra says:

      Hi Gaurav.
      You need not worry about the score being -01.This just indicates that you have not taken any loan and credit card in pastJust try to talk to them and see what happens.Cheer up !!

  47. namenin says:

    i got loan boss… my cibil was 580 … it not that difficult..
    there is solution for every problem

    stop scaring people

    1. Thanks for your comment namenin

    2. Danumjaya says:

      in which bank you got the Loan bro?

    3. Devendra says:

      HI Manish,

      Thanks for nice article.

      My score is 580 and 7 days ago i cleared all my defaluter’s (2 cards) cards.

      can i get construction loan as i have noc from bank ?and as i did full payment last week and my card was closed on 2012 , will my credit get improved ?

      Thanks
      Devendra Gandhi

      1. You will have to talk to bank manager for this, because your CIBIL would still be messed up . Show the manager these docs and see what he/she says !

    4. Aaditya says:

      My Score CIBIL score is 620 and I have been rejected by very bank either for personal loan or credit card. How were you able to manager getting Personal Load despite having 580 score. Your help and advice will be highly appreciated.

  48. richa says:

    hello sir
    i applied for personal loan but its rejected by bank because my CIBIL is showing overdue of 5000 but i dnt have any overdue
    plz suggest

    1. First check your CIBIL report and see what it mentions !

  49. Puneet says:

    I have CIBIL score of 680 with no credit card/loan or anything … how to improve this score to 750 and above.

    1. Hi Puneet

      Thats exactly what the post talks . Did you go through it ?

  50. Sandeep San D says:

    Using ICICI instant credit card can I make purchase over Rs 200000 to pay by EMI?

    1. Hi Sandeep San D

      This is very specific query which you should follow up with the concerned authority only. We wont be able to comment on that

      Manish

  51. rishi says:

    i have 688 cibil.score…m i el.igibl.e forcredit cards

    1. It will depend on the bank

  52. hardik says:

    I have 2 credit card and 1 personal loan
    i have used all my limit and transfer the amount to emi
    i have done 4 credit card delay payment
    and my 1st emi was missed only

    how much will my cibil score effect
    and my 23 months are remaining to settled loan

    if i pay all on time from now will my cibil get improve

    1. Try to close the full loan asap else your CIBIL score will keep going down

      1. Hardik says:

        If I pay all my emi from time to time and stop over limit use of Cc
        Will it help to raise my cibil
        N can my cibil be normal after 2 years coz I will need home loan

  53. Andrew says:

    Hi,
    I have a cibil score of 685. I have a Personal loan where 1 emi was defaulted and 3 credit card late payment made. i have paid the fine for the personal loan defaultment.
    My credit card late payments are made only to the minimum amount. Not the complete amount.
    How do i increase my credit score.

    TIA

    1. You need to first pay off all the debts and start using the cards wisely and make full payments each month

  54. Amarnath says:

    hello sir, I have taken 1 personal loan, 3 credit cards from different banks and due to financial problems i couldn’t pay the EMI’s on time. But I cleared my personal loan and credit card bills without settlement except one creditcard(converted to emi and still paying).
    But my CIBIL score is very low(360) and it is not updated. Please help me.

    1. You will have to clear the loan first to see the score jump . No other shortcuts

      1. Amarnath says:

        Thanks for your reply Manish.
        I cleared all my loans and credit cards but it is not updated in CIBIL. Do i need to ask for banks to updated CIBIL? If they update in next 2 months will i be able get personal loan in next 1 year?

        1. Yes, ask the banks to update it properly !

  55. Gopinath says:

    hello i am having cibil score more than 760. when i am applying consumer loan i am easly getting it. but if i applied for credit card i am getting reject by the bank may i know the reasioni alomst try with 7 banks. .. please guid me to slve this problem

    1. What is the remark on your report ? Is there any settlements or bad DPD section ?

  56. Ishika says:

    Hi Subrata,

    I went through your comments and firstly advise you to check your current credit score. You can get it for free by visiting freescoreindia. There are many reasons to get the loan rejected. Few of them are listed down for you:

    1. Your residential address is on the defaulter list
    2. Poor track record of credit card or loan repayments
    3. Too many previous loans and too little income
    4. Loan guarantor to someone who didn’t pay up
    5. Co-applicant has a poor CIBIL record
    6. You are a compulsive job hoppe
    7. You want a joint loan with your sister or friend
    8. Too many loan enquiries has been rejected before

  57. Subrata says:

    I had a due in ICICI bank credit card in MAR 2015 , i have cleared it in MAY 2015, but by that time CIBIL was updated. i Have closed the earlier CREDIT CARD and again applied a new ICIIC credit card and i got the same in JULY 2015. i have checked in AUG my CIBIL score is 675. I have availed Home loan in Dec 2012, a Personal Loan in Jul 2015(no hussle for low CIBIL report) but now in OCT 2015 i really need another small Personal LOAN but i am not getting it for my low CIBIL score…

    Do you have any suggestion?

    1. It purely depends on the lender how much weightage they want to give to CIBIL . Personal loan is unsecured loan and surely banks will put a lot focus on CIBIL

  58. Abhi says:

    My dad “settled” a loan of around 4 lakhs 6-8 years ago and was a guarantor for his friend who messed up around the same time 6-8 years. Since then he has never taken any loan nor have we applied for any CIBIL score.He has no loan, no credit card for past 7-8 years.The score came as a surprise 785! with no mention of those past accounts and loans. But there is one strange thing in it. There is a 7 lakh auto loan on his name in 2014 which shows as settled in 6 months itself. When I asked him about it, he says its impossible, he never applied and paid for any such thing. And there is one 8.50 Lakh auto loan enquiry. That’s it. Do I raise a dispute and get the 7 Lakh thing corrected? But I think that is the one making his score shoot :p. Confused

    1. I think you should talk to lender on this auto loan , how did it come in the report ?

  59. sharat chand says:

    sir
    I have two personal loans which were 3and 2 years old; now i want to apply for a new personal loan by clearing one of my old loan now my cibil score is 550 (when some missed installments ) and is there any chance to improve my cibil by clearing one of the loan.. it takes how much time to boost my cibil

    1. I think your score will be messed a bit more if you apply for one more loan . I dont think you shoudl do that

  60. Arun says:

    Hi Manish,
    I have used HDFC credit card 2years back and i have exhausted the limit of 40,000. Finally i repay all those amounts and also closed the credit card. But now i desperately need one credit card and tried with 2 different bank but it got rejected from the bank stating the documents or info provided by me was not enough , even i called the bank for further details and they didn’t respond me properly stating the same thing as the letter shows.
    What should i do in order to get a new credit card ? and What is the basic credit score to apply for a credit card with banks. Please let me know your thoughts.

    1. I think you should first check your CIBIL report and find out what are the remarks there.

  61. Abhi says:

    HI,

    My dad “settled” a loan of around 4 lakhs 6-8 years ago and was a guarantor for his friend who messed up around the same time 6-8 years. Since then he has never taken any loan nor have we applied for any CIBIL score.

    I may need an education loan in the near future, arnd 18 months from now where he would be the co borrower. I have applied for his CIBIL score. Im not hopeful. What would you suggest to stabilize the score.

    He has no loan, no credit card for past 7-8 years.

    1. Abhi

      What was the score ? Is his CIBIL report fine ?

      1. Abhi says:

        The score came as a surprise 785! with no mention of those past accounts and loans. But there is one strange thing in it. There is a 7 lakh auto loan on his name in 2014 which shows as settled in 6 months itself. When I asked him about it, he says its impossible, he never applied and paid for any such thing.
        And there is one 8.50 Lakh auto loan enquiry. That’s it. Do I raise a dispute and get the 7 Lakh thing corrected? But i think that is the one making his score shoot :p. Confused

  62. Abhinav says:

    Hi Manish,
    I had a personal loan in 2008 and 2 cr. cards which were due to no job in 2008-2009, I was unable to commit to EMI at that time. Later in 2010 to 2013, I cleared/settled all the credits I’ve taken. Its been 2 years since all the settlement has done but still my cibil score is not up-to the mark. I applied in 2014 for cr. card with a gap of 5-6 months, and got rejected. Now one bank official told me that by having a Fixed deposit cr. card can help me to upgrade my score. 2nd option one told me to go for long term loan, like car loan and it will improve my score. I am really confused. There are 3 options, one is fixed deposit Cr. Card, 2nd is consumer loan and 3rd is car loan. Please suggest me what will the best option among these 3 without getting into big loan. As per my salary, I can manage to keep 30k after all the expenses. Thanks a lot for help.

    1. I think the idea of having a secured credit card is good and you can go with that

      1. Abhinav says:

        Thanks for the reply Manish.

  63. Samrat says:

    Sir,
    Earlier due to financial crisis I settled my credit card and paid settlement amount .Now when I applied for a loan It was declined due to my CIBIL score affected due to settlement .
    If I talk to credit card authority to pay further to improve CIBIL score , it is possible ? or please advise how to increase CIBIL score that I can get the loan .
    Thanks,

    1. Yes, you can pay them . But don’t expect an instant jump in your score. You will have to wait for many months or an year to see a better score and report

      Manish

  64. CHANDRASHEKAR says:

    Hi Sir,
    I had a Citibank credit card before 2years and some personal problem I couldn’t do that one time and I settled full amount in last September with interest, after that I applied for credit cards several times, but I didn’t get and I have NOC (no objection certificate) with me, then also didn’t,. can anyone suggest me what I have to do

    1. NOC will not help always . If you have really not paid properly you will have to settle back the claims

  65. simon says:

    Hi manish sir,

    I recently got 2new credit cards one from HDFC for 75000limit and one from citi bank for 60000limit, now this was new to me so I used my HDFC card completly just have 6000limit left in it and citi card has 15000 in it now. please help me to repay the same how should I do this?? i have a salary of just 30000. with house rent and daily expenses,. I have kept the credit cards in locker so tht I dont carry them now till i repay it.

    1. But how can I help you to repay that. I suggest borrow from friends and make payment

  66. sanath says:

    I got cibil score as 605. This is due to standard standard chartered bank credit card registered against me. This is a identity theft case and I also informed the bank regarding this. Now I want to know how much minimum score is required for a company background verification. And how would i improve my score within less time (if I choose to settle dues with standard chartered bank, how will it affect the score).

    Thanks,
    Sanath

    1. Hi sanath

      First you should talk to the company and make sure they update your remarks properly !

  67. Abdul Azeez says:

    What does it mean by 000 against a month’s repayment history in a cibil report.

      1. Snehil says:

        What does it mean by XXX against a month’s repayment history in a cibil report.?

        Thanks in advance.

        1. It means unreported . Its safe no worries 🙂

  68. Praveen says:

    Dear Sir,

    My CIBIL Score is 706, previously I was using HDFC credit card and 6 months back I closed that credit card, now I am not using any credit cards and don’t have any loans too.
    Please let me know how to increase my CIBIL Score Thanking You in advance.

    1. You should again get the credit card and start using it . I dont see any other options

      1. raj says:

        HI SIR BEFORE 2 YRS I bought bajaj bike finance actually it will debit automatically from bank but i didnt use that specific bank and i pay it directly to dealer now i having 20 cheque bounce how can i repair my cibil score please do the need full now i applied for personal loan but they rejected my cibil score is very low before two months its self my bike loan also got over and now i dont have any loan is my cibil score will get high what i want to do to increase my cibil score please do the need full

        1. First check your cibil score and report and see what is mentioned there

  69. Amit says:

    I worked in a company for 1 month before 2 years, they opened Salary account in HDFC for me, but I had to left the company after 1 month, only one salary was credited into that account. I took out the money from that account. account converted into saving after few months but I didn’t care as I got Kotak bank account with another company.

    I didn’t use that account after that, neither closed it. But still receiving email statement, so I checked now, there is -5000 something in that account, will that affect my credit score.

    I’m using HDFC credit card since few months as well.

    Please advise, what should I do about that HDFC account.

    Thanks and regards
    Amit sharma

    1. No , its not going to impact your credit score

  70. Sunny says:

    Hi,

    I took a personal loan in 2009 and was repaying the EMI for a year, later due to some problems wasn’t able to pay and forgot that I took a loan. Later in 2012 I took a personal loan, vehicle loan and I closed it on time. I have been using credit card since 2013 and have been paying the outstanding dues on time.
    Recently I have been applying for personal loan and credit card and all my personal loan & credit card applications were getting rejected and I wasn’t knowing the reason for rejection and requested for the CIBIL report and found that the loan which I took way back in 2009 is Over due and is in Suit Filed/Written off status I guess. I called the bank and they informed that I need to the overdue amount and interest and the same will reflect in CIBIL report after 3 months. I just wanted to check if I repay amount what will be the status of my loan. Will it be Settled or Closed status and once its done how long does it take to be a good customer so that I can apply for personal loan.

    Any advise on the same will be very helpful.

    Thanks
    Sunny

    1. If you pay the full amount, the status will be CLOSED . But dont expect your score to jump instantly. It will take time

  71. Arun says:

    Hi Manish, I had applied for a credit card. And it is rejected due to insufficient sibil credit history.
    While my college times, i helped my friend for getting a loan for him by my account. He didn’t pay on time. My 8 Cheques was bounced.. The loan was fully paid.

    Now i have no any loan. Now I can’t get any loan, credit card etc.. How can i improve my score on Sibil?

    1. the mistake made by friend will now haunt you for some more years . Keep paying your dues on time and overtime things should get better for you

  72. Vishal says:

    Watch this video which gives step by step guide on improving CIBIL score. https://youtu.be/cILuYaSiCcQ

  73. kumar says:

    Hello manish
    I closed my 3 personal loans and 1 citi bank credit card .my cibil score will increase

  74. Madhusudana says:

    Dear sir
    I have taken 90000 thousand education loan not paid from last year but I have paid full due amount now my score is 655 after update Cibil how much score increase tell me sir

    1. You can expect it to go upto 750

  75. Simbu says:

    Hi,

    I have a taken a Education loan in 2007 from SBI Bank 30,000 and i Paid fully(late payment) and also I ICICI Credit
    card, I have been making minimum payments on my credit card for the past 6 months on which the overall outstanding was always 80% above the credit limit. After coming across this article, I have decided to pay off the full outstanding by next month.

    Now applied AXIS bank and CITI Bank Credit card, both of them declined because Poor CIBIL score,…

    How to improve my CIBIL score?? please do needful..

    1. It will take a long time now to improve your score. First pay off your dues and then later use your credit card wisely .Thats all I can say !

  76. Srikanth says:

    Hi Manish,

    I took a consumer loan from ICICI and cleared it without any dues in 12 months and CC from HSBC in the year 2008 and closed it in 2010 without any outstanding dues. After that, I have taken personal loan and credit card from ICICI and after 10 months i was unable to pay due to financial crises and settled PL in Aug-2013 and CC in Apr-2015. Now, my current CIBIL score is 589. Now, to improve my CIBIL score I took an instant CC against an FD of 20k frm ICICI with a CC credit limit of 17k and using it regularly for an amt of 3k per month and paying the Total amount within the due dates. I just want to know, approximately how long will it take to increase my CIBIL score to 750 ? Do I have to spend more or increase the credit limit to improve the score early ?

    Your inputs will be highly appreciable.

    1. Hi Srikanth

      Its going to take a good amount of time because your history is not that clean . I would say atleast 1 yr

  77. I had a CC with a leading back for a year – never missed any emi or any oustanding amount. The next year the bank informed me that the renewal feel is 5000 which i never knew as teh CSR never informed me about this neither its writen anywhere. So i paid the renewal amount and closed the CC as i do not intent to keep paying this huge amount every year. Will this affect my CIBIL score?

    1. No , it will not affect

  78. MOhammed says:

    Hi,

    I have taken an educational loan 7 years back & settled it only 2 years back. Now I have applied for a Credit card from private Bank. Will that affect my CIBIL Score ?

    Also I want to know, not maintaining min balance in saving account affects the CIBIL Score?

    1. Hi MOhammed

      Settlement of any kind will affect your credit score. Minimum balanced in saving bank will not affect !

  79. vivek says:

    Hi Manish,

    My Credit Score suddenly dropped to 702 from 800 in 5 months. I have unknowingly enquired about consumer durable loans from Bajaj finance for my Friends. The total no of loan enquired we around 4 in last 5 months. Remaining things are fine. How can i improve my credit scroe as i have to apply for a home loan soon.

    Current Situation:
    1. Car loan – 3 Years old
    2. Consumer Durable Loan – About to end in 5 months (should i close it now??)
    3. Credit card Utilisation is almost 80% in one card and 0% in other card.

    Please help..

    1. What help you need here ?

  80. prashant says:

    Hi Manish

    I had some credit cards 10years back when i started earning, Due to some financial probs i was not able to pay. Now I have settled all the cards. In 2011 i took auto loan which i paid in 3years without and delay or bounce. Now I do not owe anything to any bank or any financial institution nor i have any loan to pay. My credit score is 587, Now i do not know how do i increase my score as i do not have any loan or credit card to pay. My financial position is very good and I have earning of 3 lakhs per month. Please help

    1. YOu said that you settled the loans . Which means that you did not pay the full amount, you owe that to companies still and now the amounts must have become become with interest !

  81. Ravi says:

    HI Manish,

    Thanks for your other replies.

    I have taken educational loans and there was some late payments also credit card late payment…but in Dec 2014 I have cleared all my debts and still using same credit card ..in Jan 2015 I got HDFC car loan now its being 6 months…but even now my CC score remains same 618 only…so not able to get PL loans .

    1. Yes, it might happen that you dont get personal loans due to lower score ! . You cant do much other than keep using the other loans and make payments on time to take your score to high level

  82. Shiv kumar says:

    My cibil score is only 550 because my three personal loan is settled and other write off how can I improve my cobil score

    1. Its already discussed in the article itself

  83. Ashish says:

    Hi, wonderful updates & really an eyeopener.. However, I once spoke to a Branch manager of a Pvt. bank & he stated that to improve your “bad” CIBIL scores, is to take about 20K (or more) to the bank & apply for a credit card within that limit (say 10K). Use the card every month to pay your utilities / groceries ect. & pay back in full before the due date. Preferably online! Say your bills amount to approx 5K each month, use your credit card to pay / purchase & pay back accordingly. This regular on-time payment will earn you 80 good & positive points each year! Another couple of people (from the financial field) also advised me that if there are some bad loans (defaults) it is better to pay up in full OR “settle” it out with the bank / financial company! BUT not to keep it outstanding & on default. Close it anyhow! Hope my inputs help. Request the Mr. Manish to may correct me if the above info is wrong or misleading.. Thanks!

    1. Hi Ashish

      Thanks for your sharing your valuable comment on this topic. Please keep sharing your views in future also

      Manish

  84. Anand says:

    Hi I had 2 PL and 3 CC which I was paying promptly till 2008 September. After the slowdown in the market, I coul not pay for 2 years. I later started settling my accounts by paying off a minimum amount decided by the bank/ collection agencies. I cleared all the accounts in September 2014. In December, I enquired for my CIBIL score which was 625. Now I would like to know whether I would be eligible for a new CC or PL? if not then by when and also when will my CIBIL score be 700 or more?

    1. Hi Anand

      Only banks will be able to comment if they can provide loans at this score or not

  85. Dhamu says:

    Hi,

    Its a nice article with examples.

  86. Surya says:

    Hi Manish,
    i have a taken a loan in 2012 from Axis Bank 4L and i paid 10 EMI’s after due to the financial problems i have not paid till now.recently got a call from Axis Bank Loan Collection Team and asked me to pay remaining amount either by settlement or to clear total outstanding amount if not pay will take legal action according to the section 138.
    now my cibil score is 650.please suggest me how can i proceed in this case also to improve my cibil score. need minimum 6 months time to pay either settled amount or to clear total outstanding amount.

    1. Unless you pay off the old loan, you will face a lot of issues in increasing your score. First pay it off !

  87. Keerthan says:

    Hi, I have been making minimum payments on my credit card for the past 1 yr on which the overall outstanding was always 90% above the credit limit. After coming across this article, I have decided to pay off the full outstanding by next month. If I close the credit card or discontinue its usage completely, will my credit score improve? Or do I have to continue using the card in a disciplined manner to improve my score?
    I have only one credit card, no other loans, I have never missed a payment of the credit card bill/insurance premium.

    1. You should keep using it to improve the score. Just paying off the full amount will surely help .

  88. vibin says:

    Hello All, I had a Citibank suvidha Corp Salary account , While Opening the bank had also opened a ready credit account where the account number for both was same.I used this Account for a Year, and could not close and left the country in 2006. To my surprise i pulled my CIBIL Report and saw the same Account number mentioned as closed and says 0 amount with written off status. When i checked with the Citibank, they says from their back end team they are able to see an amount of 54600 Rupees as OD and they have done a reversal. so to close this account and change the status they are asking me to pay the amount which is mentioned above.To my knowledge i have used only the amount which was getting credited to my salary account , nothing else apart from it. Can you help me how to get rid of this please…and keep my CIBIL always Good. Trust me i never took or used OD facility from this bank, and the bank is claiming that this amount i need to pay…any help would be greatly appreciated.

  89. ESAB says:

    HI
    am using ICICI Credit card 7 years back, after my relocation i come to knew that there is an payment due, in which i not paid, later wise in 2010 when i do some transaction to my savings account , it will debit automatically to credit card , and still they are saying some 12k pending
    now my auto loan got rejected due to this, now i want to understand that if i paid the amount to concern back, did my cibil get cleared
    as how can i come to knew am in black list or not

    Esa

    1. Its not that simple. Its not that just because you clear the old thing , the same moment you will get the new loan . First clear your old loan, and after 6 months apply for new loan if you want

  90. Raja says:

    I have checked my credit score 529 at Jan 2015 and i applied consumer loan on Feb 2015 and its get approved and i completed 4 months EMI (4439 pm), now how much credit score improved till now?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Raja,

      Improving the credit score is a slow and gradual process, you need to have a disciplined behaviour in managing your credits – timely repayments, maintaining a balance between secured and unsecured loans, utilizing up to 35-40% of the limit on your credit cards and not making unnecessary applications for new credit facilities will help improve your credit score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. One cant tell that like this . You need to check it back

  91. JobanMathew says:

    Well, Thank for this article I am working in nbfc which gives Machinery loans so Cibil score is major concern just starting my career so i will look to do most things correct

  92. Anuj says:

    Hi manish
    i came across this article while doing my favoueite timepass ie reading the archives of Jagoinvestor… actually ur blog has helped me in many ways in solving my querry and also whenever i am in somesort of financial trouble i used to search the term in ur blog and get my solution by reading articles on that issues. Recently while reading an article about HDFC bank issues in some other blog i turn to your site yet again for my solution , but couldnot get one so i am in need of my solution ….my extreme apology for the length of this question !!!
    I want to know about the dormant account and its effect on cibil score.
    While doing my post graduation in 2011 i had opened a saving account with HDFC bank in ranchi with AMB of 10000, but later on one RM of HDFC bank approached me and said about one new branch of the HDFC bank near my college and suggested me to open new account in that bank with offered a gift as well as PREFERRED banking services to doctors and zero AMB . As i was doing PG at that time and due to fund shortage this offer appeared great to me as there was no AMB restrictions so i didnot had to lock my money in that account. And so as per his suggestions i opened a new account and withdrew all my money from the older one and asked for closure of that older account by filling up the form and handedover to the sales agent from whom i had opened my account. BUT the sales agent didnot closed my account and its now more than two years that i have not done any transaction with that account but still that account shows the Negative balance of 6741 in form of AMB charges and other ATM maintainance charges. That sales agent as well as the RM both have shifted their job and so they are not helping me. whenever i contact the new RM about my issues he suggests me to not to worry and do nothing as the account has become dormant. BUTdue to linking of consumer id whenever i open my netbanking for HDFC it shows the negative balance for my older account as well as my second account with its balances . So i am stuck in this situation and more than that all the facility that were promised were taken back as the RM has changed and i have to maintain the AMB of 25000 for the same facility and now i am no more a PREFERRED customer. Dose this dormant annount with negative balance have some effect on my CIBIL score , i have a credit card with HDFC bank linked with my newer account so credit card due is auto debited from my account timely .I had taken a home appliance availing the zero percent interest finannce from Bajaj fin serv and paid all my EMI for this and in their statement my CIBIL score appear as 782.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Savings account does not reflect on your CIBIL report. therefore even the negative balance wont hamper your score.

      Just remember always for better credibility, you need to have a disciplined behaviour in managing your credits – timely repayments, maintaining a balance between secured and unsecured loans, utilizing up to 35-40% of the limit on your credit cards and not making random applications for new credit facilities.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. There is no effect of a dormant bank account in CIBIL !

  93. Rajesh says:

    In march 2015, my Cibil Score was 620. The score was low since there was written off item from SCB, for Rs 64000. Original unpaid amount was Rs 1200 as of Jan 2008. For this it was showin 150 day delay for each month from 2011 Dec to Nov 2014 when it was written off.

    My question is
    1) If my do any settlement and clear my the amont, will it help me to improve score or it will affect my score.
    (Written off in Dec 2014 vs settlement in 2015 )

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Written-off and Settled both are negative remarks, therefore it is always advisable to close such accounts completely.

      If you settle a written off account, the impact would lessen but it will still have negative impact on your score.

      We would suggest to close the account completely and not do any kind of settlement by taking waiver on the outstanding.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. If you pay the full amount, it will improve your score !

  94. Shyam says:

    Hi Sir,

    I had a ICICI Credit card which was blocked by me in the year 2008 as i lost my card.
    I had cleared all the dues and did not take a replacement card. I recently noticed that my CIBIL score is 684 where as in 2014, after applying for home loan, it was 790. The only update that has happened in the account is for the ICICI credit card that was blocked in the year 2008, which now reflects in my CIBIL as XXX till Nov 2014 and in Dec 2014 with a DPD of 900 Days. I called ICICI phone banking and they confirmed there is no dues on old or the existing ICICI CC. I have raised a Dispute in the CIBIL however would like o know if this will be a major reason for the drop of 112 points in a span of one year!!!!

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      DPDs do have negative impact on your credit report and score.

      We would suggest to write to the bank for this issue and take a confirmation of the same in written. As oral communications don’t hold strong. Also, after getting the confirmation write to CIBIL regarding this issue if its not rectified by then.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Did you get any reply from them ?

  95. Subin Abraham says:

    Dear Credexpert,

    Thank you for your reply.

    At present i don’t have NO credit card or NO loan of any type. In this case will it increase in course of time?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Your Credit Score is generated from your performance with the credit facilities.
      If there are no active accounts, then the score might drop in near future.

      You can opt for a secured credit card and build your credit history over a period of time. Your timely repayments against this card and over a period of time your credit score could improve.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  96. Subin Abraham says:

    My score in Dec-2014 was 692 and with a running loan for two wheeler (Sanctioned amount was 60000). And had a sack full of bounces on ECS, but every month I paid the EMI in cash. But didn’t pay the bounce charges, eventually the overdue was around Rs. 20000, including interest and what not. In Jan-2015 I closed the account by paying the full and final and I received the NO DUES CERTFICATE also. In Apr-2015 I again check the report and found out that the loan which I paid was still on the report and still as pending and score as 692. I raised a dispute and after 15 days I received a mail saying that the issue has been sorted out. And this week they mailed me the revised CIBIL report and surprisingly the score was increased to 695, only 3 points has increased. Now what I can’t figure out that why is it only increased by just 3 points. Or is it usual norm.

    Pls make me understand.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Improvement and increase in your score is a slow and gradual process, you need to have a disciplined behaviour in managing your credits – timely repayments, maintaining a balance between secured and unsecured loans, utilizing up to 35-40% of the limit on your credit cards and not making random applications for new credit facilities will help improve your credit score.

      Also, the late payments that occurred in the past would reflect and stay on your credit report as the report reflects the facts related to all credit activities, but the impact of it will reduce gradually with timely payments on your active credit accounts.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. I not very sure on that. Check with CIBIL directly on this

  97. Well Wisher says:

    My Journey from 570 to 830 Cibil Score

    3 years ago I was in a very bad shape regarding cibil score. Primary reason was I wasn’t aware of my credit history and didn’t think twice before applying for a credit card or using a credit card. And then I got the shock of my like when my home loan was rejected. And may be that was the moment I decided to improve my credit score and credit behavior.

    1. The first step I took was to clear all the overdues. One of the credit card was written off (I took this card, spent around Rs.600 in 2003 and forgot about it. In between I went to US so may be I missed any communication from the bank). To settle the write off, I had to pay Rs5000! (for Rs600 spending). But never-the-less, any overdue needs to be paid in full. There is no magic, score wont go high instantaneously (may be score would improve 20-30 points each month) since it measures your credit history over a period of time. You have to wait and focus on building good credit habit.

    2. Second step was to close any unused credit card. In most cases, you dont need 6-7 card, may be 2-3 cards are more than enough. Its also easier to track the payment date/amount for less number of cards.

    3. Close any unsecured loan as soon as possible (even if it requires paying 4% extra). If you can control unsecured loan, you will automatically take control of your credit behaviour. Unsecured are easy to get but very difficult to get rid of.

    4. Check your Cibil Score/CIR every 6 months (or at the least every year) to make sure you dont have any surprise waiting for you (remember sometimes it could be mistake of the reporting organization – I had to chase an oragnization, for 3 unsecured loans, to report it correctly)

    1. Thanks for sharing your overall journey

  98. Deepanshu kakkar says:

    Hi Manish
    My credit score was 595 as I settled my credit card payment with scb so I finally cleared all my due of scb and after clearing I got a mail from scb that credit status has been uploaded on cibil. So I chkd again my cibil report n scb due is zero but still my cibil score is 627. I have no other dues. So how can I improve my score???

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Though, you have closed the account with ‘settled’ remark, the ‘DPDs’ reflecting on it, will remain on your report as the report reflects the facts related to all credit activities and will have negative impact until you have a good repayment history for any new credit lines on your report.

      To improve your score, you can opt for a secured credit card and build your credit history over a period of time. Your timely repayments against this card and other active credit facility would help building a better score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. You cant get a 800-900 score just by settling the dues. You need to wait for some time and also pay on time if you have any debt

  99. kusuma suresh says:

    Hi Manish,

    I had settled ICICI credit card long back(2 years), Card limit is 30000 i used 25000 and i stoped payment, later overall it became Appr : 60000 with all interests, then one of my friend(IDOIT) suggested to settle the amount with bank, due to my lack of knowledge i settled the amount with bank for 20000.

    Now i want the loan for personal reasons. but it got rejected due to CIBIL it is showing that there is an pending amount of Rs: 25000.

    But i’m using HDFC credit card from past 5 year with nice payment history.

    Can u please suggest what to do and how to get good score in CIBIL.

    Thanks
    Suresh

    1. You will have to repay the old debt, only then your credit report will take a better shape . Contact ICICI and settle it finally !

  100. Arun says:

    I had a credit card with SCB in the year 2001. I had settled the dues with the bank. But now when i check my cibil report it shows a due of Rs. 57,637/- and the date of last payment in 17/2/2007. The Default status shows as Written off.

    How do I correct this.

    1. First check with the bank on this .

  101. Fareed says:

    I have a decent cibil score(719), but my DPD had reached 900 and last March 2014 its updated as 2014. I have had issues repaying my education loan, finally managed to pay back the amount in 2014 March.
    Please give me tips on how I can get this fixed. Unable to get any loan request passed(even for a bare mini of 100000 loan when my monthly take home is 56K).

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Is the loan closed or settled in 2014? If its settled, it still has a negative impact on your credit report. we would suggest to pay off the waiver amount as well, if you had taken a settlement.

      If the account is closed, the DPDs on that account will continue to have a negative impact on your report and score, it cannot be changed as it is the past repayment history of the loan account. Although we would suggest you to opt for a secured credit card, make timely repayments against this credit card and over a period of time your credit score could improve and also remember to make timely payments henceforth so as to avoid the negative impact of DPD’s.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Fareed

      Its going to be tough for you. Because yout DPD section is seriously injured and hence you will have to wait for some time . keep paying your dues on time for next 1-2 yrs !

  102. Credexpert says:

    Dear Sir,

    The cheque bounce doesn’t reflect in your credit report, but if there is any delay in the payments for any of your EMI then that will show up in your report and will impact your score negatively.

    Therefore, it is advisable to make all your payments on time before due date.

    Regards,
    Credexpert

  103. santhosh kumar says:

    HI SIR,

    this is santhosh i have taken one consumer durable loan from capital first, my last emi got bounse even i have sufficient amount in my bank account they dropped two times but i have sufficient amount. even i paid through branch within 2 days after cheque bounce. this cheque bounce will reflect to CIBIL or NOT kindly suggest me on this. banks will instantly going to update the CIBIL or after some days

    1. That will depend upon what the lender has updated with the CIBIL. Check with them

  104. Naveen says:

    If am paying minimum payment due for my credit card . whether it affect my CIBIL score or not

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      We would suggest you not to pay only the minimum amount due on your credit card, as this will negatively affect your CIBIL score.

      Also, if you pay only the minimum amount, high interest rates will be charged on the outstanding amount and balloon into high dues and result in a debt trap for you. A small amount will balloon at an interest rate of 35% – 40% p.a. (depending on the credit card).

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  105. KT Shanmuganathan says:

    I have 2 queries.

    1. I had loan with BARCLAYS FINANCE. I was paying all my EMI correctly. Suddenly they closed their division, so that I could not able to pay the amount. BARCLAYS FINANCE sold their Loan account to Fincruise Credit Service Pvt. Ltd. Now, I have paid all my pending due to Fincruise Credit Service Pvt. Ltd. Behalf of BARCLAYS FINANCE. I closed my loan (Feb 2015) and I have NOC letter too. Now I have no due. But when I see my CIBIL report they were updated my status by 2013. There is no new update from them. When I check with Fincruise Credit Service Pvt. Ltd they told that they have updated. How can I correct this.

    2. I have closed all my loans there is no due. But my credit score is 737 only. How can I check a loan is closed, because nowhere they have mentioned that a loan status.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      You can obtain your latest CIBIL Report and check whether the account details are updated. CIBIL taken 45-60 working days for updating the account details.
      If its not updated you can raise a dispute for the same with CIBIL.

      You can check your any of your credit account, for a loan or credit card which is closed with no negative remark, there will be ‘blank’ status, ‘zero’ current balance and close date updated, with these details it shows that the account is closed. But if there were late payments even on your closed account it will reflect on your report in the ‘DPDs’ section and will have negative effect.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Hi KT Shanmuganathan

      I am not sure on this . You need to contact BARCLAYS FINANCE or Fincruise Credit Service Pvt. Ltd regarding this matter

  106. Hiral Ambalal Mistry says:

    Hello Manish,

    I am Chandrashekhar Limaye, my friend Hiral Ambalal Mistry had a credit card of ABN Amro Bank way back in the year 2000. He never used it. However, last year he received a demand notice of Rs 5000/- from RBS Bank which had taken over the ABN Amro Bank. He settled the said dues by paying Rs 2500/-. However, Hiral is enjoying a CC Limit in a nationalised bank, who have asked a clear CIBIL score for renewing his CC Limits. Please suggest a way out, as now even RBS Bank has closed and he does not know whom to contact.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      The CIBIL report will have details of the ABN Amro credit card account. If there is no details of the account, your friend can call up the customer service number of CIBIL or send Email and inquire the same.

      Some part of the ABN Amro / RBS portfolio is sold of to Phoenix ARC Pvt Ltd. Your friend can inquire with them as well.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Hi Hiral Ambalal Mistry

      You should take help of RTI now in this case ! .

      Manish

  107. Akhilesh Singh says:

    Hi Manish ,
    its nice to meet you here , i appreciate your advice as i seen so many people asking you .Its great knowledge sharing , you also shown the real path to Mr prabhu lol …
    Here we go i am Akhilesh I Took HDFC credit card in march 2011 and after 6 months had a dispute , at initial stage i paid amount on time however later few delays happened & they charged high interest on late payments . I had a dispute with bank & they suspended my card .
    I paid 17k out of 50k total limit .
    Later we had a dispute and could not come on the soluiton .
    Since it was my early days of career and i was not at all aware about the CIBIL & score . I thought settlement of principal amount and 10k more will work .
    I also went with big time loss in my career & lost job & salary .i could not recover my self for long time . During this journey suspended my card at 50k however interest rate was on for total outstanding & they have made it 1lac & continuing etc . I got option of settlement in 35k etc i can do that & some extra 20k as well. You can understand for 35k how would u pay 100000/-
    I got good job now & can pay them upto 50k or any relaxed amount but as u know they will set it on CIBIL as settlement & i will get hit on my other requirements with bank . I dont have any card now .
    What is your suggestion to repair the damages in short span .I am ready to pay settlement amount & will take care of all payments . Now i am able to understand of better CIBIL .
    cant the HDFC bank help me to come out of this as they can take their principal & 10 ~20 k extra to give me less hit on cibil .
    Another option to go for settlement & get a credit card & pay smooth .
    What would be best to improve here .I want to save my money also want to pay bank as i took their money , it was just a bad phase of my life . I dont intend to do any wrong pracitice , i hot only one card no otther card after that , it was just could not understand the importance of CIBIL . Now i am aware seems its too late .
    In short i cant pay 1 lack for 35k ..and also want things placed for future.
    I am sure now i will on time in entire life & not any delay gona happen but hw would repair the damage of past
    Help me to come out of this
    Thanks in advance , your details answer would be appreciated yeah \

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,
      As informed by you about your HDFC Bank credit card, we would suggest you to pay the amount towards final closure by communicating with the Bank in regards to the closure.

      We would also suggest you to make all written communications with the bank, and also make sure the closure letter as well as offer for closure letter states that the account will be closed and the bank will update your credit report with the account status as ‘blank’ along with close date and ‘zero’ current balance.

      As you are well aware that if the Bank provides you any waiver toward your outstanding it will appear as a settlement of the account with status as either “Settled” or “Post (WO) Settled” in your credit report which is a negative remark and will impact your credit report and score.
      Regards,
      Credexpert

  108. Kiran G says:

    Hi,

    Actually I was defaulted for 6 to 7 cards due to some personal reason. But later I cleared all the dues including interest as of current date. But the problem is in CIBIL it is showing all dues are cleared but 600 days delay is reflecting.

    will it be any problem now to get loans. Since I cleared all the dues with out any rupee pending with the bank.

    If Banks still look at the delay payment then what is the point to clear all the dues.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Kiran,

      It is advisable that you obtain your CIBIL report and check your score. Ensure that it is up to the mark.

      As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score, but having said that lending institutions would also consider their internal credit policies and will have their own credit score cut off. We would suggest that you do not make any further applications until you check your report and score. The rejection would only increase the number of enquiries appearing on your credit report which indicate a credit hungry behaviour and is viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      The payment history against all your credit accounts will be reflected in your credit report. However, closure of your accounts by paying the total outstanding may be viewed positively by the lending institutions.

      Build and maintain your score by making all your credit card and EMI payments, if any, towards your credit accounts on time. Overtime your score will improve and lending institutions could consider your applications based on this.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Yes, it will still be reflecting . Its important to capture if you paid it on time or were late

  109. Vinayak says:

    Dear Sir,

    My last month CIBIL Credit score is 665 i want to increase my score, because last month i apply for personal loan but my application was rejected due to my credit card payment is due.But already my personal loan account and two wheeler loan account is running last 3 years without any dues and late payment charges. Please suggest.

    Thank You,

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      665 is a low score. As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score, but having said that lending institutions would also consider their internal credit policies and will have their own credit score cut off.

      We would recommend that you pay the total outstanding on your credit card at the earliest. Late payments are reflected in your credit report and negatively affect your score. Also, make sure that you always pay the entire amount due on your credit card. Do not pay only the minimum amount due, as this will negatively affect your CIBIL score. Also, if you pay only the minimum amount, high interest rates will be charged on the outstanding amount and balloon into high dues and result in a debt trap for you. A small amount will balloon at an interest rate of 35% – 40% p.a. (depending on the credit card).

      Also, we would suggest that you do not make any further applications until there is an improvement in your credit score. The rejection would only increase the number of enquiries appearing on your credit report which indicate a credit hungry behaviour and is viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you build and continue to maintain good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Its the bank decision at the end. If you have lots of credit card debt, they might reject it !

  110. Sahabaj Hussain says:

    Thanks a lot for your valuable Reply. It will help me for big time.:-)

    Regards

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      We are happy to help you. You can always revert back with any of your queries.

      Regards,

  111. Sahabaj Hussain says:

    Dear @Manish chauhan

    I only have 1 credit card limit 20000 and 1 personal loan of 120000. I dont know my CIBIL Score. my pl is 4 month old, i given ecs request for my pl but unfortunately due to signature mismatch my 1st 2 ecs got rejucted. However i paid my 1st ecs aftet receiving msg from bank and 2nd on the due date by cash. Now my ecs is running smoothly. In my credit catd m using 80% of limit and after reading this i will reduce my limit usage. I am thinking to take 2 Wheeler loan from bajaj finance after six month. My qn is, weather 2 wheeler loans are secured loan and how can i increase my cibil score.

    Please revert, i will be waiting.

    Thanks & regards
    Sahabaj

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      We would suggest that you obtain your CIBIL report and check your credit score and ensure that it is up to the mark. As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score, but having said that lending institutions would also consider their internal credit policies and will have their own credit score cut off.

      Also, as decided by you, please ensure that you use your card judiciously, do not cross 30 – 40% of the credit limit issued to you and make complete payments regularly.

      A loan taken against an asset is considered to be secured. You can take a secured loan for a 2 wheeler as well. Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. However, it is important that you build and continue to maintain good credit behaviour by ensuring timely credit payments.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Seems like overall its fine apart from some glitches in between . I think over time your score will get better

  112. jasraj singh says:

    Hi Manish,
    My credit score is 720 but from last two months I am not able to pay my car loan’s emi but I will clear all the due by next month. On the other hand I have not missed emi of my personal loan and minimum due of my credit card. Will this affect my credit score???

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Your payment history is a major factor affecting your score. Since you have defaulted on your recent payments, this will negatively impact your score.

      Also, make sure that you always pay the entire amount due on your credit card. Do not pay only the minimum amount due, as this will negatively affect your CIBIL score. Also, if you pay only the minimum amount, high interest rates will be charged on the outstanding amount and balloon into high dues and result in a debt trap for you. A small amount will balloon at an interest rate of 35% – 40% p.a. (depending on the credit card).

      Please ensure that you use the card judiciously, do not cross 30 – 40% of the credit limit issued to you and make payments regularly.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Yes, it will affect . Right now its start , so the damage is not more, but over some more months it can affect a lot !

  113. uday says:

    Hi Manish,

    How will making enquiries affect CIBEL scores, What actually mean by Enquiries here??

    1. Enquires means applying for the loans with banks . If you apply for a loan with bank , its called enquiry !

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Enquiry refers to the credit application made with any lending institution. The number of enquiries appearing on your credit report indicates a credit hungry behaviour and affects your score negatively. Also, it is viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  114. Ritz says:

    Hi Manish
    I m using 3 credit cards of icici bank;Hdfc bank and citi bank respectively on which payment of rs 40000 each z pending from last 3-4 months and I was not able to pay coz of short funds
    Credit limit of these cards z rs 30000
    On of the lender icici bank hs marked lean in ma saving account and from the same account 15th ecs was supposed to deduct which z not deducted and bounced coz of negative balance of icici credit card linked to my icici saving a.c
    I HV paid this ecs bounced after 4 days from the due date and if I ll pay all the credit card outstanding in one shot
    @fter how many days my cibil will gt updated
    As I have applied In 2,3 banks and my personal loan application rejected from all 3 banks stating that your cibil score fall down to 583 points
    Please help me out what should I HV to do as I need to apply for loan in Feb only

    1. Check with all the banks what exactly you owe to them and pay that asap !

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      You need to contact and the banks and clear all your outstanding as soon as possible. Also, ensure that you obtain the “No Dues Certificate” (NDC) for each of your credit account. Once you obtain the NDC you need to wait for 30-45 days for your accounts to be updated with CIBIL and then check you credit score and ensure that it is up to the mark.

      As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score, but having said that lending institutions would also consider their internal credit policies and will have their own credit score cut off. We would suggest that you do not make any further applications until there is an improvement in your credit score. The rejection would only increase the number of enquiries appearing on your credit report which indicate a credit hungry behaviour and is viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  115. Shaik Ashif says:

    Hi Sir,

    In the Month of SEP-2014 , i have checked my CIR & score was 605. i noticed that two of Enquiries were not made by me. Then, i had raaised Dispute resoultuion. A month later i have received a mail from CIBIL with Updated CIBIL Report. However this NEW CIR has Updated Payment History of OCT & NOV too. But score remain 605.i could not find the reason why it remained same?..

    1. Shaik

      THe score does not change drastically in short term because of some changes. No one other than CIBIL can explain on score changing .. its patented thing ..

  116. Wriju Bharadwaj says:

    Hi Manish,

    Does pre-payment of a loan have any negative effect on a person’s CIBIL score?

  117. Sonu says:

    Dear Sir,

    I had only 1 Credit card of standard charted Bank and i hardly use it aslo
    i failed to pay bill which worsen my CIBIL score to 580,this i g0t to know from kotak bank in sept’14 during recruitment process.
    hence i paid entire outstanding amount with interest in Sept’14 itself and took noc.
    now in dec’14 when i checked my CIBIL score it was showing 822.

    I have never taken any loan and any other CC.
    Sir ,how come score increase so much in just 3 months??

    1. Your payment in full has resulted in your score . just because you cleared it ..

  118. SHEKHAR KUMAR says:

    hi
    i had a personal loan account with icici bank opened in 2007 and during the repayment period there was some non payment and later i have close the amount with sattlement? any negative storing will be done in CIVIL? if yes, then tell me what is the procedure to now close the settled account normally.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Since you have settled your loan, the “Settled” status will appear in your CIBIL report. Also, the DPD (Days Past Due) section reflects your payment history and since you have defaulted in the past it will continue to reflect in your CIBIL report.

      A credit report with negative remarks of “Settled” would be viewed negatively by the lending institution. Settlement indicates your inability to repay and can hinder any of your future loan applications. The only way to remove this remark is by repaying the complete outstanding amount against your loan account.

      We would suggest that in order to clear your CIBIL report of the past negative remark you can make the remaining outstanding payment towards your loan account, this will create a positive impact to the lending institutions.

      Ensure that you obtain a “No Dues Certificate” from the lending institution post the payment and that the remark is removed from your credit report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. SHEKHARKUMAR says:

        i want to pay the settlement amount with icici bank, but they are saying that since this account is closed, he cannot receive the amount against that loan account. is it true? please suggest the complete procedure to pay the settlement amount so that i could pay the amount.

        thanking you

    2. Yes, DPD sections would note that you didnt pay some installments on time .. It will have some bad effect, but its minor and not major !

  119. sanjeevkumar says:

    M sanjeevkumar. I took education loan in 2007 and i completed in 2013. Mean while i paid the every month minimum of 1500 i paid regularly.
    Now M not able to get any loan and credit card. I want to know how its affected my CIBIL score.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Ideally, your payment history should be clear if you have paid all your EMIs for your education loan on time. It would be advisable, to obtain your CIBIL report and check for any errors affecting your score. To access your CIBIL credit report and score visit the below mentioned link

      https://www.cibil.com/online/credit-score-check.do

      Having said that, if you have applied to any credit institutions for a credit facility you can ask for the copy of your credit report under The Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 – CICRA.

      Also, in case of your loan or credit card rejection, you can ask the lending institution to provide you with a reason for the rejection.

      We would suggest that before applying for any credit facility you obtain your credit report and check your score. As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score, but having said that lending institutions would also consider their internal credit policies and will have their own credit score cut off. Also, apart from CIBIL score, approval of any credit facility depends on number a various other factors, such as employment and income, job stability, the ITR submitted, other liabilities, etc.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Did you pay your FULL EMI each month properly ? Or you paid less ?

  120. SHEKHAR KUMAR says:

    i have take a byke loan from bank of india for the duration of 5 years after 2 or 3 years i was not able to make the payment as i transferred to another station and that time there was no provision of online payment in any ways. after almost 3 years i have completely paid the loan. but in civil bank shows loss in loan. how to solve the problem

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      As mentioned, if you have paid the complete outstanding amount and closed your loan, the ‘Default Status’ in your CIBIL report will be cleared. However, the DPD (Days Past Due) section reflects your payment history and since you have defaulted in the past it will continue to reflect in your CIBIL report.

      Also, since you have paid the complete outstanding amount, ensure that you obtain the “No Due Certificate” from the lending institution. Also, lending institutions usually report the updated information to the bureau in a cycle of 30 – 45 days. Once you get the written communication from the bank, you can check your report after a month.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  121. anup says:

    Hi Manish,
    I am facing an issue to clear the outstanding of my credit card for the past six months. Currently there is an due of Rs 30000 on my credit card , I am paying in a small amounts as i have monthly unavoidable commitments ,but it is not default. Does this affect the CIBIL score. I am also paying my bike loan regularly which has smaller emi. Also I have successfully repaid consumer loan from BAJAJ finance. Kindly suggest how my credit score will be.

    1. Anup

      This is going to seriously effect your CIBIL report and then Score . As you are not paying full amount , Every month you are a defaulter and the bank must be updating your DPD section with CIBIL . DPD means how much month of debt is rolling over the next months .. so over a period its getting recorded that you are defaulting on your debt .. Its kind of black mark on your record and it can be a bad thing .

      I would say that if its possible , take a loan from some one in family/friend and pay the credit card debt fully and then pay your friend/relative in parts and close that loan . This might looks a small trouble right now, but in future when you look at taking home loan or some other important loan , that time this can seriously frustrate you and be a pain in the neck , like its happening for millions of others like you who have done the similar thing ..

      Your bike loan payment should be paid on time and you are right on that path , Note that credit card payment is a more serious thing as its UNSECURED , bike loan is a SECURED loan ..

      Manish

    2. Yes, its going to badly affect your score .. Paying less than due is a negative thing . .better clear it asap !

  122. rohit says:

    i have done a default on few credit cards and personal loans a year back i did pay on them for some time and than i could nt because of financial crisis, now i ma planning to move out of india and go to australia for work just wanted to know if there is going to be any problem as far as CIBIL check is concerned ,, or there is no CIBIL check done on visa Application ?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      CIBIL report can only be obtained by lending institutions to which you have applied for any credit facility or by yourself. It cannot be obtained by any third party. However, it would be advisable that you clear your pending dues at the earliest as these dues will keep on accumulating in case you do not pay them now.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. rohit says:

        Thankyou Mr. expert and i will try to pay my dues ASAP . and you sure that CIBIL check is not done on Visa Application i just wanna double check with you as you know no body likes to see his/her dreams crashing ! thanks !

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Sir,

          As informed earlier, CIBIL report cannot be obtained by any third party. It can only be obtained by lending institutions to which you have applied for any credit facility or by yourself. In worst case scenario, you may be asked to obtain your CIBIL report and submit along with other documents. However, we haven’t heard of any such case before.

          Regards,
          Credexpert

  123. Sai Boyina says:

    Hello Manish,

    Having morethan 3 creditcards would affect CIBIL Score, recently i took a TV through Bajab finance and after paying 3 EMIs they sent me free Bajaj EMI card without informing me prior. Having EMI card affect CIBIL score ??? If yes, i will cancel the card EMI card. Please guide me on this. Awaiting for your response. Thank you..

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sai,

      EMI card comes with a pre-approved loan amount. The CIBIL score does not get impacted due to this pre-approval. However, once you avail a consumer durable loan on this card, your CIBIL score is automatically updated.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. I have no idea what is EMI card .. but I dont think it should matter much !

      1. Well Wisher says:

        EMI Card is pre approved CD (Consumer Durable) Loan. Given by Bajaj to good customers (having good Cibil)

  124. Sai says:

    Hello Manish,

    Having morethan 3 creditcards would effect CIBIL Score, recently i took a TV through Bajab finance and after paying 3 EMIs they sent me free Bajaj EMI card without informing me prior. Having EMI card effect CIBIL score ??? If yes, i will cancel the card. Please guide me on this.

  125. sundeep says:

    Does Cibil view secured credit cards as unsecured personal loans? . i have two secured credit cards in 2012 with limited usage and my score was 806. Now im using these secured cards to the fullest(thanks to online shopping . I want to know if my score has gone down because of this or other factors?. Sorry if this question was asked before.

    1. sundeep says:

      my score is 733 now

      1. Credexpert says:

        Dear Sir,

        Secured credit cards are not viewed as unsecured personal loans. However, using up to 100% of the credit card limit is not good since it increases your credit utilization which is one of the factors involved in calculation of scores. Ideally, one should use up to 35-40% of the card limit and you should start practicing this soon.

        Credit scores are calculated based on various factors like no. of secured versus unsecured loans, outstanding balances, credit utilization ratio on your credit cards, payment history, no of enquiries, etc. Any credit activity undertaken will have an impact on the credit score – positive or negative.

        Regards,
        Credexpert

    2. The secured credit card is SECURED for banks , but from CIBIL point of view, I guess its still unsecured (not sure on this)

      Manish

  126. Madhu says:

    Hi Manish,

    Thanks for your article, it is very much helpful for the members like me who are suffering with bad credit score.
    I am also one of the defaulter and left with very bad(negative) CIBIL core.

    Due to business failure, I have stopped CC payments in 2008 and then bank account has been blocked, So Personal loans are also not paid since 2008. Some how am able to escape from the bank people by creating an impression that I am absconded due to financial debts.

    Fortunately, I have started working since 3 years, now I have settled(Final settlement) all of my 3 Personal loans in ICICI bank through my friend(Third party) in 20012 where in am still absconding from banks prospective.

    My salary account is in HDFC since 3 years, when I have appplied for PL in same bank, it was rejected but now HDFC released the Personal loan amount of 50K as pre approved based on salary account and when I checked with the bank people about my CIBIL score they said that the score is in negative value but still HDFC gave me 50K Loan.

    Now I wanted to settle all of my credit card payments and improve the credit score,
    3 credit cards in ICICI bank
    1 credit card in CITI BANK
    1 credit card in ABN Ambro

    To be honest, I forgot all of my card numbers and the outstanding amounts(approximately 1.5 lacks put together for all CC’s usage) an non of the bank people are disturbing me though am stating in the same residence.

    Request you to advise the best possible approach to settle with less amount for all credit cards and improve the credit score further.

    Thanks in advance,
    Madhu.

    1. I am sure your credit cards outstandings must have grown by now . So it would not be 1.5 lacs, but in range of 3-4 lacs if bank is adding penalty and interest on it . The best thing would be to meet bank manager and explain your situation . Tell him you want to settle it fully , but also want your CIBIL to be clean . HAve the conversation on this with bank manager .

      Manish

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Madhu,

      First and foremost, we would suggest that you obtain your CIBIL report and check the status of all your credit accounts. The CIBIL report will reflect the details pertaining to your credit accounts such as Credit card numbers, current balance, outstanding amount, etc. as reported to CIBIL by the lending institutions.

      We would recommend that you pay the entire outstanding amount on all your credit accounts. Removal of negative remarks will have a positive impact on your report and score. Also, in future ensure timely and complete payment against all your credit accounts.

      Also, we would suggest that you do not make any further applications until there is an improvement in your credit score. The rejection would only increase the number of enquiries appearing on your credit report which indicate a credit hungry behaviour and is viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      Also, please ensure that you make timely repayments against the personal loan that you have availed from HDFC bank. As this account is recent, timely repayments for this account will help you to improve your score. Monitor the increase in your score before applying for any credit facility.

      Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you build and continue to maintain good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. Madhu says:

        Thanks Manish and Credexpert,

        Will collect some fund and follow your advise.
        One more question:
        As you said that total outstanding might have reached to 3-4 lacks including penalty and finance charges, can you please advise and assist for the terms to bargain with banks and what could be the percentage of amount would be needed for the full and final settlements.

        Thanks for understanding,
        Madhu.

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Madhu,

          You need to contact the respective lending institutions and get the current total outstanding balance against all your credit accounts. In order to improve your score and have a clean credit report you need to pay the total outstanding amounts against all your all credit accounts. If you pay anything less than the total outstanding amount, your account will be considered as “Settled” and the same will be reflected in your credit report.

          A credit report with negative remarks of “Settled” would be viewed negatively by the lending institutions. Settlement indicates your inability to repay and can hinder any of your future loan applications. The only way to avoid this remark is by repaying the complete outstanding amount against your credit accounts, provided your cash flows allow you to do so.

          We would suggest that in order to clear your CIBIL report of all past negative remarks you can make the remaining outstanding payment towards your credit accounts, this will create a positive impact to the lending institutions.

          Regards,
          Credexpert

          1. Madhu says:

            Thank you.

  127. pappu yadav says:

    I had applied AXIS BANK credit card this month. but i received a sms from bank showing your application is declined. because of your cibil score. I had no bank loans arrears. I don’t have any bank credit card. I recently came to know that my sibil score is low.
    Please advise

    1. There might be a possibility that you are victim of identity fraud where someone else used your data to take loans . Check your report in detail !

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      It would be advisable that you obtain your credit report from the below link and check in detail for any errors.

      https://www.cibil.com/

      In case there is an error, you can raise a dispute with CIBIL on the following link:

      https://www.cibil.com/file-consumer-dispute/

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  128. Avinash says:

    Hi,

    what will be the status of below mentioned points in my CIBIL(Settled or Closed or written off / and what will be DPD) in my case :

    1. I was having HDFC Bank credit card –> Card is permamently blocked–> I have cleared full amount that was asked from bank.

    2. I have taken PL from HDFC of 50K and I was supposed to clear this by April 2014 but I cleared it on 10th Nov 2014 in this also I have cleared all the dues whatever was demanded from bank(full due amount including late fees I have cleared) but only thing is I have paid late by 7 Month.

    3. I have taken Auto Loan from Bajaj Finance of 50K and I was supposed to clear this by May 2014 but I cleared it on 13th Nov 2014 in this also I have cleared all the dues whatever was demanded from bank(full due amount including late fees I have cleared) but only thing is I have paid late by 6 Month.

    If i am applying for Credit Card or PL now will I be able to get ?

    Presently I am not having any credit card or PL or any loans.

    Thanks in advance 🙂

    Regards,
    Avinash

    1. Avinash

      You will have a lot of DPD entries in your cibil report as you had paid things late by many months . I think it will be tough to get personal loan at this point of time .

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Now that you have paid the complete outstanding amount, ensure that you obtain the “No Due Certificate” from the lending institutions.

      Also, lending institutions usually report the updated information to the bureau in a cycle of 30 – 45 days. Once you get the written communication from the bank, you can check your report after a month.

      Repaying the complete outstanding amount against the defaulting accounts is a good step taken by you. Ideally, if you have paid the complete outstanding amount without any settlement, the “Date Closed” should be mentioned indicating the closure of your credit account. However, the late payments (DPDs) which are a matter of your concern would still reflect on your credit report since these are facts that depict your repayment behaviour in the past.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  129. nazeeruddin says:

    Hi,

    I was having HDFC Credit Card and I have paid complete outstanding amount of 33000/- and closed my credit card 3 months back and got my NOC. at that time they said it will take 45 working days to update on Cibil. after 45 working days when I checked cibil it was showen 630 and now till date it is 630 only. could you please tell me how to improve my credit score so that I can have an opportunity to have loan in future.

    I am willing to buy LED Tv but cibil score is not sufficient it is 630 it should be 750 so stopped. please suggest how to reach that score, no loan is approved and given to me to improve my cibil by paying EMI in time.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Please check if the closure of your HDFC credit card has been updated in your CIBIL report. If not, you can raise a dispute with CIBIL.

      Also, we would suggest that you do not make any further applications until there is an improvement in your credit score. The rejection would only increase the number of enquiries appearing on your credit report which indicate a credit hungry behaviour and is viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      Using a secured credit card is one option you could look at to build your credit history and score. You could opt for a “secured” credit card. Since these credit cards are secured against “Fixed deposits”, you would possibly get one without any hindrance. Make timely repayments against it to improve your score. Monitor the increase in your score before applying for any credit facility.

      Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you continue to build and maintain good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  130. Sagar Jogdande says:

    Dear Manish Sir,
    I am salaried person. Working in partnership firm company. My Details is Below
    Net salary – 9947
    Credit card of Axis Bank – Limit 20000, 13 Month’s, Auto debit full amount.
    3 Life insurance Policy of LIC India
    1. 2005 – 644/quarter
    2. 2012 – 1540/quarter
    3. 2013 – 1030/quarter
    No Loan and No any other debits .
    I want know can my credit score will able for loan
    I am asking before apply because LOW NET SALARY & PARTNERSHIP FIRM COMPANY.
    Please help me.

    Thanks
    Sagar jogdande

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      We would suggest that before applying for the loan you obtain your credit report and check your score. As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score, but having said that lending institutions would also consider their internal credit policies and will have their own credit score cut off. Also, apart from CIBIL score, approval of loan depends on number a various other factors, such as employment and income, the ITR submitted, other liabilities, etc.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Low income means low loan eligibility . Right now do one thing , apply for CIBIL report and check what is your score.

  131. Bhushan says:

    Hi Manish,
    I have no credit card, no loans and when I applied for my first personal loan, bank said my CIBIL score is low (660). What may be the reason ?

    Thanks,
    Bhushan

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      For a person with no credit history, the CIBIL score is reported as NH (No History). However, in your case you say that you have no credit history yet your CIBIL score is 660. It would be advisable that you obtain your CIBIL report and check for any errors. In case there are any, you need to get them rectified.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Thats exactly what you will get if you apply for your CIBIL report. It might happen that there are cases of Identity theft in your case. Might be .. see the reports !

  132. Amit Chauhan says:

    Dear Manish ji,

    I have a very poor credit score (524) due to my unintentional credit usage. I used to own three credit cards before but all of them are now closed since 2010 due to late payment. Now I am find it very difficult to get a fresh credit card or loan even though I have not availed any credit from bank since 2010. How can I improve my credit score? Please tell since I am making efforts to buy a home loan and I have saved enough money from my earning since 2010 but without buying loan I cannot fulfill my dream of having a own house. Please guide me.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Amit,

      Even though you have not availed any credit from bank since 2010, your past credit history will be reflected on your credit report which will have a negative impact on your credit score.

      We would recommend that you pay the entire outstanding amount on all your credit cards. Also, in future ensure timely and complete payment against all your credit accounts.

      Also, we would suggest that you do not make any further applications for any credit facility until there is an improvement in your credit score. The rejection would only increase the number of enquiries appearing on your credit report which indicate a credit hungry behaviour and is viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      Using a secured credit card is one option you could look at to build your credit history and score. You could opt for a “secured” credit card. Since these credit cards are secured against “Fixed deposits”, you would possibly get one without any hindrance. Make timely repayments against it to improve your score. Monitor the increase in your score before applying for any credit facility.

      Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you continue to maintain good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Hi Amit

      Your situation is tough . I can understand . You can first make a FD and take a credit card against that FD . Keep paying and using your credit card on time .. in some years , you will build your credit history like that .. otherwise it will get very tough !

      1. Amit Chauhan says:

        Thanks for your feedback. I have cleared entire credit card outstanding balance in 2010 itself and as you have advised I will apply for a secured credit card soon. Thanks and Have happy diwali

  133. vigneshraj says:

    Dear sir
    i am having cibil score of 786 wether it is a good score and i had applied for a credit card wether it get sanctioned or not

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Vigneshraj

      As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score – the higher the better. However, each lending institution will have their own internal credit policies on score cut-offs and negative remarks, based on which the decision to approve your credit card application will be taken.

      The approval of your credit card application would be at the discretion of the lending institution based on their credit policies and hence would be difficult to comment on.

      The general points to look for in your credit report are:
      1) Late payments
      2) High outstanding balances
      3) High no. of unsecured loans
      4) High no. of enquiries

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  134. umesh yadav says:

    I have a account in HDFC bank, but not maintaining AQB for more than a year. Now in my account showing negative balance. I have also Demat account linked with this account. I have never used the Demat account. Will this affect my CIR if I will not close both the account as for closure of the account I have to pay Rs. 4000 to bank.
    pls help.

    1. NO , its not going to affect your CIBIL .

  135. Deepak Shukla says:

    Any suggestions will be very helpful to me

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Deepak,

      High number of enquiries appearing on your credit report indicates a credit hungry behaviour. Hence your score has come down. Each time you apply for a loan or credit card, the credit institution would obtain your CIBIL credit report to evaluate your credit worthiness. Personal loans are unsecured in nature and hence the lending institutions would be extra cautious. If you still think that the banks have made unnecessary enquiries, you can raise a dispute for the same.

      We would suggest that you build your score by making all your payments towards your loan account on time. Eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  136. Deepak Shukla says:

    Hello Manish / Experts,

    I’ve always maintained good relations with my banks. All payments on time and no defaults. I had a CIBIL of 816. However, I needed a personal loan and had to apply in banks for the same. The banks rejected my application due to bachelor accomodation and such reasons. Although I got the loan finaly. Now a lot of enquiries are reflecting in my CIBIL. And my CIBIL has come down from 816 to 760. How do I improve my Cibil that came down due to too many enquiries. The banks did some enquiries for no reason.

    Bank date Purpose Enquiry Amount
    SCB 06-09-2014 PERSONAL LOAN 1
    SCB 03-09-2014 PERSONAL LOAN 1,00,000
    BAJAJ FIN LTD 30-08-2014 PERSONAL LOAN 1
    HDFC BANK 28-08-2014 PERSONAL LOAN 8,00,000
    HDFC BANK 28-08-2014 PERSONAL LOAN 8,00,000
    KOTAK BANK 21-08-2014 PERSONAL LOAN 1,00,001
    ICICI BANK 20-08-2014 CONSUMER LOAN 1,00,000
    SCB 17-12-2012 CREDIT CARD 10,000
    FICCL 12-04-2012 AUTO LOAN (PERSONAL) 3,50,000
    HDFC 17-10-2011 HOUSING LOAN 25,00,000
    CITIBANK 01-06-2011 OVERDRAFT 1,00,000
    CITIBANK 30-03-2011 CREDIT CARD 25,000
    HDFC BANK 14-07-2009 CREDIT CARD 1,000

    1. Are these enquires done from your end only ?

  137. Credexpert says:

    Dear Vignesh,

    Currently telecom providers don’t share their data with the Credit Information Bureau. Hence your postpaid bill will not affect your CIBIL score.

    However, there is a possibility that in future your electricity and telecom billing data may become part of your credit report. Hence, it is advisable to maintain a clean billing record.

    Regards,
    Credexpert

  138. vignesh says:

    sir,
    i want to know whether my postpaid bill will affect my cibil score

    1. If you dont pay , then in future it might affect !

  139. vijay says:

    Thank you for your response. The Educational which I have taken paid irregularly. But Finally I paid the total amount. Recently I met back and asked about the status. They did not respond properly. How can I avoid “Restructure” status. If the restructured status appears on the cibil report will it effect the home loan(if I have the enough CIBIL score).

    Taking bike is not important to me. I thought if I pay the EMI for the bike loan also will improve the CIBIL score.

    May I know how long it will take to improve my credit score from 568 to 750.

    Thanks in advance.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Vijay,

      Please send a written communication to the bank enquiring about the “Restructured” status on your credit report. If they do not respond, you can raise a dispute with CIBIL about the “Restructured” status being incorrect and that you had no such communication with the bank.

      Instead of taking a bike loan, you can take a secured credit card. Please ensure that you use the card judiciously, do not cross 30 – 40% of the credit limit issued to you and make payments regularly.

      As mentioned earlier, this is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you continue to maintain a good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. You cant change restructure remark

  140. vijay says:

    Hi Manish,

    I had an education loan and I did not paid in EMI regularly. 4 Months ago I paid it completely. Recently I have checked my CIBIL score it is 568. and in loan account the status is “Restructured Loan”. Now I have a HDFC bank credit card I am paying the due in time all the time. I need Home loan badly in March or April in year 2015.
    1. I would like to improve my credit score. Please help me out how can I improve it.
    2. Can I get the Bike loan(like finance) in with this score. If I pay the Bike loan EMI will credit score get increase(If there is possibility to get bike loan).

    I am ready to do anything to improve credit score.. Please help me.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Vijay,

      Did you have any communication with the bank during your loan tenure, regarding the restructuring of your loan or were there any changes in the payment structure? If not, kindly check with the bank, why have they reported your loan as a “Restructured Loan”.

      In order to improve your CIBIL score, make sure that you pay the entire amount due on your credit card. Do not pay only the minimum amount due, as this will negatively affect your CIBIL score. Also, utilize your card properly and make your payments on time. This is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history.

      Also, a bike loan at this point may not be a good idea. Given your low score and requirement of a home loan in near future, it will be best to avoid it at this time.

      Even if you are considering taking a bike loan, do not make unnecessary applications as this will increase the number of enquiries which will again negatively impact your score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. vijay says:

        Thank you for your response. The Educational which I have taken paid irregularly. But Finally I paid the total amount. Recently I met back and asked about the status. They did not respond properly. How can I avoid “Restructure” status. If the restructured status appears on the cibil report will it effect the home loan(if I have the enough CIBIL score).

        Taking bike is not important to me. I thought if I pay the EMI for the bike loan also will improve the CIBIL score.

        May I know how long it will take to improve my credit score from 568 to 750.

        Thanks in advance.

        1. vijay says:

          Hi Credexpert,

          Awaiting your responses.

          Thank you

    2. Vijay

      The best you can do is keep paying your regular loans on time and do not miss payment in between . This will help, but there is no guarantee how much this can help at the time of your loan .

  141. Nikki says:

    I am having CIBIL score of 646 due to some credit card settlements
    And because of that no other credit card I m getting and
    Due to that I am not able to apply for loan. Please leg
    Me know how to improve this score without getting new credit cards
    ??

    1. You cant improve it without taking any other loans and repaying it properly!

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Nikki,

      Since you have “Settled” your credit accounts in the past, which means that the complete outstanding amount was not paid – this remark on your report can be viewed negatively by the lending institutions. In order to remove the “Settled” status, you need to pay the entire outstanding amount. Also, in future ensure timely and complete payment against all your credit accounts.

      Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you continue to maintain good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  142. Nishant Choudhary says:

    Dear Manish,

    I keep an eye on my CIBIL Score every year. In 2011, my Transunion Score was 834. The entire CIBIL report was full of mistakes. I reported these mistakes to TransUnion multiple time, finally got resolved.
    Again, in Aug – 2012 report was asked & Transunion Score dipped to 809. Now, the mistakes in report was different. Few addresses mentioned are never been mine, additional credit cards were reflecting, such queries are reflecting , which i never did. Again reported the same, No revert till date, Except the mail “Your Complaint registered”
    Now again in 2013, Transunion Score was 816 but one CC & PL added to my account.

    New your inputs, how can i take it up to get this corrected one time for all.

    Regards, Nishant Choudhary

    1. You can only sue CIBIL for the constant mistakes they are doing and messing up your info .

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Nishant,

      Keeping the larger picture in view, suing CIBIL at this stage does not seem to be the preferred option. In order to resolve your disputes you could take this up with CIBIL on your own, which has not worked in the past.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  143. Nishanth says:

    Hi Manish,

    I am using my Credit card for last 6 months, for first 3 month i am paying my bill amount correctly and from the 4th month due to some financial problem i have paid only my minimum due and for the 5th month also i paid my minimum due and the balance due has been transfered to 6th month so now i have applied for personal loan in Axis Bank, please advice will it effect my CIBIL score, but i have been under my Credit limit. Your quick response will be apprecieated. Also please advice how to improve my CIBIl score if you think it will effect my CIBIL score.

    Nishanth

    1. this is going to affect your CIBIL score surely . Make sure you pay your EMI’s on time from here on

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Nishanth,

      In order to improve your CIBIL score, make sure that you pay the entire amount due on your credit card. Do not pay only the minimum amount due, as this will negatively affect your CIBIL score. If you pay only the minimum amount, high interest rates will be charged on the outstanding amount and balloon into high dues and result in a debt trap for you. A small amount will balloon at an interest rate of 35% – 40% p.a. (depending on the credit card).

      Also, utilize your card properly and make your payments on time. Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you continue to maintain good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  144. bijoy says:

    hi,

    i had few settlements in past and my credit score stood at 650 in sept’13. from the time till date i havent applied for any loan or any creit cards. what should be my ideal credit score to get a minimum amount of loan. how to improve the score to get a minimum amount of loan ,could you please suggest.

    1. Forget Score, focus on the report remarks .

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Bijoy,

      As an industry practice, a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score – the higher the better. However, each lending institution will have their own internal credit policies on score cut-offs and negative remarks, based on which the decision to approve your car loan will be taken.

      However, since you have “Settled” your credit accounts in the past, which means that the complete outstanding amount was not paid – this remark on your report can be viewed negatively by the lending institutions. In order to remove the “Settled” status, you need to pay the entire outstanding amount. Also, in future ensure timely and complete payment against all your credit accounts.

      Your CIBIL score is calculated based on various parameters such as no. of accounts, credit history, credit mix, enquiries, etc. To improve your score, pay all your dues on time and over-time your score will improve. We would request you to stop making any further enquiries till your score is improved. Too many enquiries on your credit report are viewed negatively by the lenders and it gives an impression of a ‘Credit shopper’.

      Apply for a personal loan only if it is urgently required. Alternatively, if possible arrange for an interest free borrowing (family, friends, etc.).

      Improvement of credit score is a time consuming process and eventually your score will improve once you have built a good credit history. It is difficult to say how much time this will take and to what extent will it improve. However, it is important that you continue to maintain good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  145. sankar says:

    Hi Manish,

    I am having CIBIL score 536, means not eligible for Home Loan. i am having one creditcard payment one lac(with interest) which is not paying since one year.

    If i pay total amount will my CIBIL will improve, can you please suggest how to improve my CIBIL score to 760.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sir,

      Yes, repaying all your dues and clearing all your late payments will help you improve your CIBIL score. However, increasing your score is not a “quick fix” and it will happen over time. Also, it is difficult to say to what extent your score will improve if once you repay your dues.

      If you do not have any other credit cards/ loans, you should clear your dues and use this card judiciously and pay your credit card bills on time every month. Over the next few months, you can again check your score to see how much your score has improved.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. It will improve , but not immediately ! . But from long term perspective, you should surely pay it off !

  146. SURESH A says:

    Dear Manish,

    Earlier, I have threee credit cards with various banks. Without proper intimations by bankers, the payment is delayed. Subsequently, entire dues are paid with penalty and closed the same at my request prior to 03/2014. I have another credit card which is being maintained properly for last 2 years. However,my credit rating is not updated. Please suggest me where I have to send a letter or appeal along with no dues statements of such banks to update my rating at the earliest.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Suresh,

      Every lending institution has to be a member of any one credit bureau. Thus it is a possibility that the bank from where you took the credit card is not a member with the bureau from where you accessed your credit report, but a member with any of the other credit bureaus- CIBIL, Experian or Equifax. Therefore it is not being seen on your credit report.

      However, you may check with the bank if they are a member with credit bureau from where you accessed your credit report and in this case you can raise a dispute with the bureau asking them to update your credit card information and you may attach the no dues certificate. Make sure you raise the dispute within 60 days of accessing the credit report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. SURESH A says:

        Thank you Manish, Please inform full address or email id of Credit bureau to raise dispute for update my credit score properly

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Suresh,

          To raise a dispute for the CIBIL credit report, you will have to fill the on-line dispute form which is available on CIBIL’s website. You may also click on the following link to get the on-line form:

          https://www.cibil.com/file-consumer-dispute/

          To raise a dispute with Experian or Equifax, you will have to follow the steps mentioned on the below links and submit the duly filled dispute resolution form manually.

          http://www.experian.in/consumer/addressing-your-queries-disputes.html

          http://www.equifax.co.in/consumer/forms/dispute_resolution/en_in

          Make sure you raise the dispute within 60 days of accessing the credit report.

          Regards,
          Credexpert

    2. Check with banks on whether they are updating your status with CIBIL or not !

  147. Balu says:

    Hi Manish et al,
    I have opted for ECS cheque payment(ICICI) for citibank credit card bills. The cheque got dishonored for lack of authorization from the bank(this was the ICICI bank told me). Anyways I had paid the bill through NEFT and the bill was due by 3 days. Will this late payment of CC bill and cheque dishonor affect my credit score? The bank officials(ICICI and CITI) didn’t give me any info on this and the CITI kept on saying this will be updated to CIBIL.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr.Balu,

      Yes, the late payment of 3 days will be updated to CIBIL and the same will appear on your credit report under the “Payment history” section. The details of the dishonour of cheque will not appear on your report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. Balu says:

        ok. thanks for the reply. does it have high impact on credit score?

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Mr. Balu,

          DPD’s do have an impact on your score. However, the extent of the impact will also depend on the rest of your payment history and also the other sections of your report.

          Regards,
          Credexpert

    2. I think just one instance will not get reported if you rectified it very fast !

  148. Anil says:

    Hi I Have Closed My All PL And Credit Cards And I Have Credit Score 813 But I am Uanlbe to Eligible For 3,00,000 Loan When i Went HDFC They Showed The Cheque Bounced Is Reflecting In Track Records They Said They Will Not Offer Loan For Me. But My CIBIL Score is 813 Even I Am Not Getting The Personal Loan. I Ma Salaried Account Of HDFC. Please Do Needful For Me.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Anil,

      It seems you have cheque bounces cases, maybe for a loan you have taken from HDFC Bank. If that is correct, then even with a score of 813, they may be disinclined to give you a loan. These are internal policies of each lender. Perhaps you can try with another bank – be careful you do not apply to too many banks since that could also affect your score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. Hi Anil

      Credit Score does not matter much , what matters is your Credit Report remarks !

  149. madhu says:

    Hi Manish!

    i have cleared my total O/s. Payment of PL,VL and CC on month of feb 2014. present my CIBIL Score is 535 points and i want know from you, how many days will take my score to improve from 535 to 750. present i dont have any loans and credit cards with me with me from any bank .

    Please suggest me , what should i do for improve my CIBIL score.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear madhu,

      535 is a very low score and it is linked to your past payment records where you did have an outstanding overdue. Your CIBIL score will improve, however it is not possible to quantify the time it would take as there are too many dependencies including, number, amount and time of delinquencies and any other issues that may be reflecting in your report.
      The best ways to improve your score is to pay all current loans or credit card dues on time always, do not borrow more for the time being and limit your usage of credit to what is absolutely necessary. Also, do not apply for more credit, as too many enquiries will reflect a “credit hunger”, which could again impact your score negatively

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. Unless you keep paying some loans on time, its going to be very tough to improve the score

  150. G.Srikrishna says:

    I have lot of cheque bounces for 10 months for personal loan and Credit card.
    On May 30 , i have only 500 points to my sibil score?
    After that I have cleared with whole Amount for both PL and CC.I have NOC’s also with me on 1st of june….
    Can i apply for Personal loan on 1st of August.?
    Will my sibil score increase in 60 days?
    How much can i cibil score increase to ?

    Please help me out in this regard?
    Thanks in advance.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr.Srikrishna,

      500 is a very low score and is a reflection of your cheque bounces and probably other issues that will reflect on your credit report. It is good that you have cleared all pending amounts. Your score will definitely start improving – yet it is difficult to estimate when and by how much that will happen. In any case, many lenders will not look at your application very positively, because of the history of delinquencies. I would suggest you defer your decision to take a personal loan unless it is absolutely necessary and pay all current loans and credit card amounts on time. This will help build your score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. I think if your cheque bounces are very recent, its not a good idea to apply for a loan especially a personal loan !

  151. Valavala Ramesh says:

    Hi Maneesh,

    Please give me your valuable advice for the below..

    i am Ramesh Valavala,Age:30
    for last 6 months i am working for IBM India pvt ltd.
    my current salary: 9.0L(Fixed 7.2+Varible 1.8)
    1.past few year iam working for small salary that is not linked with my pancard.
    2. i have a education loan that is also not linked with my pancard.(loan taken by mom)
    3.i dont have any financial trasactions with pancard before 6 months.
    4.from the Last 3 months i am useing my credit card (its a complementary card limit only 12k)
    5. i am apply for CIBIL score but it is not generated.
    6. from the past few months i am apply so many credit cards all are rejected.
    My Questions are:
    1.How many months taken for generating CIBIL Score.
    2. If Credit card rejected by any bank it is effected on CIBIL Score.
    3. I need Personal Loan at present my situvation any possiblulity to get personal loan..?
    I am waiting for your replay.
    Thanks&Regards
    V Ramesh

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr.Ramesh,

      Did you apply for your CIBIL report and score? If you did apply, what happened? You should have ideally got your report and score or a communication that you do not have any credit history as per their records.
      The reasons why your credit card or personal loan applications are getting rejected may be because of some negative information in your credit report which the lender must have accessed from a credit bureau.

      When you apply for a credit card or loan, the lender would access your report and that enquiry made by the lender would show up on your report – many enquiries on your report could affect your score negatively as it indicates a “credit hunger”.

      I would suggest you do not apply for any credit at the present until you have clearly understood what your report shows and what your score is.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. 1. It gets generated instantly if you have taken any loan
      2. Yes
      3. NO

  152. Vasanth Kumar says:

    Hi , I had cleared my credit card outstanding amount of 48000 in 4 installments. Before clearing the outstanding amount my cibil score was 652. The hdfc bank had promised me that they will be providing an NOC so that i acn take any laon by providing the NOC along with the loan doccuments. So now i m planning to take a personal loan from hdfc bank. So please let me know that am i eligible to take the loan now?? because it takes a min of 45 days to reflect my cibil score. Awaiting for your reply

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Kumar,

      652 is a low credit score. But as you have cleared your outstanding amount on the credit card, your credit score would improve gradually.

      The lending institution would check your credit report and credit score in order to check your credit worthiness for the loan which you have applied. Along with this, the internal credit policies of the lending institution play an important factor to consider your application for a loan.

      Once your credit score improves, your chances of getting a loan would also improve. We would suggest that you check your credit score after 2 months and then apply for a loan.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  153. Deepak Nigam says:

    Manish,

    I’m a big fan of this site and suggest my colleagues to go through this site whenever we have any discussion regarding our financial life.

    I need your suggestion, I have used 6-7 credit cards, 2 Personal Loans and 2 Home Loan but I always paid my debt on time except 1-2 instances. Currently I was holding 4 credit cards and i closed one of those as it was not in use from a long time.

    When i checked my CIBIL score was 810 but what i noticed that there are few cards where DATE CLOSED is blank, also same case is with my one home loan. Now can you please advice if there is any negative impact of this? Or what should i do in such case?

    Regards
    Deepak Nigam

    Many thanks in advance.

    Regards
    Deepak Nigam

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Nigam,

      Within how many days of closing the credit card did you check your credit score?

      Lending institutions report updated credit information to credit bureaus on a monthly basis. Ideally waiting for a period of 30-45 days would be suggested to check updation of recent credit activities on a credit report.

      Coordinate with the respective lending institution requesting them to report the said accounts as closed accounts. If these accounts continue to be reported as “open” then it implies that you are burdened with existing EMIs, which is incorrect.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. First you should check with the bank why they have not updated the dates with CIBIL . Cant comment as of now if its negative or positive !

  154. Sunil says:

    Hi Manish,

    Recently i applied for a personal loan, my credit score was 723 and the application got rejected for some dpd internal credit report..

    Just wanted to ask what is that DPD and internal credit report.

    Any help on this greatly helpful.

    Regards,
    Sunil.

    1. Deepak Nigam says:

      Sunil,

      Please check the below URL for more information.
      https://www.jagoinvestor.com/2013/01/days-past-due-dpd-meaning-cibil-report.html

      Regards
      Deepak Nigam

  155. Priya says:

    Hi Manish,

    My question may not be very relevant to the article or the discussions, but I thought I can get your suggestion/advise nevertheless.
    I m planning of going abroad to study and in need of 20 lakhs for the same. The only option I have right now is an education loan. my father who is retired and into business now and recently acquired a loan (he had quoted 45L and was allowed only 25L), the collateral being a property worth 1C. I’m not sure about his cibil score, but he is a businessman, and I do not even want to assume if it is good or bad. Now, for my case, is it possible for us to apply for an education loan in the same Bank with my father as a guarantor?

    Thanks!
    Priya

    1. If your father is going to be part of it, surely your father CIBIL score and report will be looked upon .. and incase its messed up , then its going to be declined .

      Manish

  156. Veerendra Singh says:

    In case of education loans from SBI bank: Loan is sanctioned say for Rs 72000. Them the interest during study period is capitalised. That means outstanding loan amount 27615 which was paid in buffer in Oct. 2013. Although account is Nill at now, but in CIBIL this account affects score. Can some one suggest a remedy?

    1. I didnt get your issue ? If loan is not paid in FULL , it affects CIBIL

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Singh,

      Did you start repaying the loan immediately after the moratorium period?

      The outstanding loan amount would be the principal loan amount disbursed with the interest accumulated. If your payment is as per the structure of loan then this cannot be impacting your credit score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  157. biren says:

    in addition to this manish pls tell me i m using hdfc card since 4 years and having car loan since 28 month in hdfc bank till date not a single cheque bounced & my transaction with banks are totally positive still my cibil is showing 793 why is so?? what may b d possible reasons behind it..pls help

    1. Its a good enough score. What is your complain . its like you are excellent in ENGLISH , but in exam you get 92/100 .. thats ok 🙂

  158. biren says:

    dear manish,
    what minimum cibil score required for a home loan and my cibil is 793..is it ok ??
    also what is highest cibil score limit ?

    1. YEa this is good enough, but what matters is CIBIL REPORT and not score !

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Biren,

      793 is a good score. Every lending institution would have its own credit score cut off, so it would be difficult to comment on the minimum score.

      CIBIL scores are in the range of 300-900 and hence 900 is the highest possible score. Credit scores are calculated based on various factors like credit history, loan amount which you owe, number of new accounts opened in the recent past. As per the facts mentioned by you, we assume you have good credit behaviour. However, the factors that have impacted your score can be commented on only after your credit report has been analysed.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  159. sweety says:

    Manish..
    I had a credit card n personal loan which is paid in full ..n my credit score is 839. But I had one 2 wheeler loan ehen I had few cheques bounced.. the loan iispaid in full but due to irregular payment. I m not getting a car loan.
    Please suggest the solution..

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sweety,

      Your good payment history across your credit card and personal loan has resulted in a credit score of 839, which is a very good score.

      Although you have cleared the complete outstanding balance and closed your 2 wheeler loan, the late payments against this loan would be viewed negatively by credit institutions. The negative impact would be higher, if these payments were late in the recent past (i.e. past 1 year).

      Is your credit card still open? If yes, then continue using the same for purchases and make timely repayments. Over time this will help improve your credit history since you would be now depicting a positive credit behaviour again.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. There is no solution to this .. You will have to wait for some months/years untill your report gets clear !

  160. Kundan Kumar says:

    Hi Manish

    I am Kundan and my CIBIL score is 632. I have a credit card settlement pending of 70000/- which I will make in next couple of years.
    Can I apply for a Car loan? What is the general CIBIL score they see for approving the car loan??

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Kundan,

      632 is a low credit score. As an industry practice credit scores of above 750 are considered to be good.

      The pending repayment of Rs. 70,000 would be looked upon negatively by the bank. Do you have any other loans or credit cards? If yes, then how are your repayments on the same?

      We would suggest that your improve your credit score before applying for the car loan. You could consider repaying the complete outstanding amount by arranging for some funds from friends or family.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. You can apply for Car Loan, but I am not sure if it will be approved . Your cibil report must be surely messed up given all the info

  161. Pradeep says:

    Hi Manish,

    I got this link through searching in Google and found it an excellent resource (and I bookmarked your website 🙂 ). First, thanks for such a informative article.

    I have a small query, just checking if you could help me out. Currently I have a some outstanding amount in my HDFC credit card and planning to convert it into EMI. So is converting an outstanding amount into an EMI a bad idea (I am confident of paying it EMI without any hiccup)? Will it affect CIBIl score negatively? Because currently I am not in a situation to pay full amount at single shot.

    So if you could help in this query, it would be great!

    Thanks

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Pradeep,

      Now a days, many purchases made through credit cards are allowed to be repaid in EMIs. However, here the payments are structured and marketed in such a way to attract sales.

      This is different from converting the outstanding dues into EMIs. This option is available to you basis your request to the bank.

      The fact that you have requested for your outstanding dues to be converted into EMIs indicates that you are cash stretched. Hence, it would have an impact on your credit score.

      In interest of having a healthy credit report, you could consider arranging some interest free or low interest borrowings from family/friends.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  162. Sumit says:

    Hi Manish,
    I have two credit cards having limits 60,000 and 67,000. I am thinking to purchase a new bike and planning to make payment of some amount by credit card,so that I can convert it into EMI’s if necessary later. I am planning to make remaining payment by finance options available with the Dealer. For this, I need my credit card limit increased on any one of the cards.
    1)If I apply for increasing credit limit, will the bank have another hard enquiry for my CIBIL score?
    2)When I apply for any finance option that dealer has available with him, will it also lead to a hard enquiry in CIBIL?

    Regards,
    Sumit

    1. 1. NO
      2. Yes, they will check CIBIL

  163. Ajay Bakshi says:

    Hi Manish,

    My recent cibil credit score is 831. I don’t have a credit card but do have a car loan for which the EMI are getting deducted on time from my bank. I received a mailer for personal loan from a bank and filled my details online and after sometime I got a reply from the bank stating that my application has been rejected. Is a score of 831 too low for bank to give me personal loan of 2 lacs.

    Need your valued inputs.

    Regards,

    Ajay

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Ajay,

      831 is a good credit score.

      But kindly note that credit scores are “one” of the tools utilized by credit institutions to evaluate credit worthiness. Your income, job stability, amount of loan applied for, existing EMI etc. are few such factors that also play a major role in their appraisal process.

      Late payments or negative remarks like “settled”, if reflecting on your credit report, could be possible reasons for the rejection of your application. Ideally, you should ask the credit institution the reason for the rejection of your application, since it would be wrong to assume that you were rejected due to your credit score.

      Also, kindly do not apply for such “in principle” approved loans unless you have a genuine need to avail it.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. Its not just the score which matters . There are more important things like the status on your credit report , how much EMI already you have in your life, how much UNSECURED loan you have (which makes you risky) ..

  164. Credexpert says:

    Dear Aditya,

    Late payments are viewed negatively by banks, especially if they are recent late payments (i.e. past 1 year). Unfortunately, these cannot be removed from your credit report as they are facts reported on your credit report. The only way to undo the damage is by repaying all loans and credit cards on time henceforth.

    723 is a decent credit score and there is a possibility that it could have increased further in the past 5 months. Furthermore, home loans are secured loans and hence the bank’s risk of lending you would be covered.

    Check your credit score before applying for the home loan as it would help minimizing any possibilities of rejection.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  165. Aditya says:

    Hi Manish

    I have a CIBIL Score of 723, 5 months back and when i applied for personal loan I was rejected due to low CIBIL score and one of my friend told I have also few DPD’s like the way given below

    DPD/AC 000 003 000 003
    MONTH-YEAR 07-13 06-13 05-13 04-13

    You can see for only 2 months 06-13 and 04-13 i have few DPD’s , remaining all months its good . i have immediately cleared all my out standing balances on credit cards.

    Im hoping my score would have increased . Can you please help will those 2 months have impact on my home loan as home loan is secured credit.

    Any help on this greatly helpful. Should i go apply for home loan shall i stand for few more months.

    Thanks,
    Aditya

    1. Credexpert replied you

      Dear Aditya,

      Late payments are viewed negatively by banks, especially if they are recent late payments (i.e. past 1 year). Unfortunately, these cannot be removed from your credit report as they are facts reported on your credit report. The only way to undo the damage is by repaying all loans and credit cards on time henceforth.
      723 is a decent credit score and there is a possibility that it could have increased further in the past 5 months. Furthermore, home loans are secured loans and hence the bank’s risk of lending you would be covered.

      Check your credit score before applying for the home loan as it would help minimizing any possibilities of rejection.

  166. Credexpert says:

    Dear Mr. Elgum,

    795 is a good credit score for a personal loan / credit card. Besides the score, the bank would also look for any negative remarks on your report. “Settled” is a negative remark since it indicates your inability to service the loan in the past.

    Furthermore, personal loans/credit cards are unsecured loans and since the bank’s risk is uncovered with any security, it would be more cautious in lending you the same.

    We would suggest, that you repay the complete outstanding balance against the settled loan and ensure the remark is removed from your report. It would help minimize any possibilities of a rejection.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  167. Rajesh Elgum says:

    Hi ,

    Now my CIBIL score is 795. But unfortunately before 2 years I settled one of my personal loan. And in the CIBIL report it is reflecting.

    I want to know if there are chances for me to get a credit card or personal loan?
    ? If so what are the steps?

    Please advise.

    Thanks in advance.

    Regards

    Rajesh E

    1. It will get tough for you to get loan, if the SETTLED Status is reflecting in your CIBIL report. Forget SCORE, most of the companies look at report status only !

  168. Credexpert says:

    Dear Stanish,

    Since your cheque bounced, the bank must have charged a cheque bounce penalty. You were liable to repay this penalty within the EMI due date itself. So, whilst you must have repaid the EMI on time you failed repaying the penalty on time.

    Yes, this will reflect on your credit report since you were short on your payment by the difference of the penalty amount.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  169. Stanish says:

    Hi,
    Im looking for a personal loan and i don’t have any idea abt my Cibil score.
    1 . Infact i did pay minimum balance pament in the month of feb n march and cleared the entire debt this month.
    2. There was a cheque bounce for my two wheller loan last year and the charges for that was paid this month.

    Will my Cibil score be good or bad. ? Will i be able to get personal.?
    Any kind of guidence would be appreciated..

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Stanish,

      The only way to find out your CIBIL credit score is by obtaining your credit report and score.

      To obtain your CIBIL credit report and score online, kindly visit https://www.cibil.com/online/credit-score-check.do

      In case you want to obtain your report offline, kindly visit
      https://www.cibil.com/sites/default/files/pdf/consumer-request-form.pdf

      The late payment (due to cheque bounce) would reflect on your credit report and this can be viewed negatively by the bank. Are you other EMIs being paid on time?

      Personal loans are unsecured loans (without any security) and hence the bank would be cautious before lending you the same. Also, credit scores are one of the important factors considered by banks and hence not the only factor. Your income, job stability etc. would also play an important factor.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. Stanish says:

        Many thanks for the information.
        The other EMIs are paid on time and there are no existing loans in my name as of now. The cheque bounce charges were paid late but the EMI for the same was paid in the same month. So will it reflect in CIBIL score report.?

  170. Credexpert says:

    Dear Ananya,

    Settlements are viewed negatively by banks since it indicates your inability to service your loans /credit cards. This also impacts credit score negatively.

    However, your settlements are not recent i.e. 2006-2008, and if you have been paying any of your other loans/credit cards on time then you could try and explain the same to the bank you plan to apply in future.

    One step advisable by us is that you should repay the balance outstanding amount to the bank and ensure that you obtain the NOC and that the settled remark is removed from your credit report.

    Regarding, settlement impacting your job opportunities. Currently, the law in India (CICRA 2005) does not allow companies to obtain candidate’s credit report for employment purposes. However, the company could ask you to obtain the same to take an informed hiring decision.

    Already popular in the West, this phenomenon is seen to be developing in the Indian job market as well. Especially important if the company is hiring you for a fiduciary role. After all seeing how you run the business of life can help recruiter identify how you would run their business.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  171. Ananya says:

    Is it true that settling your credit card dues will blacklist you for life from getting a job in banks? I had two credit cards from 2006-2008 but I missed the last payments since I relocated. I was young and had no idea that I will need to surrender the cards if I want to stop using them. However, in 2011 I received calls from them and settled dues for both cards at 10,000 each. Again, I had no idea that it’s better to pay up the entire due than settling for a lesser amount.

    Will I not be able to work for any bank, private or government, due to this? Is there anything I can do to improve the situation?

  172. giribabu says:

    hai,
    i having hdfc credit card it limit was 22000. full amount i was used but fast 1 year i pay only the minimum amount so i want to know due to this thing any issue in my credit score effected pls give me idea and how to improve my score

    Regards,
    giribabu

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Giribabu,

      Using upto 100% of the credit card limit is not good since it increases your credit utilization which is one of the factors involved in calculation of scores.

      Ideally, one should use upto 35-40% of the card limit and you should start practising this soon.

      Regarding paying only the minimum amount due, whilst this would not have any impact on your score, it definitely would impact your budgets and could lead to a potential debt burden. Given that the limit is of Rs.22,000, we assume that the outstanding balance would not be high. You should clear this balance, maybe by arranging for funds from family and/or friends.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  173. SAKUIN says:

    Hi Manish,

    I am working in IT Co and have 809 CIBIL score. I am planning to take up Higher studies and apply for a loan of 20Lakh for myself. The issue is i have all other documents/Collateral and everything except that my mother is housewife and my father is a govt. employee but CIBIL score of my father is 527 which is too low. On checking with CIBIL Report, i saw 7 default cases out of which 2 were open and rest settled or written off. Iam not sure about other except 2 open cases.These 2 open cases of default happened because of ignorance and financial crisis.Also they are as old as 2007 so later we did not even recall it.Now for open cases i am paying the settlement amount and trying to get NOC from banks.They said that CIBIL shall be updated in next 45-60 days. Shall i be able to get loan with my father as coborrower where i add these NOC to the Loan application? I have time issue as well that means i need the education loan maximum within 45 days. Can you guide me on this.. Thanks

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sakuin,

      Your father could be a co-borrower or a guarantor to your education loan. In either case, the bank could choose to obtain your father’s credit report and evaluate his credit worthiness as well.

      527 is a low credit score and could possibly be a hindrance to your loan. It is a good step taken by you to repay the settled/written off accounts and obtain the NOC. However, improving credit scores is a gradual process which cannot be rebuilt overnight. Also, given the urgency of your education loan, this seems to be a little difficult.

      Nevertheless, you should try and explain the bank your case. This could help, given the genuine need of the loan and your good credit behaviour.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. Hmm . Sakun

      The final decision will be taken by Banks on how they want to view your father’s CIBIL report. I know that its very old thing now and that does not represent your current financial status . But still bank officials might have some other way to look at it . Note that they want to be over cautious , so if you still have lots of time, then better pay off the money and get your father CIBIL report updated with better remarks (Score is not that big thing , as far as I know)

      Otherwise, Is it possible to take the loan without keeping your father as co-borrower ?

      1. SAKUIN says:

        I do not have the option of taking loan without father as co-borrower. The bank needs a working co-borrower that too parents. I have collateral having current value double the loan amount. Still i am skeptical if my loan shall be sanctioned.HDFC has already rejected my loan application due to father’s CIBIL issue. I am paying the open accounts of CIBIL defaults and then at the same time applied for ICICI credit builder card as well. But even after this i apply again in some bank after 30 to 45 days wen new cibil score should probably be visible, i am still doubtful on if my loan would be granted. Is there any way for my Education loan gets sanctioned??

        1. Hmm.. if you are reapplying in just 60-70 days , thats a problem if you do it with same bank , better try some other PSU bank like Bank of India or Corporation bank etc . I have no idea what else to suggest you , because if correct your CIBIL report/score should be done months back of the actual loan application, if you apply at the last min, its a big issue .

          Manish

          1. SAKUIN says:

            Hi Manish U r right.. Bank take CIBIL data so aggressively.. I am losing my hope further when Bajaj Finance rejected a loan for 2 wheeler…

            I am in a very tough situation..

            My father is a government employee, but the bad CIBIL score and Defaults in it coming in his CIBIL for One Personal loan and other one of a credit card rest with settled/written off status. I paid for the card and settled it which and score 581 which is still poor.I am also going to settle the personal loan but i know it is not going to make huge difference.

            I do not think his CIBIL score will improve in time so as to be eligible for loan.These days bank give huge importance to CIBIL data and they (Credila/Bajaj Auto Finance) have rejected my father as co-borrower in 2013 dec. I am clueless and getting hopeless on how will i get my Education Loan..

            Any kind of guidence would be appreciated..

            1. Sadly I dont have any quick solution for this, you will have to BITE THE BULLET . the only option you have now is to pay off all the outstanding money and wait for few years to get it back on track !

  174. Mayukh says:

    Dear Manish Chauhan,
    Last year I closed 4 loans (2 house loans, 1 car loan and 1 personal loan), today I checked my cibil score its 857.
    I am planning to take one more house loan next year, will I get loan with this sore? I have no loan pending now.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mayukh,

      857 is a really good credit score. Congratulations on that!

      Since you are planning to avail a Home loan in the next year, you could improve your credit score further. Ensure that there are no late payment which could impact your score negatively during this time gap.

      We do not see any hindrance to your home loan application. The approval or rejection anyways would be at the discretion of the bank you apply to.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. Mayukh says:

        Dear,
        Last time i had checked my credit score was 857 (March 2014)and i am planning to take one car loan on May 2015. will i beeligibe for the loan?
        Note: i dont have any loan pending, i do not have any active credit card . I am using only my saving account and debit card. So my question non relationship with bank (like no loan, no credit card etc) for more than 1.5 years, will that reduce my score? or my score will be same as 857?

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Sir,

          857 is a decent score. However, lending institutions have their own internal criteria for evaluating any credit application, based on which the decision to approve your loan will be taken.

          Having no credit history may impact your score, but this should not be a big concern. It would not be advisable to take unnecessary credit facilities just to build credit history.

          Regards,
          Credexpert

    2. Seems like YES , if you always closed your loans and paid EMI’s on time, your record has to be really great !

  175. Dinesh Rabha says:

    Dear Manish,
    I had personal loan and credit cards in two bank and all are bounched regularly due to financial problem.Before 2 yrs I have applied for SBI car Loan and rejected and there was showing previous loan’s details and credit cards details.And I got car loan from Mahindra giving a guarantor and got SBI credit cards also after six months.

    How I remove my name from cibil? May I got a House Loan in future.

    Please advice the details.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Dinesh,

      CIBIL is a credit bureau which acts as a central repository and collects, stores & maintains credit information of all borrowers. This information is reported to it by lending institutions on a periodical basis and basis this report the bureau generates your credit report.

      Hence, there is no way that your information can be removed from the database of CIBIL. Infact, the information stored at the bureau would be useful and beneficial to you, if you have been repaying your loans/credit cards on time.

      Are you repaying your car loan and credit card on time? If not, then this can hinder your home loan application since your late/non payments indicate your difficulty to service your loans.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. You cant remove it so easily .. there are two things .

      DPD – you cant remove them, they will get removed on its own
      Status – They will get removed, if you make payments for any payments which you didnt

  176. Thanks Credexpert,

    I have to adopt this asap.

    And I don’t need to worry about negative balance in my older bank accounts. Am I right?

  177. Hello Sir,
    I applied for a credit card. But card was cancelled due to low CIBIL Score. But I never take a loan, don’t have any credit card, but why still its showing CIBIL score low for me. And how can I claim for high score?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sushil,

      Since you have never borrowed for any credit facility till date, your credit score would be NH i.e. No history.

      Whilst this is not bad, in absence of a credit history which would allow the lending institution to validate your credit behaviour, it might decide to not lend you.

      On the other hand, a lending institution with a aggressive policy might look at you as their next potential customer.

      Using a secured credit card is one option you could look at to build your credit history and score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. Thanks Credexpert.

        I have some older bank accounts which are not maintained by me. Some of them has negative balance due to non-maintenance of minimum balance. I am tryiing to close all these accounts.

        Does these low balance accounts also affects my CIBIL Score?

        And also if I have credit score as NH (No history), how I can make some positive score?

    2. Sushil

      It means you dont have a CIBIL score or have -1 , means you dont have a history at all . take a credit card against FD and start using it !

  178. Credexpert says:

    Dear Namthiurai,

    Late payments (for whatever reasons) of a few days also have an impact on the credit score. These late payments would be reflected on your credit report and it indicates your inability to service loans/credit cards payments on time.

    In interest of your credit report, the direct debit issue should be raised with the bank and should be resolved at the earliest.

    To maintain a healthy credit life, ensure that you always make timely repayments against all your loans/credit cards.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  179. namthiurai says:

    Hi, iam namthiurai. How can I improve my credit score as I’ve lste payments dor consumer durable loan wit bajaj finance for 8 month and I’ve make the firsy two on time which is direct debit but there 3rd and 4th was bounce but I make the payment on the same month. And I don’t miss each month even if there is some issue with my bank account same days 2nd of every month. And I’e inform them about the issue with the bank. An I have settle with the bank and have mske my 5th payment with direct debit again. And I make my credit card emi on time without single late payment or miss. Thanks namthiurai

    1. Any late payments or bounce of cheque are going to affect your score/report . Make sure you do not repeat it in future, over time your score will get in control

  180. jmdarts007 says:

    Dear madam or Sir How are you I am pawan Kumar Gupta , I am 25 after labor class job in video editing house in Patna , Bihar , India. but I want for video editing care . care time no sleeping in Bed regularly 6 month , I complete video editing tech and coaching the poor family without coast , Today is two state per city my minimum 3 or 5 student , but I heave problem money and I want for global sources business , video & still photo related , some computer gift parts. and some growth the busines

    1. What is your question ?

  181. gowri says:

    I have taken 2 personal loans and i paid one regularly with no bad records. after 3 years i have applied for an another personal loan and i couldn’t pay due some unavoidable situations i have lost my job and jobless for an year then later on i have settled that loan. Kindly advice me how could i increase my CIBIL score since i am planning for a home loan.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Gowri,

      The late payments and the settlement of your personal loan would have negatively impacted your credit score and could be negatively viewed by the lending institution you plan to apply. Given your situation, our suggestion would be that you start making timely repayments against any of your open loans/credit cards. This over time would improve your credit score.

      Also, home loans are long term loans and hence it is advisable that you analyse your cash flows and budgets before availing the same. Do not make any loan applications till there is an improvement in your credit score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  182. prashant says:

    i have o/s of total 3lac on my card and my cibil score is 711.mt o/s on card is 2.75l.i want to go for loan.advice to improve on score and avail loan.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Prashant,

      711 is a decent credit score but the outstanding balance of 2.75 – 3 lacs is a high outstanding amount. If you have been repaying only the minimum amount due against the credit card then we would strongly suggest that you repay the complete outstanding amount. You could try and arrange for interest free/low interest borrowings from friends/family.

      Also before you avail the additional loan, kindly analyse your cash flows and existing obligations. The high outstanding balance against the credit card hints that you are facing difficulties in repaying your existing dues. In such a situation, availing any additional loans could only further burden your cash flows.

      About improving your credit score, make timely repayments against all your existing credit cards/loans and your score will improve gradually over a period of time. Any late payment can negatively impact your credit score and hinder your loan application and hence it is important that you avail the loan after analysing your cash flow.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. prashant says:

        thanks for the advice..

    2. I think first you will have to clear your loan very soon on credit card, otherwise its tough to get any further loan !

      1. Dash says:

        Hi Manish,

        I had 4 credit cards and 1 personal Loan in the year of 2006-2007.
        All those were disputed accounts.But I paid full amounts and closed (not settlement) in 2013 with whatever outstanding it was and got the clearance certificate from all the bankers.To improve the credit score I took the ICICI secured credit card against some FD and started using it.Before closing the credit card issues my CIBIL score was 545 and after closing increased to 595.But now after 8 months of using the ICICI secure credit card my CIBIL score was decreased again to 555 instead of increasing.

        Can you please suggest what could be the reason of decreasing the CIBIL score ?
        From here it seems no bankers will provide me any home/personal loans.

        1. Your old record is really having contribution. Plus you should spend more time right now and keep using it . The algo they use for calculating the score is not that simple to understand and not in public domain .

        2. Credexpert says:

          Dear Dash,

          Do you have any other open loans/ credit cards other than the ICICI secured credit card? And how is your repayment and credit utlisation against this credit card? Although it is a credit card secured against a fixed deposit, you would have to depict disciplined credit behaviour to boost your score.

          We would suggest that you obtain your recent credit report and score and check for accounts that are negatively impacting your score. Also check if all the data reflecting on your credit report is factual and up to date. Any erroneous data could also negatively impact your credit score.

          Regards,
          Credexpert
          http://www.credexpert.in

  183. Pawan Srivastav says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have some due on my mobile bill. Is this impace on CIBIL score.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Srivastav,

      Credit score obtained from CIBIL, Equifax or Experian are calculated based on the credit history of an individual. This information related to an individual’s credit history is reported by lending institutions to the bureau on a periodical basis.

      Presently, in India Telecom and Insurance companies are not submitting any data to these bureaus and hence any dues on your mobile bill would not be impacting your credit scores. In any case, you should avoid delays in paying any dues.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. It may – in future, Because even post paid mobile dues are being tracked and it might come under the CIBIL report !

  184. B Satish says:

    Thank You Very Much!

  185. B Satish says:

    I have one more quiry. Is it bad practice to withdraw money from credit card through ATMs. Does it affect the credit history?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Satish,

      Cash advance against a credit card does not affect credit history until you have been repaying the due on time. Kindly note that interest rate is charged from the day cash is withdrawn and there is no grace period. Also the interest rate on Cash advances is often significantly higher than on purchases or balance transfers.

      It is advisable to not withdraw cash from ATM’s from your credit card, debit cards are advisable.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. It directly does not affect. But its same as taking credit on very high interest rates . so mostly you might default at some point of time and then your CIBIL will mess up !

      Manish

  186. B Satish says:

    Sure… Thank You Very Much!

  187. b satish says:

    Hi, this is Satish.
    Five months ago my CIBIL score was NA (not available). CIBIL said it happened because I don’t have any credit history. Banks refused my CC and Personal Loan application as I don’t have credit history. Then I applied for a RD based credit card from SBI and using it. Only to build a credit history I am using this card fully.

    Unfortunately a cheque was bounced in my savings account due to my negligence, before two months, which is below two thousand rupees.

    Now I am planning for two wheeler loan, only to create a credit history.

    What will be the reflection of this in my CIBIL rating? CIBIL score is must for me because; I am journalist, which was block listed profession for financial institutions.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Satish,

      We believe that the secured credit card should be enough for building your credit history. If you do not require a two wheeler then you should not be opting for it when the intention is of only building your credit history.

      The 1 late payment could be viewed negatively by lending institutions since this is a recent late payment. We assume that you are not planning to apply for any new loan/credit cards with a genuine need in the near future. Continue making timely repayments against the credit card as this will build your credit score over a period of time. Monitor your score over the next few months to track the improvement basis your timely repayments.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. B Satish says:

        Thnak You Very Much!

    2. While cheque bounce is not a great thing ! . you should first check your CIBIL report and score and then share what is the status !

  188. Ajay says:

    One of my collegue is having ICICI cr.card since 5 years.In the past of these 5 years he had requested several time for his bank to increase card limit.

    But he is in trouble now to seen his cibil report which has 54 enquiries in which out of 22 Enquiries is related to ICICI bank.While approached to the bank asking for the reason all these enquiries were happened due to he had requested to increase card limit.
    Now, all these practice by the bank has drastically degraded his credit score and bank is also dening to delete these enquires made by them .Bank is also not able to provide RBI guidelines.
    In my opinion there is no guidelines available to say mandatory cibil checks for limit enhancement.
    You are kindly requested to please confirm if there is any regulatory guidleines if available for it or else pl confirm if you can help in any other way.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Ajay,

      Lending institutions are not allowed to unilaterally enhance the credit card limit without a prior consent of the consumer. In your case since the consumer has himself requested for an increase in the credit limit, the lending institution in question would evaluate the credit worthiness to determine the risk involved and to come to a conclusion whether to increase the credit limit or not.

      One of the tools used to evaluate an individuals credit worthiness is to check his credit report and score which provides a comprehensive understanding of all credit facilities that an individual currently has or had in the past. Using the credit report and score if not mandated by RBI, it could also be mandatory as per their internal credit policy of the bank.

      Making request several times for enhancement of the limit was wrong step taken. Your friend could have approached the bank to understand the grounds on which the request for enhance is being rejected. This would have helped him to a great extent.

      All said and done, our suggestion is that your friend does not make any such several requests in future and make timely repayments.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. Thanks for sharing that . I would like to do a story on CIBIL Mess created . For this, I suggest he file a consumer court on this

      Manish

  189. Credexpert says:

    Dear Kavya,

    The first thing to do is to apply for your Credit Report to know

    1. What is your credit bureau score
    2. The exact details that are reflected on it.

    Based on that further action can be taken.

    Also, if your communication with the bank was in writing, the same can be used for clarifying and proving that the card was not used by you.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  190. kavya says:

    Hi I have an issue with credit card. 6 years back i got a credit card and i lost that card before even using it once. I informed the bank and asked them to close it. I dont have any communication from them ever since then. I learned recently that i have a very bad cibil score due to this card and i have some balance payment to be done. I have no idea what can be done here..Please advise..

    1. You need to run for this now . Your mistake was that you took it very casually, but you could not have done much anyways , I can understand your situation !

      Manish

  191. kavya says:

    How do get advice on Cibil Score..

  192. Abraham Simons says:

    Dear Manish,
    Many thanks for the insight. Hats off to you for replying to so many queries.
    My score was 650 last year. To improve my score I got 3 SECURED credit cards (AGAINST FD) 4 months back and started paying my home loan on time since then. I use 30 – 50% of the credit limit each month and pay it by 30th of every month much before the due date in full. Please could you let me know how soon my rating will cross 750 and 800. What else can I do to improve the score rapidly.

    I am now financially disciplined.

    Warm regards
    Abraham.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Simons,

      Obtaining a secured credit card is undoubtedly one of the best ways to improve the credit score. You have also been repaying your Home loan on time and using only up to 30-50% (ideal limit) of the credit card. All these steps would help in improving your credit score and an ideally you should check your credit score after a period of 6 months.

      Other steps that could help in improving the score would be:
      • Not making random enquiries
      • Maintaining a balance between the number of secured and unsecured loans

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. One cant tell you that when will the score go beyond a score point, but surely it should improve over time .

    3. Jestin Varghese says:

      Hi Manish,

      Thanks for the insight.
      I’m sure my credit rating is screwed up. I have payed all the outstanding dues but I think its too low since, I’m not getting any credit card or loan. So improve that what should I do?

      1. Credexpert says:

        Dear Mr. Varghese,

        There are various factors that could have resulted in your CIBIL score being impacted negatively. Whilst, there are various generic steps that can be broadly followed to improve credit, a lot of it would be case specific and could be commented only after analysing your credit bureau report.

        Regards,
        Credexpert
        http://www.credexpert.in

      2. When you did you take action for improvement and what was the improvement ? Just paying back will not help . you need to take more steps like paying your dues on time for a year or something like that !

  193. Sam says:

    Hi Manish,
    I have taken CIBIL report in April 2013 (Score – 630) and found some descrepencies.
    1. Consumer Loan which shows written off. (It was their computer mistake)
    2. Two Wheeler loan which is open status but no payments. (Due to Bank merging, they have not updated the closure of the loan to CIBIL).
    3. Outstanding balance on Credit Card.
    4. Four Credit Cards
    5. My Take home amount displayed.

    What I did after this was –
    1. I contacted Consumer Loan with all payment proofs. They corrected CIBIL with their comments as closed. (Closed:11-08-2011)
    2. I contacted Two Wheeler loan and requested them to update the CIBIL of my loan closure details. They have updated accordingly.(Closed : 21-08-2007)
    3. I am still co-ordinating with Credit Card about the outstanding amount(Rs.1416). It was some new insurance which they created without my acceptance.
    AMOUNT OVERDUE 1,416
    WRITTEN-OFF STATUS WRITTEN-OFF
    WRITTEN-OFF AMOUNT (TOTAL) 7,041
    WRITTEN-OFF AMOUNT (PRINCIPAL) 2,210
    DATE OF LAST PAYMENT 04-01-2007
    INDIVIDUAL DATE REPORTED AND CERTIFIED 06-10-2013
    4. I have closed two of the Credit Cards. I am currently using two.

    Now, I have taken CIBIL report couple of days back and found the score is 629 :(.
    It went down 1 point. This shocked me. I have not done any other payment missing activities. No other loans except those two CC’s which are well maintained.

    My queries :
    1. About score going down 1 point even 4 months after updating two corrections?
    2. When will this SBI details go out of my CIBIL Statement? 7years?
    2. How to update my take Income under Employment section. It shows 4.8Lakh but now I earn 10Lakh per annum.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Sam,

      1. The details reflecting on your credit card might have impacted your score. We would request you to wait till the dispute on your credit card is corrected on your credit report. After this updation, you might see a correction in your credit score as well.
      2. Settlements and written off statues remain on your credit report for at least 7 years.
      3. Employment details on your credit report are as of your last credit application. If your salary was 10 lakhs during your last application, it requires an updation of data. If not, your current employment details as per the new approved application will get reflected on your credit report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. 1. Its not known how CIBIL SCORE is calculated. so No idea on that

      2. NO idea , 7 ys is minimum , not maximum

      3. Again its updated from some bank account . I think it needed to be updated in some bank account

      Manish

  194. Credexpert says:

    Dear Bhavesh,

    You settled 3 credit cards almost 6 years ago which is not recent and hence would not have a negative impact on your score. Having said which this would depend on the credit policies of the lending institution evaluating your credit worthiness.

    Your disciplined credit behaviour over years could have boosted your score and helped you built a healthy credit history. We do not see any reason for a possible reason of rejecting your Personal loan application based on the facts specified by you.

    As a word of caution we would suggest that you apply for additional Personal loan or Top up only if there is a genuine need for one.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  195. Bhavesh says:

    I have setteled 3 Credit cards in the year 2007, and after that my credit history is too good, no cheque bounce, no delay in CC payments. PL of 1Lac is going on. So please suggest as can there be a problem if i apply another PL, or Topup on the existing one.

    1. Yes, there can be problems, the thing is that the credit card companies must have updated the CIBIL with your status as “settled” , no lender will lend you seeing that status .

      Manish

  196. Ashok GC says:

    hi Manish,

    how long will it take to update score?

    1. It gets updated each month .

  197. Vinay Maithani says:

    Dear Manish,
    As per 100 money actions, the one i am stuck with to understand is CIBIL score. Being an NRI is it a good idea to go for CIBIL score. Most of the fields in the website to register for credit score are India centric.
    I need a Home loan in 2 months time to purchase a house.
    Please guide.
    Regards
    Vinay

    1. Hi Vinay

      CIBIL is specific to India .. So you have to learn more about CIBIL only . You can read all our articles listed under Credit Score section or you can learn more from CIBIL site .

      Manish

  198. MM says:

    Bu the way, this loan will be Home loan.

  199. MM says:

    Hi,
    Need help.
    Due to poor credit managemnet i earlier messed up all my credit history,
    1. 10 years back did citiback Credit card settlemet
    2. 7 years back did bracklay bank credit card settlement
    3. 2 years back did HDFC personal loan settlemet
    4. There were many cheque bounce on my 2 ICIC loan and 1 IDBI loan
    2 years back my cibil score was 575.
    What i did last 2 years. There were no cheque bounce last 2years and i closed all loans .
    1. I closed 1 ICICI loan with lumsum payment (almost 3L) [close on march 2011]
    2. I closed 2nd ICICI loan with lumsum payment (almost 11L) [closed on July 2013]
    3. I closed IDBI loan with lumsum payment (almost 30L) [February 2013]

    I am planing to take loan on 2015 again. Please suggest what shall i do ? I have applied for cibili score, yet to receive.

    1. Once you get your cibil score .. first check what is the score and what are the remarks on your card .. If you have messed up a lot in past, it will take good time to get it corrected.

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear MM,

      Settlement indicates an individual’s inability to service his loans/credit cards. You have settled 2 credit cards and 1 personal loan in the past but as these are not recent their impact on your credit score could be low. Having said which, a lending institution could view this negatively depending on their internal credit policies.

      Your disciplined credit behaviour in the past 2 years could work in your favour this will be reflected on your credit bureau report. We would suggest that you obtain your CIBIL credit report and score and track your accounts and your payment details.

      Since you are planning to apply for a home loan (secured) in 2015, there is scope of improvement in your score thereby minimising the chances of rejection of your application. Continue making timely repayments against all your credit cards/loans, do not apply randomly for new credit applications unless genuinely needed and your score would improve over a period of time.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  200. Ashok GC says:

    Hi,
    Recenlty, i applied for personal loan with same score axis/hdfc/icci bank rejected.
    And Then,
    September Month

    -> Missed two payment in last 6 months

    Bill Generated- 18th September
    outstanding amount-Rs 42651
    Payment Date- 7th of October
    Payment made – Rs 24000 on 4th October
    Payment made – Rs 14000 on 13th October
    Applied for Cibil Score- 8th October( Cibil Score-741)
    October Bill Generated 18th oCt
    outstanding amount-Rs 6802
    payment made 25th- Rs 6802
    Shopping -Rs 2001 online(Ticket Booking)
    Now,
    will my cibil score will increase/decrease?
    will my loan get approved?
    Thanks & Regards,
    ASHOK GC
    8867608305

    1. Hi Ashok

      What you mentioned is not good for your score ! , First you should check what is your score ? did you do that ?

  201. Ashok GC says:

    Hi,

    Recenlty, i applied for personal loan with same score axis/hdfc/icci bank rejected.

    And Then,
    September Month
    Bill Generated- 18th September
    outstanding amount-Rs 42651
    Payment Date- 7th of October
    Payment made – Rs 24000 on 4th October
    Payment made – Rs 14000 on 13th October
    Applied for Cibil Score- 8th October( Cibil Score-741)

    October Bill Generated 18th oCt
    outstanding amount-Rs 6802
    payment made 25th- Rs 6802
    Shopping -Rs 2001 online(Ticket Booking)
    Now,

    will my cibil score will increase/decrease?
    will my loan get approved?

    Thanks & Regards,
    ASHOK GC
    8867608305

  202. ADIL KHAN says:

    HI,
    THIS IS ADIL HERE, YESTERDAY I GOT MY CIBIL RECORD AND MY SCORE IS 782 IS THIS SCORE IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR CREDIT CARD

    ON MY ENBQURY SECTION THERE ARE MANY BANK LIKE HDFC N KOTAK N SBI HAD VIEWED MY SCORE BUT HAVET APPLY ONLY THEN Y THERE IS SHOWING THAT ON ENQRY ……6 ENQUEIRY MADE ON MY ACCOUNT BUT I HAD NOT APPLY ONLY FOR THAT…PLZ DO NEEDFUL N LET KNOW

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Khan,

      782 is a good score, having said which each lending institution would have its own credit score cut off as per their internal credit policies.

      Credit card is an unsecured type of credit facility and hence the lending institution might be cautious in evaluating your credit worthiness before approving the same.

      As far as your enquiries are concerned, if these applications were not made by you then, we would suggest that you dispute the same with the credit bureau and/or the respective lending institution and ensure that your credit report reflects facts of your credit history. High number of enquiries indicates a credit hungry behaviour and hence can be viewed negatively by the lending institution you have been planning to apply to.

      We would suggest that you postpone your credit card application unless the incorrect enquiries are removed from your credit report. This will help in minimizing any possibilities of rejection.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. ADIL KHAN says:

        thanks Credexpert

      2. ADIL KHAN says:

        thanks Credexpert
        ……

        is cibil is going to understand my qury that i had not make any enuriy for credit card ,within how many day the disput refeclt on my report?

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Mr. Khan,

          Yes, you would have to raise an online dispute with CIBIL on https://www.cibil.com/online/file-consumer-dispute.do

          Based on the information submitted by you, CIBIL will check with the lending institution(s) and notify you as appropriate in estimate timeframe of 30 days.

          Regards,
          Credexpert
          http://www.credexpert.in

    2. Adil

      Did you make any enquiry from your side for these banks credit card or not ?

      1. ADIL KHAN says:

        Manish Chauhan.

        i had never appleid fro creditcard in kotak bank n sbi bank but once i remember that i had given my document to kotak for polciy but i have refused and not taken a policy,but when i saw my enqiry information on cibil its show that koatk has veiwed my score for credita card for amount of 40000 on 12/12/2010 then again its shows that kotak has viewid my report on 15/03/2011 for creditcard for the amount of 40000 the on 6/12/2011 sbi bank has viewed my cibil for credit card for the amount of 50000 but i had never appailed for that bank….so what to do help ….
        waiting for ur reply

        1. Not sure .. The agent must have done some kind of enquiry from your end . NEver given your documents to anyone like this !

  203. Credexpert says:

    Dear Mr. Singh,

    DPDs when updated from 360 to 000 will definitely benefit you and this will boost your score positively.

    We would request you to make timely repayments and never default on your credit card or loan repayments.

    Warm Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  204. deepak singh says:

    Dear Manish,

    My cibil score was 599. Recently i have made complete outstanding payment to my credit institution against which they activated my card with a lower limit as my earlier card was expired so they have issued me a new card with diff card number but the same customer id . It has been three months now but my score has gone up as low as 630.

    There is no amount overdue no written / settled status no closed date everything is updated on CIR but my score is still very poor .

    Threfore kindly suggest

    1. Score does not go up so fast. It will take lot of time. There is no shortcut to increase your score. After making the prepayment and clearing your loans, your score has jumped to 630 from 599 , thats a decent increase and now over time it will get better.

      1. deepak singh says:

        manish,

        how much time it will take for the score to go up and just need a clarification that is this score a cibil version 2.0 score and accordingly what will be the score as of now for earlier cibil version.

        1. It should get reduced now compared to old one, but that will now be new standard ! . Note that there is no fixed formula how score will come down or do up . But over time (in few months) It should get better

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Singh,

      Improving credit score is not a quick fix and would have to display disciplined credit behaviour over the next few months and monitor your credit score. Credit score is calculated based on various factors like outstanding balance, number of secured and unsecured loans, credit utlisation, number of enquiries etc.

      Rightly so, you have repaid your complete outstanding against your credit card, but this is only one of the factor considered for score calculation besides the other factors stated above.

      We would suggest that you continue making timely repayments against all your loans/credit cards and monitor your score over the next few months.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. deepak singh says:

        thanks for the reply very useful info.

        One more thing i would like to ask that in my credit report into the DPD section 2 months were not updated 7/13 & 8/13 which were showing 360 but i have asked my credit inst. for to get it rectified so will that effect my score a little bit.

  205. Kabir says:

    My loan was rejected. Credit Sudhaar was my choice. Initially they were slow. But their counsellors were able to handle all my queries. I will give Credit Sudhaar a positive review

    1. Great .. thanks for sharing that !

  206. kaviyarasan kannan says:

    Hi Manish,

    I had applied personal loan in HDFC bank.But it was rejected due to cibil score.They said your cibil score is 0(zero).I dont have credit card also.
    I have two savings account with that bank.but currently I am using one account as active.
    1.can you help me what shall I do to increase my cibil score because my score is 0?
    2.How long will it take to reach 720 If I do proper credits?
    3.Is cibil score related to this bank alone or it is common for all banks?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Kannan,

      Your score 0(Zero), means:
      a) You do not have a credit history or you do not have enough of a credit history to be scored, i.e. you are new to the credit system
      b) You do not have any credit activity in the last couple of years
      c) You have all add-on credit cards and hence have no credit exposure

      Credit bureaus only collect, maintain and update information related to credit facilities of an individual. Savings or investments do not form a part of the credit report and hence do not impact credit scores.

      We would suggest that you opt for a secured credit card and build your credit history by making timely repayments against this credit card.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. You should take a credit card against a FD and overtime your score will build up !

  207. SAURABH JOSHI says:

    Dear Sir,

    I had applied for ICICI Bank home loand last week, since I had outstanding on 1.6 lacs, they were ready to give 27 lacs of Pre Approved Home loan but with condition that It will be disbursed only when I clear off my all credit card dues . I didn’t agreed to this condition of ICICI so I withdrew my home loan application from ICICI.
    Now I have approached SBI for home loan and their Branch Manager said they SBI do not considers Credit Card due for Calculating Home Loan eligibility of an Individual. I have cleared 40000 of Credit card due last week, now total outstanding is 1.2 lacs. I have never defaulted on Credit card payment, always clears the minimum amount much befor laste date.
    Do you think I should go ahead with SBI for home loan or wait for anothe 5-6 months?

    1. A bank will not bother if the payment is due for 6 months of any loan , but it has to be education/auto loan kind of thing . if its a credit card, they will first ask you to clear it off .

      1. SAURABH JOSHI says:

        Dear Manish,

        I again received call today from ICICI bank saying they are now ready to give me home loan without condition of clearing credit card dues,but i had submitted my documents to SBI yesterday for pre approved home loan??

        What do you suggest, shall I accept ICICI offer now or go ahead with SBI but I am not sure how long will they take to approve it??

        Regards
        Saurabh Joshi

        1. Hmm .. tough situation I must say .

          If ICICI is ready to give it , I would have taken it, because there will be less formalities . SBI will be a pain overall .

          But I leave the decision on you.

  208. Credexpert says:

    Dear Deepankar,

    The email received from Citi bank means that your credit application was rejected as their internal credit policies did not match with your CIBIL score. As a consumer you have your right under Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 – CICRA to ask the lending institutions to give you the letter which states the reason for the rejection of your credit card application.

    The cellular post paid connection are not being reported by the telecom companies to the bureau and hence be assured that this has not impacted your credit score.

    Apart from the cell phone data, your other credit / loan accounts would have also played a role, there are various factors like late payments, high outstanding balance; high number of enquiries could be few of the factors that have impacted by our credit score.

    Get your credit report analysed by our experts and get a simplified yet comprehensive understanding of your credit report.

    Regards,
    Credexpert
    http://www.credexpert.in

  209. Deepankar says:

    Hi Manish,

    I am Deepankar.I was using a IDEA cellular postpaid connection in Haryana. I had a credit limit of 1500 in it. When i was leaving haryana i talked to the outlet to close the connection but they didn’t dissconnect the connection. Even my limit was 1500 i got a bill of 2400. I was not paying the bill as i thought then only and told the outlet also to dissconect the number as i came to bangalore i didn’t needed the sim so i was not using it anymore. after 3 months in month of june i got a call from a person saying that i have to clear my due or they will file a case against me. So i paid the amount and again sent a mail to customer care to dissconnect my connection.
    Now this month i have applied for a credit card of CITI bank but i have received a mail that CIBIL response didn’t match with their INTERNAL POLICY. So please tell me that is my phone bill incident will have affected my CIBIL score? Is yes can i improve it or do anything that my CIBIL score improves. There are any other factors that credit card application rejected due to CIBIL Response.

    1. As per my knowledge, till now the phone bills are not incorporated inside the report . But better check it once .

  210. Saranya says:

    I am Saranya mailing you from Coimbatore city, i do need your precious assistance to clear my CIBIL issue. 3 yrs before i got 35 k personal loan from Fullerton India for 35,000, due to some persoanl problem i failed to pay my last 10 EMI and recently 4months before i paid the whole pending amount and got the NOC from them. Because of this i am not able to get loan or credit card from any of the banks. The bankers are just saying your credit score is too low to avail a loan, but they are not assisting us as how to clear it. When i was surfing i got your mail id, please do help me to come out of this issue

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Saranya,

      The late payments for whatever reasons would reflect on your credit report and it indicates your inability to service the loans, is viewed negatively by lending institutions and this would have also impacted your credit score negatively.

      You would have to build your credit score over time to successfully qualify for a credit facility. Since lending institutions have been rejecting your loans applications, we would suggest that you opt for a secured credit card and make timely repayments against the same.

      As per Credit Information Companies. (Regulation) Act, 2005 (CICRA) – the law which defines the control of the Credit bureaus and lending institutions for sharing and disclosing of the data. This law states that every individual who is rejected for any credit application has the right to avail a rejection letter stating the reason of rejection.

      Stop applying for any new credit facilities until your credit score improves since the rejections would increase the number of inquiries appearing on your credit report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

      1. Saranya says:

        Thanks for your valuable suggestion and may i know to whom & where i have to send the rejection letter as you stated in your mail “This law states that every individual who is rejected for any credit application has the right to avail a rejection letter stating the reason of rejection”. Please assist me.

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Saranya,

          The lending institution that rejects your application has to provide you with a rejection letter stating the reason for rejection…. there is nothing you have to send to anyone.

          Regards,
          Credexpert
          http://www.credexpert.in

    2. You said that you paid the whole amount, so now your report should be clean and clear, correct ? But your score will not improve instantly. Its going to correct only after many months or a year ! . So expecting it to rise fast will be incorrect.

  211. Kiran says:

    Hi Manish,
    In all the comments & posts I read how to improve or keep a healthy CIBIL score, but what if the score is already messed up & very low, what one should do to get back to the healthy score ? Pls advise on this aspect also.

    Rgds,
    Kiran

    1. It must have happens due to some mistakes you have committed in past. Now out of those some can be rectified and some cant . Those which can be rectified has to be acted upon . First you list down what are the reasons why your score is messed up ? Have you done that bit ?

  212. Ashwath says:

    Hi Mansih
    It’s good to see how you have spread awareness on Increasing/maintaining a healthy cibil score, much appreciate the way you responded to each and every one’s query.
    I too have a few concerns/doubts regarding the same please advise if you can.

    I had forcefully taken a SBI CC(Credit Card) 7-yrs back when my sal was mere 6.5 K, i had used the card for just 3k but could not make regular payments but in all paid 8K approx in next 2 years settled it thereafter by paying approx 8K more. In 2012 i recvd a call from SBI saying I have an outstanding payment of 30K and told by them that its not being settled. I gave a damn as I already paid them too much for what i had actually used(just 3K).
    Today I m working in an international bank at a very good position with 40K sal. I want to take a car loan & when applied it was rejected saying score is just 550.

    Please advise. Thanking you in advance.
    Regards
    Ashwath

    1. You left the case, without knowing whats happening exactly. You should have seen why there is still some outstanding ? Now you will have to do that anyways ! . First check with SBI why was there an outstanding when you paid so much ?

  213. Shivaa says:

    My cibil score is 640.I want to get my personal loan because of this score my application is rejected. I didn’t pay my education loan amount for one year.Now i am paying my EMI regularly. How can i increase my score within 6 months.

    1. There is no short cut as such ! . First pay off your loan and then come back on this

  214. Prashant says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have taken a 2 wheeler loan of 46100. I have left with 17000 of it.

    Now I had applied for the home loan and my bank asks me to close that 2 wheeler loan. While paying my 2 wheeler loan because of lenders mistake one of my cheque was bounced. Family credit has charged Rs700 in my statement for that bouce of cheque. Now I am thinking to repay my full loan in next 2 days, but thinking to argue with Family Credit about that 700 Rs, as it was there mistake only.

    Want to know your thinking on that. should I pay that 700 also? will it affect anyway to my cibil score?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Prashant,

      Late payments for whatever reasons would be reported by the lending institution and would reflect on your credit report. In your case the late payment was a result of the lending institution’s delay in clearing your cheque. Rightly so, you should not be repaying Rs.700.

      We would suggest that you write to the lending institution explaining the course of events. As this process could take some time to be settled we would also suggest that you keep in mind your priority to avail the Home loan.

      If your Home loan need is urgent for which you would have to close the two wheeler loan then you should go ahead and repay the complete outstanding including Rs. 700.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

    2. First pay everything , take the home loan and then create the scene !

  215. vikas laad says:

    Good Information. Useful for people who may need financial credit in future. my cibil score is 744 please reply this score ok or not ok….next future loan ?????

    1. Its ok , not the best .. try for better

  216. RAVINDAR REDDY says:

    Dear sir,

    Recently i had completed my car loan due to late payments my cibil score had decresed i need house loan urgently, how should i can INCREASE CBI SCORE pls help me.

    1. There is no shortcut to increase it . You need to follow the article tips !

  217. Credexpert says:

    Dear Mr. Kumar,

    Basis our understanding although the account is shown as two separate accounts entries, it appears to be the same. Since it was taken over by another company, the account number would have changed accordingly.

    If you wish to close your account with Phoenix ARC, you can do so by paying the entire outstanding amount. Before you do so, enquire as to what will be the status of your account after you repay the entire outstanding. Also, make sure to get a “No dues certificate” from Phoenix ARC once you closed your account.

    Also, if any person claims to clear your report in a suspicious manner, please be careful when proceeding with the same. No lawyer can “clean” up your report.

    There is an established procedure for raising disputes with credit bureaus and lending institutions. And ‘Settling’ the account is worst and it will further impact
    your score in a negative manner.

    Regards,
    Credexpert

  218. PRAVEEN KUMAR says:

    Hi sir I have a small doubt, there is a credit card on my name which was taken on my name without my knowledge by one of my cousin who used to work with Barclays Credit Card Company at that time& was also a freelancer for some other banks. So at that time (2008) I signed few personal loan forms with him & which I took it for my personal purpose, but I was not aware that I also signed a form which was for Barclays Credit card and which was used by my cousin. All this matter came to lime light recently only when I re applied for credit card & home loan, both got rejected because of poor credit score (573), we had a big fight in our family, finally he agreed to return the actual amount of the credit card which was Rs.23000 at that time, but now in my cibil report it showing as Rs.42000 amount due. Now it’s my headache to clear my cibil report, so I’m ready to pay remaining amount due from my pocket. Now the problem is that Barclays CC company got shut down. When I google it I came to know that they have sold all the account to 3rd party collections & the name of the company is PHOENIX ARC (which belongs to kotek Mahindra bank).
    Now in my cibil report 1st PAGE showing as-
    MEMBERN NAME- PHOENIX ARC, DATE OPENED- 22-01-2008, CREDIT LIMIT-Rs,23,000, CURRENT BALANCE- Rs,44,604, AMOUNT OVER DUE- Rs,44,604. STATUS- NO SUIT FILED ACCOUNT PURCHASED.
    ON 2nd PAGE
    MEMBERN NAME- BARCLAYS BANK, DATE OPENED- 22-01-2008, CREDIT LIMIT-Rs,23,000,CURRENT BALANCE- Rs,0, AMOUNT OVER DUE- Rs,0. STATUS- WRITTEN OFF & ACCOUNT SOLD. BUT Both the account numbers are different.
    Are they different accounts or both are one account, bit confuse about it. now when I am ready to pay off the balance, what precautions I need to take before making the payment and what documents should I ask them in written that there is no due with them. I also came to know that if there is written off or suit filed I won’t be eligible to get a loan, is that true? If it’s true what letter should I ask them keep my cibil report clean. Please help me because recently one person approached me that he would clear the cibil report & also help me in settling the credit card amount for lesser amount, for which he also took Rs,5,000 as advance to pay the lawyer fee. It seems i’m getting cheated in every step. Kindly please help no one there to guide me.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Kumar,
      Basis our understanding although the account is shown as two separate accounts entries, it appears to be the same. Since it was taken over by another company, the account number would have changed accordingly.

      If you wish to close your account with Phoenix ARC, you can do so by paying the entire outstanding amount. Before you do so, enquire as to what will be the status of your account after you repay the entire outstanding. Also, make sure to get a “No dues certificate” from Phoenix ARC once you closed your account.

      Also, if any person claims to clear your report in a suspicious manner, please be careful when proceeding with the same. No lawyer can “clean” up your report.
      There is an established procedure for raising disputes with credit bureaus and lending institutions. And ‘Settling’ the account is worst and it will further impact your score in a negative manner.

      We, at Credexpert, provide services were we help individuals through the above mentioned process by coordinating with credit bureaus and the lending institutions through the right channels. Along with this, we also analyse credit reports to give a detailed yet a simple and comprehensive view of the same. To know more about us, please visit http://www.credexpert.in

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  219. Credexpert says:

    Dear Pratap,

    673 is an average score to apply for a Personal loan (i.e. unsecured loan) and as per industry practice a score of 750 and above is considered to be a good score. Along with your credit score, based on their internal credit policies the lending institution would evaluate your credit worthiness.

    Lending institutions report borrower’s credit information to credit bureaus either on a monthly or quarterly basis. We would suggest that you apply for your credit report after 30-45 days to check the updation of the said information.

    Regards,
    Credexpert

  220. pratap says:

    Hi Manish,

    My Score is 673. I am planning to apply Personal Loan.

    Currently I am holding 2 credit cards with the limit of 160000 (citi bank) and 75000 (HDFC bank).
    I have cleared both cards last month.

    when its reflecting in my CIBIL report. when I am eligible to get Peronsal Loan

    can you please assist me.

    thanks
    Pratap

  221. Sekhar says:

    Hi Manish,

    Thank you very much for valuable suggestions and quick reply.

    As you pointed out my SBI credit card issue, Initially they asked me for settlement with the offering amount Rs 39,000 but I requested to them for closing the account (Including CIBIL clean up) and later they came up towards closing amount of Rs 60,000.If I say YES then they will start the closing process and give a formal mail and later hard copy of NOC. After your answer now I am uncertain will they be dishonor with their earlier promises after the payment? But I have the written mail from SBI Nodal towards the closing the account of 60,000. Requesting please suggest for this matter.

    Also is there any time frame of reporting to CIBIL about my secure ICICI credit card ? Because I took the credit card just 3 months back and on 10th July 13 obtained my CIBIL report in which I couldn’t find my credit card entry.

    Regards,
    Sekhar

    1. I think the official mail is enough, but its always a good idea to take a written letter from them along with NOC that they are going to update things with CIBIL .

      Generally it can take 45-60 days for changes to get reflected, not more than that

      1. Sekhar says:

        Thank you very much Manish for sharing the knowledge and quick reply.

  222. praveen says:

    Dear Manish,

    My score is 753. But in the report, there are many enquiries listed (two year old).
    1. How does these inquiries affect my score and will buying credit score oftently also affect the score. 2. what is the general cycle of reporting of banks to CIBIL.

    The credit market place offering credit card, i just have one with less limit. Generally i end up using 80% of its limit since the limit is too less. do u suggest i shall i apply for another card and share my credit expenditure in these two.

    sorry i asked too many questions, i read all previous questions. Your language is very simple and easy for laymen like me to understand. Great job you are doing, god bless…

    1. 1. NO , you ordering your score will have no effect on your score

      2. All the banks and lending institutions report to CIBIL on monthly basis

      I think you should talk to your current credit card and ask them to raise your limits . thats a better option

      Manish

  223. Sekhar says:

    4. Three Months back also took one secure credit card through ICICI bank credit building program.But still that is not reflected in the CIBIL report.So will it be improve the score ?

    1. Yes if you are paying the dues on time, it makes sense that it should appear

  224. vigneshwari says:

    hello sir
    I have got an educational loan for my undergraduate engineering studies and i have repaid the loan only after completing my Post graduate by settling full payment until we have paid only the interest to the bank… now i have applied for personal loan but the loan application gets rejected and they says that your CIR score is very low…. because of that educational loan…… but I have re payed the loan six months before i.e in the year 2012 itself i have re payed the loan and i have got NOC …… why i am not having eligibility sir……. for how may years this Score will be very low????
    Regards
    Vigneshwari

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Vigneshwari,

      Educational loans have a moratorium period under which the student (i.e. borrower) starts repaying the loan either 1 year/6 months after the course period or after he starts earning whichever is earlier.

      If your repayment schedule was structured such that you only had to repay the interest amount then we do not see a reason for your credit score being affected.
      But if the repayment schedule was different from what you were repaying then this could have resulted in late payments and could have affected your credit score.

      Late payments are viewed negatively by lending institutions since it indicates your servicing inability.

      We would suggest that you avail a secured credit card and rebuild your credit score by making regular payments. Your credit score would improve gradually.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. Vigneshwari says:

        hello sir,
        actually the moratorium period is only 6 months after completing my undergraduate course sir…….. but we have re payed the interest only and that interest was also not regularly paid….. we have given one letter to the bank manager that we will repay the loan after completing my post graduate course and we have settled that full amount with interest to the bank within a year….. i have one doubt that this CIBIL score is very low after repayment of loan…. this will continue ah sir???? for how many years this CIBIL score will be low and one thing that i am not having any credit cards…… and this is the only loan for me sir…….. and my last question is what shall i do to improve my CIBIL score?
        Thank you for your reply sir and i am waiting for your suggestion regarding my question?
        Thank you
        Regards
        Vigneshwari

        1. In that case you have an issue .If you have not repaid the money on time, its natural that your history will be messed up .

        2. Credexpert says:

          Dear Vigneshwari,

          Did the bank consider your request for repaying the loan after completion of your post graduation? If yes then, what were the terms and conditions included? Also, what is your CIBIL credit score?

          The late payments for whatever reasons could have affected your credit score and would be reflected on your credit report even after the closure of the loan.

          Whilst there are various generic steps that can be followed for improving credit scores, case specifics steps need to actioned in order to your improve credit score.

          Regards,
          Credexpert

          1. Vigneshwari says:

            Dear sir,
            yes the bank accepted sir. but i don’t know the terms and conditions given by them….. my dad was also not sure about that terms and conditions sir…. i will do one thing sir…. i will apply to get CIBIL credit score report sir…. and I will send it to you…. please give me some suggestions to improve my CIBIL score after seeing that report. I was very thankful for your suggestions and for your kind and immediate reply to my queries that i posted.
            Thank You sir
            with Regards
            M.Vigneshwari

            1. Credexpert says:

              Dear Vigneshwari,

              We offer services wherein we handhold individuals through out their credit life cycle by analysing their credit report, resolving discrepancies appearing on their credit report, developing action plans for score improvement.

              Regards,
              Credexpert

    2. Did you default on the payments as scheduled ? I mean did you miss any payments ? Because if thats the case, then your score would be low and now you will have to take it up !

      1. Ram Prasad says:

        Hi,

        Secured credit card against FD will raise my credit score.

        Regards,
        Ram Prasad.

        1. Sekhar says:

          Hi Manish,
          At this moment I have CIBIL score 541.
          In 2006 I had 4 credit cards and 2 personal loans.With my latest CIBIL report (10-July 2013) says the dues amount as given below:
          1. SBI credit card – 1,29,000.Very recently I spoke with SBI people and they are ready to close(not the settlement) the account with Rs 60,000.
          2. ABN AMRO credit card(Rs 29,000) and personal loan (Rs 41,000) against the same card – Recently I paid the full amounts.
          3. CITI Bank Credit Card – Rs 54,000 (Planned to pay in a week)
          4. SCB credit card ( Sold this account to SHAHA Finlease) – These people are charging Rs 79,000 which is too high amount for closing the account but still I on the way to resolve the issue and close the account.

          Questions:
          1. Can I restore my CIBIL score once closed all the accounts ? If it will increase then how much?
          2. If I go for House Loan will it be impact for loan approval since I would have cleaned report.?
          3. Does reputed builder is also one of the factor in loan approval?

          Regards,
          Sekhar

          1. Credexpert says:

            Dear Sekhar,

            1. Yes, complete payment and closure of your credit cards/loans would boost your credit score but we would not be able to comment on the increase as scores are based on various factors like the no. of secured and unsecured loans, no. of enquiries etc. Kindly confirm with SBI that the waiver of Rs. 69,000 is not a settlement and insist on a written confirmation of the same.

            2. As per industry practice, lending institutions generally look for a credit score of 750 and above, but besides the score they would consider their internal credit policies as well.

            3. Lending institutions would conduct a technical and legal verification and builder’s reputation could be one of the factors considered by in it. Again, this would differ as per lending institutions credit policies.

            4. The ICICI Bank secured credit card should ideally reflect on your credit report as your disciplined credit behaviour against this credit card would help in boosting your credit score.

            Regards,
            Credexpert

  225. Ram Prasad says:

    My CIBIL score is 549. How to improve this score.

    Kindly help me.

    Regards,
    Ram Prasad.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Ram Prasad,

      549 is a low score and there could be various factors that have impacted your credit score. Whilst there are various generic steps that help in improving credit score, these steps are also case specific depending on the credit report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Its already discussed in article. What point are you not clear !

      1. Ram Prasad says:

        I closed my total outstanding of credit card including intrest and going to get NOC from axis bank.

        How much my score will increase.

        HDFC loan intrest paid upto date, no dues currently.

        My real concern is am going to apply for home loan after 6 six months. Kindly tell me i will get homeloan are not.

        Regards,
        Ram Prasad.

        1. Credexpert says:

          Dear Ram Prasad,

          Firstly as mentioned earlier, 549 is a low score and there could be various factors that have impacted your credit score.

          Yes, systematic closure of your Axis Bank Credit card will boost your credit score but we would not be able to comment on the increase since the score is calculated based on various factors like the outstanding balance, balance between secured and unsecured credit, no. of enquiries etc.

          Your credit score could hinder your home loan application but since you have planned to apply for home loan after 6 months, there are possibilities to improve your credit score during this gap.

          Regards,
          Credexpert

        2. What is your score at the moment . It should get better after you do this, but dont expect it to do magic !

  226. Ram Prasad says:

    Dear Manish,

    1. I had taken a personal loan from HDFC with tenure 36 months. Already i had done 18 months payments which comprises 11 check bounces(paid all check bounces and penalty charges upto date). Plannnig to complete the loan with full tenure.

    2.And I had taken axis bank credit card with credit limit 25000. Where i had 20,000 outstanding eight months before only i had paid minimum amount for two months later I not paid anything now my outstanding is around 40000. Axis added lien amount of 30,000 to my account. Day before day i had paid 20000 out of that total outstanding. And gonna to pay balance 2ok in one or two days.

    Now i need to know the effects on CIBIL record due to these two scenarios of mine and this will affect my future loan? because I am just 25 having lot of responsibilities over on me. Kindly help me to get a good credit history. Already requested for my cibil score on cibil.com.

    I could have read this before. Done a mistake manish.

    Regards,
    Ram Prasad.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Ram Prasad,

      The late payments against your HDFC Bank personal loan and Axis bank credit card would reflect on your credit report even after you repay and close these loans/credit cards. Also, these late payments would have impacted your credit score negatively.

      Yes, any of your loan applications could be hindered due to your credit score which we assume would be low.

      The next step that you have already done is to obtain your CIBIL credit report and score. We would need to analyse your report in order to comment on the specifics that have impacted your score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. First check your report . and see the status of each loan . Then come back and let me know .

  227. Credexpert says:

    Dear Ashish,

    The address and employment information provided by you to the lending institution when you last availed a credit facility is updated by the lending institution to the credit bureaus. Thus these informations reflecting on your credit report is of the time when you had last applied for a credit facility.

    Your current address and employment information would reflect on your credit report as and when you apply for a new credit facility.

    Regards,
    Credexpert

  228. Ashish says:

    Hi Manish,

    I had a little shaky patch in past for approx an year, quite some time[9-10 years] back and since then worked towards betterment of my score. Though had some late payments during that phase, but didn’t go for settlement. Instead paid all dues in full with all applicable interests. Now have reached a much more stable and better score of >850. Now i have just a single secured loan running which has been consistently paid for past 4 years. no other liability as of today. last CC closed with full payment in 2010 as had an official CC for dire emergencies.

    I have two queries.

    1>How does the Employment Information gets updated in the report? I see currently the info is very old and not updated though the value is pretty recently updated by my loan A/C. Is there any way this can be made more current? Or is there any need to get it updated at all?

    2>My Address and income also seems to be updated by my Credit Card in may 2013. This CC was closed in early 2010 and shows CURRENT BALANCE -475 [negative 475]. is that the reason the account is constantly updating the details still and with old info? is that a concern?

    regards
    Ashish

    1. Its not a big concern, but still its better if you work on it . Ask your recent bank (from which you have loan) , why the address and employment is not updated with CIBIL , if they say they have done it, then open a Dispute resolution with CIBIL and ask them when bank is updating it , why its not reflecting in your report ? – https://www.jagoinvestor.com/2012/01/cibil-credit-report-mistakes-correction-steps.html

      Let me know once you do this much

  229. amit pal says:

    In last year I had paid some of my home loan emi after due date , now in april 2013 I applied for a personal loan and it was rejected as my cibil score is 702, if I will make my emi regularly in next 6 month will the cibil score will cross the cibil score720 ?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr.Pal,

      The late payments have negatively impacted your credit score and have also caused a hindrance in the approval of your credit application as they are viewed negatively by lending institutions.

      702 is a decent score for a Personal Loan (unsecured), but other than the credit score, lending institution also consider their internal credit policies for evaluating a credit application.

      Regular repayments of your Home loan would definitely help in improving your CIBIL score over a period of time. We would not be able to comment on the increase in your score as the score is based on various other factors as well.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. You cant guarantee that , first check your report and see what remarks are there

  230. Sankar says:

    Hi All,

    I earlier had a ICICI credit card and didn’t made on time payment. Which i thought of doing negotiation and closed the cards… Now after 3year i am planning to apply any loans getting rejected due to my credit score is low….

    I need help in advice to increase my credit score to avail loans.

    1. Yes, its not a good thing . Better close the dues now

  231. Sachin S. says:

    Just yesterday I checked my CIBIL score is 622, would I be able to get housing loan. I had neither any settlement nor any default in my account, just had some payments got late.

    Can I apply for a housing loan now?
    I get 70k monthly. would this give any advantage getting the housing loan?

    Thanks in advance.

    1. Your late payments would be reflected in DPD section of that loan , some banks do not tolerate it .

  232. Saurabh Goyal says:

    Hi Manish,

    I recently applied for my CIBIL transUnion score. I have a score of 61 5. I have got a detailed report with me. If you can help me in understanding that report and also how to improve it, I can scan it send it to your mail id.

    Please help.

    Thanks,
    Saurabh

    1. Saurabh

      Cibil has tutorials on understanding the reports , have you looked at them ?

  233. Pavan Kumar G says:

    Hi Manish,

    I like to know how the CIBIL calculation happense, When i checked with CIBIL CCare they said they will not be able to releave the calculation steps, It is not fair to get the score without logic, I know the reasons which will affect my CIBIL score but how can belive that the CIBIL team is calculating my scores correctly.

    For Ex: In my CIBIL i am able to find Duplicate entries, which i have raised as dispute,seeing this and the way the CIBIL team answers(They are not the owners, they are only maintaing the reports) i am not confident about this report, how ever knowing this step, we will be able to improve the CIBIL Score too

    1. Its calculalated based on the transunion algorithim and its pretty standard one worldwise, you cant argue on the methodology 🙂 and its always secret thing .

  234. Hari says:

    Hello Manish
    I have my credit rating report from CIBIL and the score is 820. I plan to apply for a home loan however I am concerned of some of the past late payments and one of the loan status mentioned “Settled”

    Regards,
    Hari

    1. Yes, its a concern . Just a score of 820 is nothing . the status and DPD section is checked out by banks and your case will be weak then .

  235. Jayalakshmi says:

    Hi Manish,

    I need your help.

    I had 5 credit cards from 2005 to 2010, In 2008 I had very bad fall in my financial life due to death in the family. I lost job and some how I closed all credit cards by 2010. From 2010 I had taken only Bajaj finance consumer goods loan and it is cleared this month. (12 months tenure). I work with a MNC as manager and company had applied for a credit card from ICICI bank on my behalf 4 months back it got rejected but the reason given was not CIBIL report. (they didn’t give any reason) I applied for a 2 wheeler loan this month and it got rejected today stating CIBIL issue. Now I do not have any credit cards, neither any open loans, I do not own a house (no electric bill or telephone bill in my name). I am planning to go for a home loan, but I am afraid that it will also get rejected due to CIBIL. I understand that if I am regular on my payment now, CIBIL score will automatically increase. But I do not have a credit card, nor any loans to pay (no bank will sanction loan for me. How can I increase my credit score?

    Thanks
    Jaya

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Jayalakshmi,

      Whilst lending institutions consider credit scores for evaluating an individual’s credit application, many other factors like outstanding balances, no. of secured and unsecured loans etc. also form a part of their lending decision.

      As an immediate step we would suggest that you opt for a secured credit card to build your credit score. As these cards are generally secured against a Fixed Deposit, we assume that your credit score would not hinder this application.

      We offer a service “Credit Report Analysis” under which we analyse each section of an individual’s credit report, list out the factors that have impacted individuals score and point on the next steps to be taken to improve his score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. Jayalakshmi says:

        Hi,

        Thanks for the response. I will surely go ahead and apply for a secured credit card. I have applied for the credit report from CIBIL. how can avail the credit report analysis service? and how much will you charge?

        Thanks
        Jaya

    2. It will surely be rejected . what is your score exactly ? Its not the right time to apply for loans, but to make it better. Take a Secured card and use it for next 1 yr without failing on payments.

      1. Jayalakshmi says:

        Manish,

        I have applied for the Credit report from CIBIL. I will let you know the exact status once I receive the report. Meanwhile, I will also go for the secured card from ICICI bank.

        Thanks
        Jaya

  236. Ram says:

    Hi All,
    I took couple of credit cards way back in 2007. Later I applied for few more with High value so that decided to surrender 1st set of Credit Cards. I requested through phone for closer, but sooner the fresh statement was generated with late fee. I argued why late fee when I asked to close. Then they accepted and removed late fee and collected rest of the outstanding amount as a process of closure or surrender. That time no one is matured enough about CIBIL and it’s importance, I was shocked by seeing those two Credit Cards Status as SETTLED. Can any one help me how to approach CIBIL to remove it. Actually I came to know through Dispute form, we can do the same but then CIBIL updates dispute information correction only after prior permission or verification from the Banker.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Ram,

      Since the late payment fee was waived off, there are possibilities that this was considered as a settlement by the lending institution.

      Yes, a credit bureau cannot make any changes directly to an individual’s credit report unless the change is authorised and provided by the concerned Bank/lending institution. One way to remove the “settled” remark from these 2 credit card accounts is by repaying the outstanding amount.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Now you need to check bank with the bank and fix it !

  237. Mani says:

    Hi Manish,
    I borrowed education loan on 2007 for OBC, i paid the interest until 2009. After that i didn’t made any payment for this loan. But recently i tried to check the cibil score at that time my online verification not successful hence i submitted all my doc’s. But still cibil unable to find my details they sent an form to get attested any of the account holding banker. Currently i have 3 credit cards with perfect payment history. Let me know if my address is not in the cibil list means is there no issue on my account or what?

    Best,
    Mani

    1. Mani

      Your question is not clear. Please put facts and then numbered wise questions

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mani,

      Banks/lending institutions report all the borrower information to the credit bureau either on a monthly or a quarterly basis. Since you had availed the Education loan in 2007 and currently have 3 credit cards, we assume that in all possibilities the details of this account should be present in the database of the credit bureau.

      There might be a possibility of a KYC mismatch and thus the bureau has asked you to provide an attested copy. We would suggest that you complete the step of sending the attested copies and wait for the bureau’s response.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  238. sudip banerjee says:

    Dear Manish JI,

    Very recently my persoanl loan has been rejected from AXIS and ICICi bank. I came to about CIBIL rating and don’t understand about that and now while surfing in the website I came to know a little bit through valuable tips.Now I have a credit rating of 590 ,I need to improve it now within very short time.

    My Pan No.AIXPB4286G.\\ Please help me ????

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Banerjee,

      Firstly stop applying for any new credit facilities as the possibilities of the approval of your credit application is low due to your credit score of 590. Whilst there are various generic steps that are advisable for improving credit score, we would be able to comment on case specific steps only after we analyse your CIBIL credit report and score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. What is your history 🙂 in credit ?

  239. Nizar says:

    Hi,

    Last week, HDFC bank has rejected my application for a personal loan of 1.3 lakhs due to CIBIL score.

    I am using HDFC credit card for the last 3 years. I currently have a cash-on-call loan on the HDFC card with 10 EMIs (4300/month) remaining. I also purchased a product worth 27000 on ebay using the same HDFC card and opted for interest free EMI option. Apart from that, I have a car loan (4.7 lakhs) with SBI since Oct 2012.

    I never missed or delayed any EMI or credit card payments except for one instance. It was due to a mistake from HDFC Credit Card section while updating the billing date of my card and I had to pay late payment fee.

    Now, could you please advice me on what might be the reason for rejection and how can I fix the situation now.

    Thanks.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Nizar,

      Regular repayments alone cannot ensure the approval of your credit application as lending institutions would also consider other factors like outstanding balance, balance between secured and unsecured loans, enquiries etc. as well.

      We would advise that you obtain your CIBIL credit report and score as that will help evaluate the exact factors that have affected your credit score and comment on the specifics.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Just because you have not missed a payment does not mean much . In your case, I think a lot of credit usage is the issue . No one would like to give loan to someone who is so much credit dependent . Lower your credit by closing some loans .

  240. Balaji says:

    Hi Manish Chauhan,

    Please Help me …..
    I Hav not taken any credit card,Loan,EMI,not signed as guarantor .
    But when i Applied for credit card They Say my Score is Low.
    What i can Do.
    Wheather my name got Mapped Wrongly in CIbil Database.

    Is there any way i can identify why my Score is low????

    Please help me I need Credit card urgently fr my marrage purpose.

    1. Balaji says:

      I got a letter From Citi bank That states my transunion score is -1

      1. Credexpert says:

        Dear Balaji,

        Since you have not borrowed till date your score would be NA (not available) or NH (no history) which mean one of the below:
        a) You do not have a credit history or you do not have enough of a credit history to be scored, i.e. you are new to the credit system
        b) You do not have any credit activity in the last couple of years
        c) You have all add-on credit cards and have no credit exposure

        The best way to build your credit score is by applying for a secured credit card. As this seems to be the first credit you are applying for – start your Credit Life Cycle http://www.credexpert.co.in/credit_life_cycle.html judiciously and carefully, spend only when you need to and stay within your capacity to repay… always pay back on time.

        Regards,
        Credexpert

        1. Balaji says:

          Thank you very much for ur reply.

          1.Could you tell me Which is the best bank to take secure credit card.?
          2.how much minimum amount i can deposit for secure credit card.?
          3.for how may much i have to use this secure credit card to improve score?

          Kindly Reply for above three question.
          I am in worst situation i need to improve my score to take credit cards & Loan for my marrage ?

          1. Credexpert says:

            Dear Balaji,

            There are many lending institutions that offer secured credit cards and you can choose from any of them depending on your preferences and the features of the card offered. The minimum amount required to be deposited for the secured credit card would vary for each lending institutions. Do understand, that your credit score would be build gradually over the next few months and hence you would have to monitor your credit score over regular time intervals to track the increase.

            Regards,
            Credexpert

          2. 1. There is nothing like that .. you can take it from any bank

            2. I think Rs 10-20k is minimum

            3. For a year

            1. Balaji says:

              Thank u Very much….
              I asked in SBI Minimum i have to deposite 20000
              Joining charges 499

      2. It means you do not have enough credit history

    2. First apply for cibil report and check what is your score

  241. KARNAV says:

    I am use HDFC credit card (Limit 450000,starting from Dec 2012) for just update CIBIL record, Now my room mate want to use my credit card for purchase TV with 17000 and 3 months EMI on my card .
    May this transaction support my CIBIL report or I refuse to do EMI on my card??
    Kindly provide me ans as soon as possible.
    And How I use Credit card to update mu CIBIL points

    1. KARNAV says:

      Hi Manish Chauhan,

      Please guide me as soon as possible…

      1. Credexpert says:

        Dear Karnav,

        The use of your credit card, and subsequent payment record, will entirely reflect on your report and impact your score. The fact that it’s your room mate who is actually benefiting from the transaction makes no difference. Similarly, the actual responsibility of repaying is yours and only yours – the room mate paying or not paying you, is a personal matter between the two of you. Keep that in mind and decide if you want to allow him the use of the card. CIBIL score is calculated based on various factors – you use your card carefully and make regular payments of all amounts due, also do not delay payments and that is how you use your credit card to increase your score.

        Regards,
        Credexpert

        1. KARNAV says:

          Dear Credexpert
          You said that “The use of your credit card, and subsequent payment record, will entirely reflect on your report and impact your score.”

          That means more I use credit card and more I pay regularly give me more points or no effect on points????

          And when I pay 5 day earlier cheque from due date than bank credit after due date but cank can’t charge financial charges of late payment, this factor effect more or non??????

          When I drooped cheque dated 28 they credited at 3rd and due date is 2.

          1. Credexpert says:

            Dear Karnav,

            Yes, regular payments would help in building your credit score but kindly use your credit card only when there is a genuine need rather than using it with an intention for increasing your credit score. One way to avoid the delay in payment due to the clearing process at the bank’s end is to opt for an Electronic Clearing System (ECS) facility. Generally, the bank should not charge you finance charges if you have dropped the cheque 5 days before and dated it on the due date. Any delay for whatever reasons would be reported to the bureau(s) – however a 1 day delay would not significantly affect your credit score.

            Regards,
            Credexpert

    2. If you are able to pay back on time, then go ahead do the transaction , else not

  242. srikanth says:

    iam using 3 credit cards since 3 yrs , i was paying at least mimimum due amount , now all cards rached miminmum 90% limit &, since 6 months i was unble do mimimum payments due for some cards & i checke my CIBIL score that time it was 670, now since 3 months i am doing all minmium payments in time but put togeather finally the oustanding is remaining same though i do mimimum payments (i.e the payments i am doing is going waste due to their rate of intreset ) and score now dropped 659.
    i tryed for PL with bankers to clear this credit cards outanstanding during last months, i tried with 3banks they deined to give me loan

    If i have improve my score i think need close this credit cards oustanding , but no banker is giving loan

    pls. sugget

    1. I would say its a situation you created for yourself .. no one will give you loan when you cant pay your credit cards itself 🙂 .. You need to find a way out !

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Srikanth,

      Firstly, stop paying only the minimum due amount as this could result in a debt trap for you. Your credit applications are being rejected by lending institutions because of the high outstanding amounts against all your accounts. Yes, repaying these amounts is essential, but it would not improve your score immediately.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  243. Ram says:

    Hi,

    My Cibil score shows N/A. Am i eligible to apply for personal Loan?

    If not how to improve my score pls advice

    1. NA means you do not have any history . Some banks dont like it , some dont care .. there is no guarantee that it would help you get a loan !

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Ram,

      A score of “NA” (not available) or “NH” (no history) means one of the below:
      a) You do not have a credit history or you do not have enough of a credit history to be scored, i.e. you are new to the credit system
      b) You do not have any credit activity in the last couple of years
      c) You have all add-on credit cards and have no credit exposure

      Whilst NA or NH is not necessarily viewed negatively, the final lending decision would depend on the credit policies of the lending institution. One of the best ways to build your credit score is by applying for a secured credit card.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. Ram says:

        Thanks ..

  244. manju jain says:

    my name is manju jain . recently i came to know my credit score through CIBIL , my DOB is 29.08.1974 , and Pan n0.is AEWPJ 2665-L As far as i know My credit score.

    1. Do you know you have to pay Rs 470 for it ?

  245. Kim says:

    Like you mentioned above on a point, I happened to apply for loans from 5 banks in Mar 2012 but I did not go ahead with it since I did not get it.
    Recently I happened to get a call from CITI credit card for which I had applied and it got rejected due to CIBIL report. The report shows all the list of loans I had applied.
    What can I do to clear this?

    Thanks in advance.

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Kim,

      Every credit facility that you apply for would reflect on your credit report as an “enquiry” and too many enquires made in a short duration imply a credit hungry behaviour.

      You have been rejected by 6 banks in the last 1 year and your credit hungry behaviour can be one of the reasons for the rejections. Check your CIBIL credit report and score which would help identifying the reasons for the rejections by these banks.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

      1. Kim says:

        Thank you for your reply.

    2. You cant clear it 🙂

  246. Ahemad says:

    Hi Sir,

    I was holding an HDFC Credit Card, in mean while i didn’t paid the amount for three months, after that i got a call from customer care executive he said that pay the balance amount your card will be activated. Then I did the payment after that the card was suspended. Amount value 1o,000/-. I have received the NOC Certificate also.

    After 1 year i have applied for the personal loan in the same bank it was rejected due to credit issue. I have applied for the Credit Card also but the response was the same and it was rejected. Recently i was applied for consumer loan they also rejected due to CIBIL Score. My score was less than their approach.

    So how could I increase my CIBIL Score or get approve for consumer loan.

    Look forward to hear from you soon. & Please do the need full with your suggestions.

    Best Regards,
    Ahemad

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mr. Ahemad,

      Firstly stop making any new applications for credit facility. The rejections would only imply a credit hungry behaviour.

      In which year were you late by 3 months to repay your HDFC Bank credit card? Also do you have any other loan or credit cards? If yes, then how are your payments on them? Late payments made in the last 2 years are viewed negatively and this could be one of the reasons for the rejection of your applications.

      Also, apart from the late payments there could be various other factors that could have affected your credit score. We could comment on the specifics only after we view your credit report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. I guess we have already mentioned all the things you can do in this article itself . Didnt it help ?

  247. Alex says:

    Thanks for a good article.
    I neither had a credit card nor taken any loan till now. But now I want to buy a flat and I’m planning to apply for home loan.
    What will be my credit score? Can I get a loan?

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Alex,

      Your credit score could either be “NA” (Not available) or “NH” (No History) which means one of the below:
      a) You do not have any payment history or you do not have enough of a credit history to be scored, i.e. you are new to the credit system
      b) You do not have any credit activity in the last couple of years
      c) You have all add-on credit cards and have no credit exposure

      In spite of a NA or NH score, the final decision of lending would depend on the lending institution’s credit policy.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

    2. Alex

      Unless you order your score, you cant know it 🙂

  248. shakil says:

    dear sir mene cridit card ka due he,me cibil me naam he. par mene car finence kara li he s,b,b.j bank se.meri car ki 9 kist chal gayi he aur me kist puri deonga sir. kya mere cridit score badh jayega,,,

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Shakil,

      If you make timely repayments against all your credit cards / loans, then your credit score would improve over the next few months. Monitor your score over the next few months to check the improvement in the score.

      Regards,
      Credexpert
      http://www.credexpert.in

  249. Prakash says:

    Hi Manish, due to my careless and my situation, I couldn’t pay my credit card dues and personal loans in time. After that i settled everything one by one. But my score is 450 only now. I dont have any credit card or loan now. But due to low score i dint get any new card or loan also. How to increase my score to get loan in future if i need. Your advice and suggestion is grateful for me. Thanks in advance.

    1. You are in tough situation .. You should first not expect very fast solution , It will take 1-2 yrs to correct your mistake. First make a FD and take a secured credit card against that card and start using it and pay your dues on time .. This should make your score a bit better.

      Next , you need to pay off your outstanding loans (all of them) one by one .. only then the banks will correct the status of the loans , unless that happens , you can imagine no other bank will be interested in lending you looking at other banks remarks .

      Manish

      1. Prakash says:

        Thanks a lot. Will follow your words for sure. But currently I have no dues or cards or loans. But I dont know about the secured credit card. Can you please explain me whats that.

        1. Make a FD and tell the bank to issue a credit card with FD as security (your limit will be upto FD amount)

    2. Credexpert says:

      Dear Prakash,

      450 is a low score and the late payments and settlements have impacted your credit score negatively. Your score could improve if you repay the outstanding amount against these settlements (assuming your present cash flows allow you to do so).

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  250. Mithun says:

    Hello Manish,

    Thanks for that nice article.

    I have a few queries and it would be great if you could clear them for me.

    I have two credit cards and the total outstanding amount is around Rs. 90,000/-.
    My CIBIL score is now around 650 and because of which i have been denied a loan though my income is more-than-high for the loan amount I’ve requested.
    All i’m aware of are a few late payments I’ve done towards one of my credit cards and I believe that is the reason behind this low score.

    Having said that, I’m now planning to clear the entire outstanding amount on credit cards in one go and i would like to know if that measure would actually boost my credit score.

    If it boosts my score, how many days/months would that take to reflect in the CIBIL report?

    Also, i heard from a bank person that the CIBIL would be updated once in 3 months only… Is that true?

    Is there a way I can force my score to be updated quickly by initiating a dispute case with CIBIL?

    Regards,
    Mithun

    1. Credexpert says:

      Dear Mithun,

      The late payments would reflect on your credit report even after you pay off the entire outstanding amount against the said credit card. Your CIBIL score would improve gradually in the next few months if you start making timely repayments.

      Lending institutions update borrower’s credit information to the bureau either on a monthly or quarterly basis. We offer services under which we analyse individual’s credit report, guide and advise on the next steps for improvement in score and handhold them to rectify any errors appearing on their credit report.

      Regards,
      Credexpert

  251. Mayank says:

    I have a salary account in IndusInd, I applied for a credit card but that was rejected. Already have applied for CIBIL report today, awaiting for the same but I suppose the score should be -1 as I have just started to work and have no credit history. I wanted to take the card to build up credit score as I’d require education loan in 2 to 3 years.
    I have thought of taking FD linked credit card from Axis. Could build up the history that way I suppose. But I have few questions. First, would cancelling that card, after receiving a normal card, affects the credit score? as i read on cibil website that cancelling a card affects the history.. something like an unused card is indicative to the fact that you aren’t that credit hungry. Second, does cash withdrawal against the card impacts negativity to cibil score? i plan to get the FD of 20k (limit of 18k), use cash withdrawal to reach the limit of 5k-6k along with phone bills and others swipe and pay up within 15 days. (Axis allows 100% cash withdraw as per the website) and lastly, is 5k-6k per billing cycle enough for me to get into the good graces of cibil and how long, do you think, it’d take to get a good score if i keep on repeating this?
    and sorry for the flood of questions but it’s kinda complicated and funny. how is someone suppose to have a credit history unless you are ready to give the credit first! 🙂 plus my friends faced no such issues, same case as mine. this is the second rejection, first being HDFC in mid January, which made me change my salary account for this stupid credit card in hope of getting one from IndusInd and the reason is frankly keeping me on nerves as I would need a good score after some years.
    thank you.

    1. Mayank

      Yes you can take a secured credit card against FD, that will help . Just make sure your monthly dues do not cross 50% of the limit . Coming to your points ..

      1. Cancelling a credit card means you will have a lower limit now , so just make sure your overall dues are still less than 50% .. If that is there, then you can cancel the card .

      2. I would not suggest to get cash out of credit card, because cash withdrawal means the interest starts from the next day ! .. Do it as the last thing in your life 🙂

      3. I think you should start using it right now itself, so that you build some good score and payment history !

      Manish

  252. Anjaneya vara Prasad Inavolu says:

    Dear Manish

    I am having HDFC Bank credit card with 55000/- limit. I have two wheeler loan track also with the same bank.Recently i have applied for SBI credit card.It got apporved with 97000/- limit.I have used it around 12500/- suddenly With out any intimation that SBI card blocked.when i called the custmer care people they told me like its worngly approved .Next I raised this issue in banking ombundsmen then i got a mail from the NODEL Officer of SBI Cards.They says my credit history was not good.But till date I dont have any Late payments.and now my CIBIL Score is 743. Its not good score for credit card..? kindly reply me asap.i think i want to raise this issue to the consumer forum .kindly suggest….

    1. Is it good or not , is only the intrepetation of the bank . While I dont see anything wrong in your report/score, but your unsecured credit is high . However bank once issued the card can not say that now they want to cancel it , unless if was mentioned in the agreement if its any party wish to terminate at any point of time .

      1. Anjaneya vara Prasad Inavolu says:

        Thanks to Replay Manish….I have a one more doubt Actually i was applied for this SBI Card on Feb 2013.After the all kind of verifications i got a card on Feb Month end .Before i recieve my card i got a massage from SBI cards stating that due to some securiti reasions that card blocked.call to the helpline.Then i called that help line they told me due to some security reasions that card closed,you will reacived new card with in 5 working days.As they are pramissed i got my new card from SBI.i have using it around 12500/-.in the first month.With in the two weeks it was blocked with out any intimation.then i called the helpline number they told me it was wrongly approved.Apart from that you have one more credit card from sbi that way this newcard blocked….

        Actually as of now i have only one credit card that is from HDFC Bank.I raised this issue to the nodel officer and vissit the local SBI cards office.but there is no use for me.And moreover on 27 th march i got a massage from SBI cards stating that as per your request your credit card was closed .but in my knowledge i have not given such a request.Then i resied this issue to the banking ombundsmen but there is no use.
        I got mail with two different statements one is my credit history was not good that way your card closed.But when i check my CBIL score include this creditcard loan my score is 743.I think it is good for any loans, and secound one is as per my request that card closed.But i have not given such a request.when i called the helpline they told me another reasion.I was contacted to the SBI card people in different ways.to activate my card.but no use..

        I have read the most immportent terms & conditions in that client have a rides to terminate his card any point of time.and SBI Cards also have a rides to blocke the card with the proper intimation of the client at any point of the time.But i got a massage in diffrent way.

        I am totally upset for this issue.Finally i decided to raise this issue to the consumer forum.Kindly suggest it is better or waste of my time.
        I am ready to pay my total out standing amonut .