Check Your Free Credit Score – It’s Easy, Fast, and Secure

A credit score can range anywhere between 300 to 900. A credit score of 300 denotes the least creditworthiness, while 900 denotes the highest creditworthiness. A score of 750 or above is considered the ideal credit score for any person in India.

Credit rating agencies use different formulas and algorithms for calculating credit score. Credit rating agencies consider several factors for calculating a credit score:

• Payment history
• Credit history
• Credit mix
• Existing Loans
• New to credit

Four credit bureaus in India calculate credit scores. These bureaus are CIBIL™, Equifax, CRIF Highmark, and Experian. Each bureau has a different formula and algorithm to measure credit scores. Therefore, your credit score can vary from one credit agency to another.

Having too many credit cards doesn’t impact your credit score. But you must refrain from applying too many credit cards at once. Lending institutions consider multiple credit inquiries as unfavourable. Multiple credit inquiries can also adversely impact your credit score.
Also, non-management and poor management of multiple repayments may lead to a lower credit score. But your credit score improves if you successfully manage multiple credit cards over time.

Credit scores usually gets updated at least once a month.  But if you conduct some credit activity, lenders send the information to credit bureaus. In that case, too, your score gets updated. Your credit score may change more frequently with multiple credit accounts or financial products.

You may not have a credit score because you never took credit. Even if you had previously taken credit, and there’s no recent related activity, you may still not have a credit score. Sometimes, lenders and banks don’t report your credit information to the credit bureaus. In that case, you may have no credit score for lack of information.

Always maintain good credit discipline and make timely repayments to improve your credit score. Setting reminders for paying off your EMIs always helps. A longer credit history is considered favourable for a high credit score. Make sure to maintain your old credit cards and make their repayments on time.
Your credit usage also impacts your credit score. Customise your credit limit to restrict your credit usage and maintain a higher credit score.

A standalone late payment doesn’t greatly impact your credit score. While repetitive late payments do impact your credit score. Having said that, if you have delayed the payment for more than 30 days, your credit score may drop by 100 points. Your credit score is reduced further when the occurrence is reported to the credit bureau.

PAN is necessary to check credit scores as all your financial transactions are recorded against your PAN card.   If you don’t have a PAN card, you haven’t accessed any credit in the past. It also means you may not have any credit score at all.

A credit score of 700 or higher is considered a good credit score. Any credit score above 750 is considered ideal for getting any unsecured loan. You can get a secured personal loan if you have a credit score in the range of 600-700. Kindly check with the bank/financial institution for more details.

Applying for a credit card or loan with a finance company invites a hard query regarding your credit. A hard query can drop your credit score by five points. Soft inquiries into your credit don’t impact your credit score.

A credit score ranging from 300 to 550 is considered bad. If your credit score falls in this range, you need to improve your credit score.

A hard credit inquiry impacts your credit score negatively. Persons with good credit scores are even less impacted by hard queries. Free credit score checks or soft queries don’t impact your credit score at all.