How to Read a Credit Report?

A CIBIL Report is a Credit Report which depicts the creditworthiness of an applicant. It is extracted by the lender before processing any loan application of the customer. A CIBIL report analyzes the past repayment history of the applicant and reflects the Credit Score of the applicant. Detailed information about each account with a payment history of the last 36 months is reflected in the report. The report is generally easy to understand and the points raised in the report are generally self-explanatory.

In this post, we will go through different sections present in a CIBIL Report and frequently asked questions.

Features of CIBIL Report Sections

A typical CIBIL report has the following mentioned constituents:

Applicant Details: The CIBIL Report begins with applicant details where the basic details of the applicant are mentioned which include name, address, PAN, Aadhaar, gender, date of birth, and mobile number. The majority of these details are unique, based on which the report is extracted.
Employment Information: Income details are captured in the CIBIL Report as reported by the member banks/financial institutions which includes occupation, income, frequency, and income indicator.
CIBIL Score: This is the most important constituent of a CIBIL Report as it reflects the creditworthiness of the applicant objectively. A typical CIBIL Score ranges between 300 and 900. The higher the score, the higher will be creditworthiness and vice-versa. Ideally, a score above 650 is considered to be a satisfactory score and banks generally lend above this benchmark score. Higher the CIBIL Score more are the chances of getting the loan sanctioned.
Summary of Accounts: The credit bureau (CIBIL) reflects a summary of all the loan accounts in the name of the applicant at various institutions. Information captured in this section includes the Number of accounts, number of active accounts, number of accounts having past due amount, and amount of past due amount. This tab gives an overview of the credit report in the name of the applicant and the lender gets to know the overall credit history of the applicant.
Individual Account Details: All the accounts in the name of the applicant are further detailed individually in the report and can be analyzed by the lender objectively. Individual account details consist of 3 types of information listed below:
- Account Details: It contains details such as account number, nature of account, sanctioned limit, institution from where the loan has been availed, account ownership type (single, joint, etc.), balance, past due amount, last payment date, last payment amount, write-off amount, account opening date, last reported date, date of closure, rate of interest applicable, last payment date, repayment tenure, monthly payment amount and frequency. Applicants need to check if the details provided in the report are factually correct.
- Asset Classification: This section of the CIBIL Report shows the classification of the account. If the account has been settled, written off, or suit filed, it is mentioned in this section. Also, it shows the status of the account i.e. standard, SMA, doubtful, loss, etc. Lenders often view this section very closely as it depicts the true picture of the account in the present term. Any adverse remark in this section may lead to rejection of the loan as the lender comes to know about the actual status of the loan account.
- DPD (Days Past Due) and Payment History: DPD signifies the number of days for which the payment has not been served in the particular month. On this basis, the status of the account is depicted by the bureau. The bureau reflects the DPD status for the previous 36 months for all the loan accounts in the name of the applicant which is then analyzed by the lender. Any value other than XXX, 000 and STD is considered to be adverse. 000 refers to NIL days past due, XXX refers to data not reported and STD refers to the account being standard in the particular month. Apart from these, the following adverse remarks may be reported in this section:
  - STD: Standard
  - SMA: Special Mention Account
  - SUB: Substandard
  - DBT: Doubtful
  - LSS: Loss
  - 001 to 090: Any number from 001 to 090 refers to the number of days for which the payment for the particular month has not been served.
Inquiry Summary: This section details the number of times in the past few years the CIBIL report of the applicant has been extracted by the financial institutions. It details every CIBIL report inquiry by various banks/ financial institutions in a chronological manner. More the number of inquiries by different institutions for the past few months more will be the suspicion in the mind of the lender. It reflects that the loan proposal of the applicant is revolving around different banks and perhaps being rejected by the banks due to an underlying reason of serious nature.

Frequently Asked Questions about CIBIL Report

Here are the CIBIL Report FAQs:

1. Why is a Good Credit Score Important?

Depending on the credit score in your credit report, banks and lenders shall decide to provide you credit or not. You must make sure that your credit history remains clean. There are many sections in a credit report with due significance for each. Your credit health is well scrutinized before approving loan applications.

2. What Are Some of the Important Terms in CIBIL Credit Report?

Here is more that you need to know:

CN: Control number revealed at the top of CIR, which is utilized as a reference for raising a dispute with CIBIL or obtaining a report in the future.
DPD: Days Past Due tells the number of days since the payment due date. Indications other than 'XXX' or '000' are considered negative.
Written Off Amount: It is the amount on a loan or credit card, which has been lost to the loan taker. The effect of this status is bad on credit score.
Settlement Amount: It is the amount which you will pay to the lender, normally lesser than the actual loan amount to be paid. The situation arises on disputed payment and has a negative impression on credit score.

3. Which Personal Information Does a Credit Report Contain?

The report will contain information about your contact (addresses of residence or workplace, email ids and phone numbers)/personal (passport number, your name, date of birth, voter ID, PAN number)/employment (employers and income during loan or credit card application).

4. Which Account Details Your CIBIL Report Reveals?

In the credit report, information will surface about your account details (open loan, credit card, details of lender like date of initiation, name, date of last payment, joint or individual account holder type, total outstanding amount, loan amount paid, bills paid and more).

5. What is the CIBIL Score in CIBIL Report?

Your CIR could depict a CIBIL TransUnion Score. The score here is between 300 and 900, which is a percentile figure over the past year for a special financial band. If the score is below 300, then it indicates very bad credit health and can be tagged as NH or NA. In case there have been no credit transactions over the past few years, even then the status of the score could be NA or NH.

6. What Other Information Does Your Credit Report Presents?

A Credit Report also reveals how many credit inquiries you have made over some time. With help of your CIR, you will come to know who has you on their avoidance/prospective customers' list. If there is a red band on any information in the credit report, it means that the subject is under dispute and you can discuss with the bank about the same to sort out any errors.