Did you know, you can check your credit health throughout the year for free? Now the Experian Credit Information Company of India Private Limited (ECICI) serves unlimited free credit reports, which makes it more convenient for all customers than other credit bureaus (like TransUnion CIBIL, CRIF High Mark & Equifax). So that, you can take your smarter decision on time with the Experian credit report.
As per the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act 2005 and the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, every lending institute (PSU Banks, NBFCs, etc.) submits their customers’ credit information to four Credit Information Companies (TransUnion CIBIL, Experian, CRIF High Mark & Equifax).
When you have applied for a loan in any of the lending institutes; before approval, they will check your credit report. It will help them to know about your credit behaviour and loan repayment history so that they can understand whether you are eligible or not.
So, you are the only responsible person to maintain good credit health so that, when you have emergency financial support, then you can get a loan from any lending institute very easily. For that reason, you need to check your credit report on a regular basis and verify the correctness of all of your credit information with Experian.
About Experian Credit Bureau:
Experian Credit Information Company started their journey in 1996 as a United Kingdom-based Credit database company. At present, they help people to track their credits, protect them from identity theft and credit fraud in 44 countries around the world. For Indian citizens, you need to visit the Experian Credit Information Company of India Private Limited (ECICI) website: https://www.experian.in/
Experian Credit Score:
In general, a credit score is defined by 3-digit numbers varying from 300 to 900. This score is computed based on various things like your credit behaviour, repayment history and many more. For most lenders, a value of above 750 is considered a good credit score. And a good credit score always increases a higher chance to approve the loan with a low-interest rate and documentation.
To maintain a considerably good score, first, you need to “know how the credit score is calculated?”, “Which parameters are considered & how do those impact the score?”
The credit score is generated by an AI-based algorithm. Like other credit bureaus (TransUnion CIBIL, CRIF High Mark), Experian also calculates the score by the Vantage Score credit scoring model.
Parameters of a credit score:
Your credit score is calculated by considering such as payment history, credit utilisation, credit age, total credit accounts, credit types & the number of loan enquiries made by you.
- Payment history: You need to be very conscious about whether you pay your EMI on time or not. If you delayed in payment then the due charges and Days Payment Dues (DPDs) will be shown in your report, which have a high impact to degrade your credit score.
- Credit Utilization factor: Credit Utilization is defined by the amount of credit used to the total credit limit you have at any point. Ideally, it should be up to 40%. A high credit Utilization factor for a long time will cause the credit score to decrease rapidly.
- Age of credits: A loan credit history helps you to improve your credit score. From a long repayment track, a lender can understand your credit handling capacity.
- Total types of account: Balance in the number of secure loans (Home loan, Car loan, Mortgage loan, Gold loan, etc) and unsecured loans (Personal loan, Credit card, etc.) refer to a good score.
- Number of enquiries: Mainly there are two types of enquiries; Hard enquiries & Soft enquiries. For example, if you check your credit report from Experian official website by yourself on regular basis. It has no impact on your credit score.
But when you apply for a loan in a lending institute then the lender checks your credit report. This is considered as a hard inquiry. A numerous number of enquiries in a very short term will damage your Experian credit report and score as well.
These all points need to keep in mind to maintain your credit health. Apart from this, you need to know about each and every section of your Experian credit report. Because sometimes, due to the negligence of the lenders in the credit information reporting process, there may be delinquency (Overdue, Written-off, Settled, Suit Filed, Wilful default, etc.) shown in your credit report. And also, sometimes due to data mismatch errors, an unknown default loan account may be mentioned in your credit report.
Different section of Experian Credit Report:
When you pull out your Experian credit report, the report contains Experian Report Number (ERN), Unique Transaction ID & Report Created date. With the help of ERN & Unique Transaction ID, you can raise a dispute in Experian online. Be noted, this information will change with each fresh report.
Here we tried to explain the different sections of your Experian credit report. Some confidential information is hidden for security reasons.
- Current Application Information:
In this section, your personal information like your Name, Address, DOB, PAN Card, Aadhaar Card, Voter Card, Passport number, Email id, phone number, etc. is mentioned. These all details are given by you to Experian at the time of applying for a free Experian credit report.
2. Experian Credit Score:
By summarizing your Experian Credit Report, the score will generate. Any delinquent loan account may damage your credit score. A score 750 and above helps you to get a loan hassle-free.
3. Report Summary:
Through this section, you can get an overall idea of your credit history. This contains the total number of your total loan accounts, the number of Active & closed accounts, the number of default accounts (SF/WD/WO/SET/RES), the total Current balance of your active accounts, the total number of DPDs of your all loan accounts, etc.
4. Credit Account Information Summary:
This is the most important section of your credit report. All of your loan accounts are mentioned with member names, Account Types, Account Numbers, Ownership, Open Date, Sanction Amount, Overdue & most the important Current Status of the account. By reviewing this section, you can find out the default in any of your loan accounts at a glance.
5. Credit Account Information Details:
All of your loan accounts along with the repayment tracks are separately mentioned in this section. For each and every detail like Rate of Interest, EMI Amount, Repayment tenure, Details of Collateral (If any) and month-wise repayment tracks of the last three years. And also in this section, your KYC details (Like Email id, Phone Number, PAN Card, Aadhaar Card Number, etc.) are mentioned which are registered with your loan account.
With help of this information, you can get an in-depth analytical aspect of your loan account. If there is any wrong information found, then you can raise the dispute in Experian and the concerned credit institute for rectification.
6. Credit Enquiries:
When you are applied for a loan in any of the credit institutes, and the lender processes your application, then it will be considered as a hard enquiry. All of your enquiries are mentioned in this section in detail (Like Lender Name, Application Amount, Types, Date, etc.). Be careful; multiple enquiries in a short time span may hamper your Experian credit score.
This is all about the different sections in the Experian Credit report. We hope this will help you to understand your credit report in detail. You can pull out your Experian credit report by login to your Experian portal by following this process:
- Visit in Experian website: https://www.experian.in/Click on “Free Credit Score”.
- Put that mobile number, which is linked with your most of the loan accounts. After OTP verification, put your KYC details and get your report instantly.
Now, if there is any incorrect information is found in any section of your report then you can raise a dispute in Experian online, and in addition to that, send an email to Experian & the concerned credit institute along with the documents for faster resolution.
