How to download your Free CIBIL report?

In an earlier post, I had discussed that you may NOT be far from a day where your credit score will determine the interest you pay on your loans. In fact, a leading bank has already started doing this.

Therefore, it makes sense to keep a check on your credit score and try to keep a high credit score. To maintain a high credit score, you need to follow good credit practices. The most important is to pay your dues on time.

To figure out whether you have a good or a bad score, you first need to find out your credit score. And that comes at a cost. Credit Information Companies (CIC) charge a small fee (Rs 400-500 per access) to let you access your credit score and report. Or you could get 4 quarterly report at about Rs 1,000 per year.

Many of us choose not to pay this small amount. If you do not plan to borrow in the near future, you can avoid incurring the cost.

However, if you plan to borrow soon, it may not be a bad idea to check your credit report before you apply for the loan. If you have not been a smart borrower, your credit score may be a reality check for you.

Even if you have been a responsible borrower, you must still check. Who knows your credit score may have suffered due to incorrect reporting by a bank/financial institution? In case of an error in your report, you can approach the credit institution and get the error rectified.

I believe the usage of your credit report will not be limited to just borrowing. In the future, you may be asked to submit your credit report along with your job application. I had to submit my credit report to SEBI when I applied for RIA license. Therefore, even if you do not plan to apply for any loan or credit card, it is a good idea to keep an eye on your credit score.

One Free Credit Report per Calendar year

Reserve Bank of India has directed CICs to provide one free credit report in a calendar year (January 1- December 31). This is a good news.

If you didn’t access your credit report before due to the cost involved, that reason is no longer there. You can access the credit score and report without paying anything.

In this post, I will show you how you can access your free credit report on CIBIL Website. Please note the process to access free report may change over time. In fact, a couple of months ago, you had to send physical form to access your report. Now everything is online.

How to download your Free CIBIL report?

1. You need to go to the following link (https://www.cibil.com/freecibilscore)

2. You will asked to enter a few pieces on information about you (e-mail, Date of Birth, PAN, gender etc)

3. CIBIL will automatically fetch some additional data about you (address, phone number, name) from its database. You just need to accept that the information shared is correct.

This looks like a security bug. If somebody has access to your PAN and e-mail, that person can easily figure out your address and phone number. I am sure many people are aware of your e-mail id. And we do share PAN as identity proof. There was no One-time password based security mechanism. I have dropped this as a suggestion to CIBIL.

4. Subsequently, your CIBIL score will be sent through SMS. Additionally, you are sent an e-mail with login details on CIBIL website.

5. You can login using your e-mail id and password.

6. After logging in, I could check my CIBIL score and details about my credit history. I could not download the report in pdf format but I could get the information about my borrowing history.

Make use of this facility and access your CIBIL score and report. If the CIBIL score  is high, try to maintain it. If the score is low due to any error, get the issue rectified. If the score is low and rightly so, improve your credit behavior.

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Book Suggestion: The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money (Carl Richards)