What is a Credit Bureau Report and What Does It Include?

A Credit Bureau Report is a detailed summary of your credit history and payment records from all your credit accounts, including the loans repayment to banks & financial institutions. This information is provided to the bureau by the lenders, NBFCs and creditors. A credit bureau report is generated by a credit information company which is authorized by the financial regulatory body of a country. In India, there are four credit information companies namely CRIF, CIBIL, Experian and Equifax, as recognized by the Reserve Bank of India.

A Credit report is referred by potential lenders and NBFCs in order to get a fair idea about how eligible you are for receiving a credit and what are the odds of you (not) paying them back. In some cases, it can also be requested by employers and insurers to assess your financial performance. It is worth noting that your credit score may differ with all the four credit bureaus as not all creditors report to all bureaus. Hence, it is best to download credit report from all bureaus. Let us find out in detail what information is contained commonly in a credit report from any of the bureau.

• Identification Information:

  This part of the report contains information related to your identification such as Name, Address, Contact Details such as Email address and Phone number, PAN number, Aadhar Card Number among other details. Note that these details do not have any effect on your credit report and are merely used to personalize.

• Credit Account Information:

  Lenders report every account to the bureau that you have established with them. The information reported includes type of account – credit card, auto loan, mortgage, etc.; the date of opening account; your credit limit or loan amount, the account balance and your payment history, including whether or not you have made your payments on time. Check your credit report with CRIF – the leading credit bureau in india.

• Credit Inquiries:

   Inquiries are recorded each time your credit report is requested from the credit bureau by lenders/banks/NBFCs/Insurers, etc. Such inquiries are called hard inquiries. Note that a number of consecutive hard inquiries also negatively affects your credit score. The other inquiry is called soft inquiry which is counted when you yourself download your credit report for reference purposes. They have no effect on your credit score and you can check your credit report for as many times as you practically wish. Thus, a credit report contains the total number of hard and soft inquiries made into your account in the last 2 years.

• Collections Accounts:

  Debt that is overdue is sent to the collection agency. These accounts can be your credit card, retail bills, hospital charges, etc.

• Bankruptcies and Public Records:

  Often, individuals are found under circumstances which force them to file for bankruptcy. These cases are archived into the public records and are looked into by credit bureaus. A bankruptcy record may stay on your credit report up to 7 years.

Understanding your credit report plays a pivotal role in your ability to keep a track of your financial life and make yourself mighty enough to obtain credit without any hassles. It also keeps you abreast of any fraudulent activity taking place under your credentials using your account. Occasionally, your report could also contain obsolete or incorrect information. All this can be learnt only when you are well versed with your credit report. If you have not yet found the time to download, check your Credit Information Report with CRIF today!