CIBIL does not maintain any defaulter list. This is a general misconception. Credit institutions such as banks and NBFCs provide both positive and negative data to credit bureaus such as CIBIL on monthly basis. Therefore, CIBIL report has information about all your loans and your payment behavior and it is your payment behavior that categorizes you as a good customer or a bad customer. Generally if you miss a payment for more than 90 days, banks flag your  account as NPA (Non Performing Asset) account and this is considered a red flag by other banks/financial institutions who are reviewing your file. 

Credit institutions are suppose to update the data on a monthly basis with CIBIL. However, if your data is not getting update on time, you can raise the dispute online with CIBIL to correct the information. As per the CICRA 2005 erroneous information need to be corrected within 30 days of raising the dispute with CIBIL or with the credit institution.

Your CIBIL Score is a three digit number ranging from 300-900 that determines your creditworthiness to a bank or a financial institution. CIBIL has just recently made some changes to its score and now customers with limited information (thin file in banking terms) are graded on a risk index. The concept however remains the same - by using a CIBIL score, a lender can evaluate the risk of extending credit to you. Whether it is buying a home or car, or even starting a small business, a credit score provides the lender a quick way to view your credit risk. This risk represents the likelihood of you paying your loans back and on time. A credit score can change frequently and goes up or down as information in your credit report changes. Your credit report could change daily as your creditors provide new information constantly. Checking your credit score is a good way to keep track of changes to your credit as this is indicative of positive or negative events (that have occurred) in your credit history.

You can either buy your CIBIL Report online or offline. The cost of getting a CIBIL Report online is 470 as it comes with a CIBIL Score. However, if you just wish to buy your CIBIL Report, you can get it for Rs. 154 by mailing in your application through post.

We advise you to check both your CIBIL Report and CIBIL Score as sometimes erroneous information on your CIBIL Report can bring your CIBIL Score down. Our experience says that around 50% of CIBIL Report for consumers has such erroneous information.

To answer your question on how to get your CIBIL Report and CIBIL Score - You can apply for the report online by making an online payment or by paying through a demand draft.

Online Payment:

• Go to the CIBIL website and fill up the online request form (https://www.cibil.com/online/credit-score-check.do)
• Pay Rs. 470 via net banking/debit/credit card.
• Get a unique CIBIL Registration ID and transaction ID upon successful completion of your online payment.
• Answer 3-5 questions based on your information that is stored in CIBIL. This is pre-dominantly done by CIBIL to ensure confidentiality of information. The basic assumption is that the questions will be answered only by the individual who owns the CIBIL Report.

If your authentication is successful, both your CIBIL Credit Report and CIBIL Credit Score will be e-mailed to you on the e-mail ID that you have provided. If your authentication is unsuccessful you have to take a printout of the online payment form and mail it along with your address and identity proof to:

Consumer Relations, Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited, Hoechst House, 6th Floor, 193, Backbay Reclamation, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 

Offline Payment:

• Draw a demand draft for Rs. 154 (only for your CIR) or Rs. 470 (for CIR and credit score).
• Download and fill up the Request Form from the CIBIL website.
• Keep self attested documents of your identity proofs (PAN card/voter ID/passport) and address proofs (bank statement/light bill/telephone bill) ready.
• Enclose the DD and the documents and send it to the following address:Consumer Relations, Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited, Hoechst House, 6th Floor, 193, Backbay Reclamation, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021  

If you are planning to buy a house in the near future, it is important for you to make sure that your CIBIL Report is in top shape and your Credit score reflects that you are a good customer. The first thing to do is to go to www.cibil.com and pull out your CIBIL Report/CIBIL Score. All you have to do is pay 470 to CIBIL and they will email you the report (if your online authentication is successful, your report is emailed to you else you have to mail them your KYC documents and your CIBIL Report is sent by post).

So, now you have your CIBIL Report. You need to make sure that there are no errors or discrepancies in your report. A recent report indicated that a staggers 50% of Indians on an average have an error on their credit report. So, make sure you get all the errors fixed.

Now, once you think your CIBIL Report is error free; do everything to keep your score clean. Pay your bills on time and pay down any large balances on your card because high balances can hurt your credit rating. Also, couple of common mistakes to avoid would be closing down open accounts or opening any new account before the loan you are pursuing is closed.

Remember your credit history is reflects in CIBIL report and it plays a huge role in determining loan eligibility for you. There will be a time in India when you will also be rewarded for your good credit history - a practice that is widely followed in western countries. However, for now ensure your CIBIL Report and CIBIL Score are in top shape before you go for that your dream house. 

Yes, of course we can help you. But before I speak about your situation, I would need to look at your CIBIL Credit Report. However, you can take these four steps to improve your CIBIL Score -

• Check your credit history to correct mistakes - If you haven't so far, please take out your CIBIL Report. I would urge you to check all the accounts in your report in detail. Unfortunately, the data reported to the bureaus isn't always accurate. Studies have shown that up to 50% of Credit Reports contain errors. Some are insignificant; others are serious mistakes that can hurt your CIBIL Score.  

• Pay your bills on time -    Your payment history is the single most important factor in your credit score, accounting for 35% of your profile. Bills that are even one day overdue show up on your CIBIL Report and can HURT your CIBIL Score.

• Reduce your credit card balances -   Credit utilization accounts for 30% of your CIBIL score. The closer you are to your credit limit, the worse you score. Avoid maxing out on a card. The rule of thumb is to keep your utilization below 30% at all times.

• Limit your applications for credit -    Each time you apply for credit, banks or lending institution will make an enquiry on CIBIL.  If several lenders check your record within a few months, it looks as if you're being turned down for loans or taking on more debt than you can handle. Either way, that's bad for your CIBIL Score.