A credit score is a three-digit number that gives the lender an assessment of your finances and creditworthiness based on your credit reports. A credit score is provided based on how you have managed your finances in the past and how you can manage your future payments. The credit score is one of the things that the bank or financial institution considers when giving you a loan, which makes it important always to keep track of your score. You can avail of both paid and free CIBIL score checks.
Factors Affecting Credit Scores
Many factors affect the credit score, and some of these factors are the following –
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Credit usage
Your credit usage is one of the factors affecting your credit scores. If your credit utilisation is more than the ideal ratio of 30%, you have a strong chance of seeing a low score after your free CIBIL score check.
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Payment history
Your payment history is the biggest indicator of your spending habits. Your credit score is boosted if you generally make full payments on time. But if you spend more than what you repay and fail to repay on time, it hampers your credit score.
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Account mix and length
Utilizing a mixture of credit cards can help you keep your scores positive and have a good credit history. But at the same time, opening many new accounts just before taking a loan will increase hard inquiries from lenders and reduce your credit score.
Upon having your free CIBIL score check, if you discover a low credit score, it would be fruitful to try and improve your credit score before applying for a loan.
Credit Scores Needed to Get a Loan
The minimum credit score required often depends on the lender to get approved for a personal loan. Depending on the bank or financial institution that you go to, your credit score will differ on getting a personal loan.
However, generally, the minimum CIBIL score required to get a personal loan is anywhere between 720 to 750. This credit score conveys that you are a creditworthy person, and lenders will also move forward with your application faster. Your loan amount can also be offered at a nominal interest, given that you have a good free CIBIL score.
If you do not have a score between 720 to 750, you can get a personal loan with a score between 600 and 700, but the loan amount will be small. Any score below 600 is thought to be inadequate for the personal loan. For home loans, it is good to have a score of around 750, but you will be able to get a loan if your score is around 550 or more. In credit scores, the higher your score, the better it is. On the contrary, the lower your score is, the lower your loan amount will get sanctioned. Sometimes, lenders also provide you with either 65% or less of the needed loan amount with a low credit score.
With business loans, if you need a collateral-free loan, the ideal free CIBIL score is either 700 or more. But your loan application can get approval, even with a low credit score, if you apply for a secured business loan. When a low credit score is mentioned, it means a credit score between 600 to 700, not lower than that. Both of these circumstances apply even when you are a self-employed professional or only an individual.
Conclusion
Before getting any loan, it would be better to have a high CIBIL score. And to improve your CIBIL score, you will need to get paid, or free CIBIL score checks regularly. You could check your CIBIL score and report through the websites or the CIBIL score app, which has free and paid versions.
