How Do I Maintain My CIBIL Score?
14 Aug 2025 6:30 AM IST
Description: Earlier this year, it was reported that a man didn’t get hired because of his poor CIBIL score. Another person was about to get married, but when the bride’s uncle checked his CIBIL score, the uncle decided to call off the wedding. Today, your CIBIL score isn’t just a number, it’s your financial reputation.
Still, many Indians aren’t aware of what their CIBIL scores are. A YouGov and CRED survey of over 5000 Tier 1 city respondents with at least one credit card found that 40% of surveyors were unaware of their credit score. 30% of them admitted to inadequate credit management knowledge.
In the latest episode of The Signal Daily, we’ll learn about what CIBIL scores are. How can you check it and what are the best practices for maintaining a good CIBIL score?
The Core produces The Signal Daily. Follow us wherever you get your favourite podcasts. To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in
NOTE: A machine transcribed this episode. A human has looked at this text but there might still be errors. Please refer to the audio above, if you need to clarify something. If you want to give us feedback, please write to us at [email protected].
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TRANSCRIPT
Kudrat (Host): In June of this year, the Madras High Court upheld a controversial decision by the State Bank of India. In 2021, the SBI refused employment to a circle-based officer because his CIBIL score was poor. The bank also found that the applicant had a history of multiple defaults, credit card write‑offs, non‑payment of EMIs for more than one installment, and over fifty personal loan inquiries between 2016 and 2021. The petitioner fought SBI’s decision, saying that he took out those loans for his younger brother and that he had a good prior employment record. But, the High Court sided with the bank. It said that the bank couldn’t trust someone with poor financial discipline to manage public money.
Today, a poor CIBIL score doesn’t just disqualify you from a job; it can also prevent you from finding love. Earlier this year, in Maharashtra a young woman’s family rejected a prospective groom right before the wedding date. Both parties liked each other; and wedding preparations were in full swing. But, the bride’s uncle felt it was important to check the groom’s credit score. He didn’t like what he found. He questioned him, “If a man is already burdened with debt, how can he provide financial security for his wife.” And so, they canceled the union.
As more Indians take on debt to finance both big and small purchases, our CIBIL scores are becoming very important. But, too few people actually understand what CIBIL scores are, even in Tier 1 cities. A YouGov and CRED survey of over 5000 Tier 1 city respondents with at least one credit card found that 40% of surveyors were unaware of their credit score; 30% of them admitted to inadequate credit management knowledge.
Kudrat (Host): I’m your host Kudrat Wadhwa and you’re listening to The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we bring you deep dives into the how and why of consumer trends.
In this episode we’ll learn about what CIBIL scores are. How can you check it and what are the best practices for maintaining a good CIBIL score?
Kudrat (Host): To take out a loan from traditional banks, as well as from established NBFCs like Bajaj Finance, you must have a good credit score. There are four credit bureaus licensed by the RBI; these are CRIF, Experian, Equifax and CIBIL TransUnion. Of these, CIBIL TransUnion has the largest market share, and most financial institutions use it. CIBIL’s credit score is called the CIBIL score. And because it dominates the market, most people use ‘credit score’ and ‘CIBIL score’ interchangeably.
Your CIBIL score is a three-digit number, anywhere from 300-900. Banks would consider a CIBIL score of 750 and above excellent for Personal Loans. But, a score between 700 and 749 is also good, and you’ll likely get a loan with it as well. If your score is below that, but above 650, you could get a loan, though you’ll have to pay a high interest rate. 600-650 is a poor score, and again very harsh terms. Financial institutions consider a score between 300-600 to be very high risk, and they would probably reject you outright.
Kudrat (Host): There’s four factors that CIBIL TransUnion uses when measuring this number. These are your payment history, meaning whether you pay your loans and your credit card bills, your EMIs on time. Number 2 is your credit utilization, meaning are you maxxing out your credit. Third is your credit mix—banks want to see that you’ve handled different kinds of loans: a home loan, a car loan, maybe a personal loan. Relying too heavily on just one kind can pull your score down. The final is how many credit inquiries financial institutions have made. This reflects how many times you’ve applied for a loan, and frequent inquiries can hurt your score.
The Signal Daily spoke to Mr. Bhushan Padkil, the Direct to Consumer Head of CIBIL TransUnion in India. He spoke about the most common mistakes that Indians make which affect their CIBIL scores.
Bhushan Padkil: One of the first one is, you know, missed payment or late payment. Now, I'm not talking about severe delinquencies like not paying your loan obligations at all, but sometimes people make a mistake.
Let's say for an example, you have credit card dues and you have not paid that use even for 30 days. So, you need to understand any delinquency or any non-payment, even if it is small, right, will have an impact on your score. So, you don't have to wait till things become severe.
You have to make sure that you pay your loan obligation on time every single time. So, any late payment will definitely have an impact to your score.
Kudrat (Host): The second mistake that Mr. Padkil said Indians make is maxxing out their credit cards to their limit.
Bhushan Padkil: So, you have to use credit card limit or any limit which is offered to you well within the threshold. That's something that, you know, individuals need to look at. Third is, in today's world, you have multiple loan offers.
You have loan offers coming to you on SMS and email and through multiple different sources. And many times, especially young consumers end up taking up many different obligations. So, doing those multiple credit applications is something which is not healthy.
Kudrat (Host): So, pay your bills on time, and avoid taking on unnecessary or too many loans.
A common myth is that checking your own CIBIL score will lower it. Mr. Padkil said that that’s absolutely false. Checking your own score won’t impact it at all. In fact, by law, credit bureaus are required to give one free report to consumers each year. Mr. Padkil encouraged The Signal Daily’s listeners to avail that option by going on CIBIL TransUnion’s website.
Kudrat (Host): There’s also cases of people doing everything right. Paying their bills, ensuring that they have a healthy credit mix, and yet, they find that their CIBIL score is too low.
Well, it’s possible that your bank has made a mistake. The Signal Daily spoke to Kuldeep Singh, who works as a technician in a hospital.
Kuldeep Singh: असल में न, जब मैंने रेट्रन फिल करने चुरू की थी न आज से फान्धरा शाल पेले. तो जब मैंने उनिर्टन की बेसिस पर लोन अपलाई किया तो वो बोल रहे थे कि आपके सिबल में पहले काफी लोन बगारा चल रहे हैं तो मैंने उसको लाइकलिये ले लिया
बाद में मुझे पता चला कि जो मेरे पास पैन कार्ड है ना वो किसी और कलदीप सिंग को भी दिया हुआ है, तो उसमें क्या हुआ जब मैंने Home Loan के लिए Apply किया, तो मेरे उपर काम से कम 40 से लेके 45 लाग तक का मेरे सिर्बर में बोल रहा था Loan.
तो मेरे ही नाम के कलदीब सिंग, सानाव सरदार निशतर सिंग, date of birth 15 May 1987, इसी नेम के, इसी फादर नेम, यही date of birth, यही pen card, के दो आदमी और हैं, पंजाग के.
Kudrat (Host): His bank mistook the other Kuldeeps—who hadn’t repaid their loans—for him. That wrecked his credit score.
Kuldeep Singh: मुझे तो बहुत बैड़ फिल होता है, एक तो जाओग करते हैं, उपर से टाइम नहीं होता है, तो मैंटली बादरेशिंग बहुत हो जाती हैं।
कई बार क्या होता है न, बैंक की तरफ से कोई ना कोई फोन जान, मैसेज आता है कि आपकी जे इंस्टॉर्मेंट पैंडिंग है इस लोन की, उस बैंक में मिरा अकाउंट भी नहीं होता है। जैसे SBI में, State Bank of India मैंने कभी अकाउन्ट ही नहीं ओपन करवाया, अभी तक.
Kudrat (Host): Mr Padkil said that that’s a common problem and that CIBIL is aware of it.
Bhushan Padkil: One has to understand the role of credit bureaus in this. Now, credit bureau came into existence by law, which is CICRA, Credit Information Companies Act.
And with CICRA, we get credit information submitted by regulated entities by RBI. These are financial services companies or credit institutions, as we call it. And we have near about 7,500 credit institutions or financial institutions across India who submit credit data to us.
Now, these credit institutions are necessarily large private banks, public sector banks, NBFCs, you know, FinTech NBFCs, small cooperative or regional rural bank as well. All of them include in this. Now, they submit the credit data to us.
The role of credit bureau here is of custodian. So, we can collect and store the credit information, but we cannot change the credit information. Credit information is changed and verified at credit institution only.
So, for consumer, if there has to be a change which needs to be made, then that change needs to be made by credit institution who submitted that information to us about that particular individual. Okay. So, this is a very important point that needs to be noted.
Credit information companies or credit bureaus like CIBIL TransUnion do not make any change to consumers' credit information. It has to be credit institutions or banks. If you find yourself in this situation
Kudrat (Host): If you find yourself in this situation, Mr. Padkil said you can complain to CIBIL TransUnion via their website or their app.
Bhushan Padkil: When you register this complaint, what do we do? The first thing that we do is we take this complaint to the respective credit institution who have submitted the data to us. And if there is a change which is merited, then credit institutions makes the change, verifies and resubmits the data to us and that rectified error starts, that rectified information starts reflecting in your fresh credit information report and your fresh credit score. So, that is the whole cycle.
So, if anybody is facing any error or have an issue around credit information, it can be around your loan account, your balances, it can be around your account information or demographic information, the first thing that you can do is reach out to us on our email, on our website, on our telephone or helpline or reach out to credit institutions as well and put a request to make the necessary change and those changes will start reflecting if it merits in a due course of time.
Kudrat (Host): More Indians are taking on more debt. According to the RBI, in March 2023, the average debt per borrower was 3.9 lakh rupees. In March 2025, that number increased to 4.8 lakh rupees.
And, in order to take on debt from trusted institutions, ensuring that you have a good CIBIL score is crucial. In today’s India, your CIBIL score isn’t just a number—it’s your financial reputation. Your CIBIL score could even determine whether you get hired or get married.
Now, some people are critical of that. A number shouldn’t define our worth, especially in a country where so many still struggle to put food on the table. But like it or not, that’s where we’re headed.
Given that, make sure you keep these best practices in mind. Pay credit card bills and EMIs on time. Don’t use your entire credit limit. Avoid applying for too many loans at once. Monitor your score regularly. And, make sure to dispute any errors through the CIBIL portal.
Kudrat (Host): That's all for today. You just heard The Signal Daily. We don't do hot takes. Instead, we bring you deep dives into the how and why of consumer trends. The Core produces The Signal Daily. Follow us wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in.
If you have feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Write to us at feedback at thecore.in or you can write to me personally at kudrat at thecore.in.
Thank you for listening.
