A credit score is one of the most important figures that define your financial reputation. It provides creditors, lenders, utility companies, and even employers a glimpse of how well you have handled your debts in the past, and therefore, how capable you are of handling any other debts or bills in the future. Hence, it becomes rather important to occasionally monitor your credit score.
However, with many websites and companies providing ‘free’ credit score and report checks, how do you get to check a genuine score? In this article, we will explore some of the recommended and genuine outlets that one can visit to get his/her credit score or get it done at a small fee if necessary.
Why It Is Crucial to Monitor Your Real Credit Score
The first thing that you need to know is – why is it necessary to check your real credit score rather than some score. Below are some of the most important factors:
- Your raw or real credit score is the one that your potential lenders will use to assess your loan or credit card application. Any other wrong score will give you no clue about the chances of approval.
- This means that your real credit score is based on the information that is included in your credit report. If there is an error or something wrong with the report, it can reduce your score unfairly or give you a wrong score if you do not report it.
- For instance, by regularly monitoring your real credit score, you will be in a position to rectify it if it needs enhancement. The actions might include repaying debts, not taking too many inquiries, correcting errors if any, etc.
Where to Find Your Real Credit Score?
Now that you understand why you have to get your hands on, monitor, and verify your real credit score instead of the so-called ‘average credit scores,’ the big question is – where do you go to check your real credit score legally?
Here are some options that allow you to check your genuinely free or paid credit score: Here are some options that allow you to check your genuinely free or paid credit score:
1. Credit Bureaus
Credit bureaus are institutions that compile all of your credit information and payment records through credit providers you have borrowed credit. Taking into consideration the data given by you in various types of loans and credit accounts, they compile your credit report and arrive at your credit score.
In India, there are four credit bureaus, namely: In India, there are four credit bureaus, namely:
a) TransUnion CIBIL – TransUnion International India Limited
b) Equifax
c) CRIF High Mark
d) Experian India
You can directly get your credit score from any of these bureaus either online or through other methods they offer. Some of them also enable you to get your free report together with one free credit score annually. This is a raw credit score that has not been altered in any way and is the closest to your actual credit score. Extra score checking or report retrieval is billed.
2. Official Websites Like Creditscore. com
credit score. com is the first and only completely integrated online consumer credit score service launched by Transunion CIBIL in India. It is a very credible website that is supported by well-established credit reporting companies. You can obtain your Transunion CIBIL report and score on credit score. com for a token fee where you pay based on the number of credits you want to check. The steps are simple and fast and this means that one can easily get the latest official score without any strain.
They also offer other unique products such as the Credit Vision report which examines reasons why your score is low and the Credit Improvement Report which contains steps that one needs to follow to improve the score. There are also applications such as Credit Alert and other tools as well as numerous resources such as the ones mentioned above.
3. Credit Cards and Banks
A few of the credit card issuers and the banks in India have also begun to provide credit score checks through direct linkages with the credit reporting companies. For example, a few banks permit checking an individual CIBIL score for free once a year either on the bank’s website or through the app within the Integrations with Transunion CIBIL tab.
Some credit cards like SBI Card offer free and unlimited access to your Experian credit report and score. You may be different a little bit across bureaus, but this is a real method to check as Experian uses this score. Using the credit card issuer to check the score instead of directly on the Experian website also eliminates payment charges.
So, any such facility provided by reputed banks and card companies is to be trusted to know your actual credit score. However, the score displayed is only from one bureau and not all the detailed information that direct bureaus offer.
4. Third Party Credit Score Platforms
There are also third-party service providers like Paisabazaar, BankBazaar, fintech applications, etc that allow the user to check his/her credit score and report, most of the time even the facility is free. Hey, how authentic is the score on these sites?
Some websites like Paisabazaar and Bankbazaar are directly associated with credit bureaus and they pull out the credit information and score from the respective bureaus hence they can be trusted. In addition, the first score report accessed is also free making them quite useful to check your real-time credit score.
Likewise, insurtech and lending apps share the same and pull your data and score from credit reference centers at the point of signing up and offer you pre-approved offers, rate insurance premiums, and disburse customized loans among other services. Here, the score seen is real as they pull the same from the official bureaus but may use slightly different algorithms. For example, Lendingkart gives you a New Score range they calculate using extra data apart from the main credit bureau score.
Thus scores from such third-party apps and websites help you to track your general score from official sources regularly and therefore can be considered mostly authentic. As long as they clearly state which bureau score they are reporting and are detailed in their report. It is also convenient to track it frequently since registration for some new applications is free.
To Summarize:
It is crucial to monitor credit scores for financial reputation and loan approvals and denials depend solely on the score viewed by your lenders from credit bureaus. Therefore, instead of checking unofficial indicative scores somewhere else, go to the credit bureaus themselves or other credit score-related services that are authorized for accurate scores. Checking your score by directly contacting the bureaus or getting a credit card that offers a free yearly score is the most effective and cheapest method of monitoring your actual score.
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