Differences in CIBIL Score and Report

Banking terminology makes repeated use of the terms CIBIL score and CIBIL report; especially when customers are looking to seek credit from banks. Both these terms are inter-related and affect a person’s credit status. CIBIL score as well as CIBIL report are analyzed by banks before they lend credit to customers.

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In today’s world of extensive internet connectivity and global tie-up of systems, credit scores and credit reports ought to be tracked actively by customers so as to stay informed about their credit standing. This information helps in maintaining a good credit record or in improving a bad credit score.

By analyzing the meaning and features of both credit scores and credit reports, we can learn how these two terms are different from each other.

What is a CIBIL Score?

A CIBIL score or credit score is a number that is used to signify the creditworthiness of an individual. CIBIL scores are derived by processing loan and credit related information of customers which is sourced from lenders registered with CIBIL which is also known as a credit bureau.

Credit bureaus use multiple parameters to arrive at the final credit score of a customer. This information can be number of credit channels owned by you, repayment history of credit card bills, credit utilization information and details about the number of secured and unsecured loans availed by you.

A credit score by CIBIL lies in the range of 300-900. A credit score above 750 is considered a good CIBIL score; anything below that does not reflect well on the creditworthiness of a customer.

Different rating agencies have different scoring patterns. For example, Equifax sets its range at 1-999. Lower the credit score of a customer, higher is the default-risk that banks associate with him/her. This makes it difficult for such customers to obtain loans. Even if banks agree to lend to such customers, it is generally at a higher rate of interest.

A CIBIL score is different from a CIBIL report in the fact that while a CIBIL score is a numerical expression derived as a result of processing credit information, a CIBIL report is a comprehensive document containing the overall credit information. This means that credit scores are just numbers that indicate the creditworthiness of customers whereas credit reports are documents that have detailed information about their credit history.

What is a CIBIL Report?

A CIBIL report also referred to as a Credit Information Report (CIR) is a collection or running record of an individual’s credit and loan related information.

A credit report contains not just financial information but also personal details like PAN number, name, address, gender etc. CIBIL report is an important document to track all your credit related data.

A CIBIL report is generated by CIBIL through customer credit data received from various banks and lending entities. This data is then formatted and processed to make a detailed credit report for each customer. Following is the information commonly contained in a CIBIL report.

  • Personal information like name, age, address etc.
  • Employment information along with income details
  • Loan details along with types of loans availed in the past, ongoing loans and their subsequent repayment timelines
  • Defaults on loans, if any
  • Loan settlements, if any
  • Credit card details for all cards held by you
  • Credit card bill payment defaults, if any
  • Credit card cancellations, if any
  • Number of enquiries made by you through various loan providers
  • Credit score, which is an important part of your credit report

Customers should ideally avail their credit reports once every year to check their records and correct any discrepancies. Credit reports can be sought by applying online with CIBIL. These reports and score are available to customers at a fixed price. These reports can be analyzed by customers for improving their credit scores.

To sum up, credit score is a pointer to your creditworthiness whereas credit report is a detailed report of your credit behaviour over a considerable period of time.


CIBIL is an acronym for Credit Information Bureau India limited. CIBIL is the most prominent credit information company in India. It collects and maintains customer data pertaining to loans and credit. This customer data is sourced on a monthly basis from various member institutions which are mostly banks and other financial institutions.

All the credit related data of different customers is then processed individually to make credit reports for every customer and to deduce the final credit score for each one of them. These credit scores are then provided to banks (on request) and other lending institutes for use in sanctioning of loans.

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