Your credit report plays an important role in your financial life. It provides a summary of your credit history, including loan and credit card payments, defaults, etc. Lenders and financial institutions use this data to evaluate your creditworthiness when you apply for loans or credit cards.
In India, there are four credit information companies (CICs) that maintain credit data and provide credit reports: CIBIL, Experian, Equifax, and CRIF High Mark. You can obtain your credit report from these CICs using your Permanent Account Number (PAN). Having access to your credit report is important for monitoring your credit health and checking for errors.
Here is a step-by-step process to use your PAN to retrieve your credit report from the four CICs in India:
Here are the steps to check your CIBIL score using a PAN card:
Here are the steps in a concise format:
Note: You can get one free credit report from Experian per year.
Here are the steps to check your credit score using a PAN card:
Steps to Get Your Free Credit Report from CRIF High Mark:
PAN serves as the primary identifier that credit bureaus use to maintain your credit information. Updating your PAN details is critical to ensure credit bureaus have your accurate and current personal information mapped to your credit profile. Any minor mismatch between your PAN details and other identification documents can lead to failures in identity verification by CIBIL, Experian, Equifax or CRIF High Mark.
Errors in details like your name, date of birth, father’s name or address can result in credit bureaus having duplicate or faulty records. This can severely impact your credit score calculation for loan and credit card approvals. For instance, any default on credit obligations may start reflecting on the credit record not belonging to you. On the other hand, timely payments made by you may not get updated if your PAN details don’t match.
Therefore, ensuring your PAN particulars are current by promptly informing income tax authorities of any changes can help credit information companies seamlessly map your credit history. With accurate PAN details, CIBIL, Experian, Equifax and CRIF can maintain reliable credit records that get reflected in your credit score. This maintains your creditworthiness for all future credit decisions.
Checking your credit report frequently is vital for monitoring credit health and fixing errors early. Your PAN serves as important identity proof for conveniently obtaining your credit report from CIBIL, Experian, Equifax, and CRIF High Mark. Provide accurate PAN details for quick authentication and access to your credit information. Review the report carefully to catch any discrepancies. With this, you can work towards building a high credit score.
Checking your credit report regularly is important to monitor your overall credit health, catch any errors or fraudulent activities, and take timely action to improve your credit score. Tracking your credit history helps lend confidence to future lenders about your creditworthiness. Overlooking errors can negatively impact your credit score and loan/credit card approvals.
You can obtain one free credit report per year from each credit bureau – CIBIL, Experian, Equifax and CRIF High Mark. While CIBIL allows access through online login, Experian, Equifax, and CRIF provide free yearly reports on request. Paying nominal fees allows you unlimited online access or additional reports from CIBIL.
No, you cannot access your spouse’s credit report using your own PAN card. Every individual needs to provide their own PAN details to credit bureaus for identity authentication and accessing credit information. However, financial documents like loan or credit card statements with joint applicants can be used as additional proof.
If your personal information is incorrect, you must promptly inform the credit bureau and provide supporting documents. If you encounter errors in credit data, such as loan defaults or missing repayments, you should raise a dispute with detailed clarification and coordinate with your bank/lender to rectify the records with the concerned credit bureau.
