Credit Information Bureau, CIBIL launched CIBIL TransUnion Score for Retail Consumers

India's oldest credit information bureau, CIBIL on 20 April 2011 launched CIBIL TransUnion Score for retail consumers. The score will be made available for a fee of Rs 450 and will take into consideration factors such as the loan amount, the nature of loan (secured or unsecured), the tenure, delinquencies (repayment history or defaults if any), number of loans, among others. The final score will then be arrived at based on the weightage assigned to each of these aspects. The score can range between 300 and 900 and will provide a snapshot of a consumer's credit history. CIBIL will provide the score along with the Credit Information Report, which is available separately for a fee of Rs 142.

A consumer with a secured loan, like a home loan will be assigned a higher score than a consumer with an unsecured loan like a credit card or a personal loan. While the Credit Information Report is an analysis of 36 months of the consumer's repayment history, the CIBIL TransUnion score uses that history and other information to indicate the likelihood of default in future.

Lenders have been using the score for the past two years, now individual borrowers can also access it as well.

If an individual takes a home loan and not miss a single monthly payment, then one will be able to secure a car loan at a lower rate of interest or get your bank to waive the processing charges. Also if an individual is applying for a two-wheeler loan and have old credit card loans pending then it is advisable to pay them off as the paying off will improve the chances of the loan getting sanctioned.

CIBIL currently has 500 members, of which 40 per cent are co-operative banks.