What is a Credit Bureau? List of Top 5 Credit Report Agencies in India
Last Updated : March 4, 2021, 3:17 p.m.
A credit bureau is an agency that collects information about an individual’s debt including current debts, outstanding bill payments, and other credits. Then the bureau shares the information of these individuals with the lenders and the creditors that grants various types of debt like loans, credit cards, overdrafts, and other debts. The credit bureau provides a detailed report of the individual’s debt to the lending institutions so that they can have a clear picture of the borrower’s credit handling capability. These bureaus keep an eye on the credit history of an individual and according to that, they give a certain score to them. You can see the other details that are related to the credit bureaus.
Data Collected by the Credit Bureaus
The credit report agencies consider the following data while they decide a score of any individual:-
- The Repayment History of the Borrower
- The Amount of Credit that is available and in use.
- Your length of the credit history.
- A number of credit inquiries you have made.
- Types of credit accounts you are having.
- Outstanding debts that need to be collected.
- Any record of Bankruptcy, Tax Liens, Foreclosures, and repossessions.
The bureaus might also collect the basic information of an individual like his address, employment history, and salary but this information will not be a determining factor to the credit score.
How Credit Bureaus are Helpful?
You can see how a credit bureau helps the borrower and the lender to simultaneously when one is lending funds and the other is borrowing funds:-
- Banks and other lending institutions determine the creditworthiness of their customers.
- It becomes easy for lenders to decide the type of product to offer to their customers depending upon the credit score.
- The borrowers can determine all their debts and repayment history through the credit report.
- A credit score helps the lender to know about the repayment history of the applicant’s debt.
Top 5 Credit Report Agencies in India
Now here you can explore the top credit bureau agencies in India that can give you the exact information of the credit history, repayment history, and other debts of millions of customers.
Transunion Credit Information Bureau of India
- It is one of the recognized credit bureaus of India.
- This credit bureau was founded in the year 2000 by the reserve bank of India.
- It has been said that this bureau has maintained a credit history of over 600 million customers in India.
- This credit bureau also has a credit history of 32 million business organizations.
- Later, this credit bureau has partnered with the Chicago-based Transunion international.
- This credit report agency gives the credit statement of individual and commercial borrowers to its recognized partners.
- Individuals can check their Credit Score through this agency and know about their lifetime credit history.
Experian
- It is a SEBI Recognized Credit Bureau of India.
- This bureau becomes functional in the year 2010 in India approved by the Reserve Bank of India.
- This bureau gives the credit reports of the individuals and as well as of the companies.
- Individuals can have their report inclusive of their credit history.
- Lenders and Banks can have a customer acquisition report, money recovery reports, and other data and analytics.
- The Credit Score range from 300 to 900.
- The cost of obtaining a credit report from Experian is not too high.
- It takes some days to process your request regarding the credit report.
Equifax
- Equifax is the third-largest credit report agency in the world.
- It was established in the year 1899.
- This bureau got the license in the year 2010 to determine the credit report in India.
- Individuals can check their credit scores, risk scores, and other scores through Equifax.
- You can check your credit score through this bureau.
- The companies and businesses can get credit fraud reports, industry diagnoses, risk management reports, and other reports from Equifax.
Credit Rating Services of India Limited (CRISIL)
- The former name of CRISIL was the Credit Rating Service of India.
- This credit report agency was founded in the year 1987 and it is one of the top credit bureaus of India.
- The headquarters of CRISIL is in Mumbai and its parent company is S and P Global.
- CRISIL gives ratings for companies and businesses.
- It conducts detailed market research using several analytical factors and then gives risk advisory services to its clients
- This bureau also operates in other countries as well like Singapore, Argentina, Hong Kong, USA, Poland, UK, and China.
CRIF High Mark
- This bureau is operated in India by the Reserve Bank of India.
- CRIF High Mark was established in the year 2005 and obtained the license of functionality in the year 2010.
- This credit report agency covers medium and small enterprises, micro-finance borrowers, commercial borrowers, and others.
- The score defined by this bureau falls between 300 to 900.
- A score of 700 and above is considered a good score and a score of below 700 is considered to be a bad score.
- You can obtain credit reports and portfolio management reports from this bureau.
Conclusion
Now you know what a credit bureau is and how it can be helpful when you are borrowing a debt. On the other hand, you can see the top 5 credit report agencies in India that can help you to get a detailed report of your credit history and other debts. These agencies also help the companies and businesses to know the creditworthiness of their customers so that they can decide the exact debt they can offer to them. So, you must always take the help of the credit bureau to get a clear picture of your debt status.