Credit Score Hub
Your credit score, without the sales pitch.
Four RBI-registered bureaus, one 300–900 scale, one free full report every year, and a dispute route that is free and time-bound by law. What follows is the rulebook — not a score-fix service.
What this hub is — and what it isn't
- Sourced and dated. Every rule below points at an RBI direction, notification or the bureau's own page — and carries a review date.
- Neutral across bureaus. No bureau is ranked. All four are RBI-registered and all score 300–900; your lender picks which one it pulls.
- No PAN, no accounts. We never ask for your report or your identity — the links go straight to each bureau's own free-report page.
- No invented weights. Bureaus publish factors, not percentages, so this hub never prints one.
The four bureaus
RBI licenses bureaus under the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005. These four hold a certificate of registration — and all of them calibrate to the same 300–900 scale.
Score 300–900RBI registered
TransUnion CIBIL
India's oldest bureau brand, and the one most lenders name first.
Bureau page →Score 300–900RBI registered
Experian
A full-service bureau that publishes a six-input factor list and a three-level grievance ladder.
Bureau page →Score 300–900RBI registered
Equifax
The bureau with the longest-standing Indian registration, and a formal free-report request route.
Bureau page →Score 300–900RBI registered
CRIF High Mark
The most explicit bureau about dispute mechanics — and about your route to the Ombudsman.
Bureau page →Start with the chapter you need
Eight chapters, in the order they usually matter: understand the number, check it cheaply, improve it, then fix what is wrong.
Start here · 7 min read
What a credit score is
The three-digit number, who actually makes it, and what a lender does with it.
Core · 8 min read
How it is calculated
CIBIL's four key factors, Experian's six inputs, and the 300–900 calibration.
Core · 9 min read
How to improve your score
The moves that are actually supported by bureau guidance — and the timeline for each.
Start here · 6 min read
Your free full credit report
RBI gives you one free full report per bureau per year — how to claim it and what to check.
When things go wrong · 10 min read
Fix errors on your credit report
Wrong accounts, wrong balances, wrong default dates — the dispute route, the 30-day clock and ₹100 a day.
When things go wrong · 8 min read
Enquiries, alerts and unauthorised checks
Every lender that pulls your report, the alerts RBI requires, and what to do about a check you did not authorise.
When things go wrong · 9 min read
Remove a wrong credit enquiry
Five steps for an enquiry you never authorised — and the honest limits of what can be removed.
When things go wrong · 10 min read
Fraud and identity theft
What to do when a loan or card on your report is not yours.
Something wrong with your credit report?
Four problems, four step-by-step routes. Start with the one that matches what you found.
I don't recognise an enquiry
Who pulled your file, the alerts RBI requires, and the five steps for a check you never authorised.
Step-by-step →An account or balance looks wrong
The common errors, the dispute route, the 30-day rule and the ₹100-per-day entitlement.
Step-by-step →The payment history is not what happened
How days-past-due gets reported — and why a wrong entry is a dispute, not a mark to live with.
Step-by-step →I suspect identity theft
A loan or card in your name that is not yours: lender, bureau, and the government fraud channels.
Step-by-step →Do, don't just read
Two in-browser checks that run entirely on your side of the screen.
Credit-utilisation calculator
Where your card balances sit against limits, per card and overall — and the paydown that reaches a target you pick.
Credit health checklist
Eight questions on payments, utilisation, file hygiene and applications — each flagged on-track, worth-a-look or act-now, with nothing stored.
The four rules that do most of the work
These are the parts of the system that are actually regulatory — and therefore not up for negotiation.
Rule 01
One free full report per bureau, per year
RBI requires every bureau to give you a free full credit report including your score, once in each calendar year (Jan–Dec), with the link on its home page.
Rule 02
30 days to act on your correction
File a correction request and the bureau or lender must take steps within 30 days. Past that, ₹100 per calendar day accrues in your favour.
Rule 03
You get alerted when your report is pulled
Bureaus must send an SMS/email alert when a lender accesses your report — that is how an unauthorised enquiry gets caught.
Rule 04
Declined applications are not reported
Loans you were refused must not appear on an Indian credit report, so a “rejected” entry is something to dispute, not to live with.
Common questions
Short answers, with the chapter that goes deeper.
How many credit bureaus are there in India?
Four hold a certificate of registration from the RBI: TransUnion CIBIL, Experian, Equifax and CRIF High Mark. Every one of them calibrates its score to the common 300–900 scale the RBI mandates.
Is a CIBIL score better than an Experian or CRIF score?
No — they are not competing opinions, they are separate records. All four are RBI-registered and use the same 300–900 scale; your lender decides which bureau it pulls from, and often it is more than one. The reports can differ because each lender reports to each bureau on its own cycle.
Can I get my credit score for free every year?
Yes. RBI requires every bureau to give you one free full credit report including the credit score, once in each calendar year (January–December), electronically on request and after authentication. The link must be prominent on the bureau's own home page.
What happens if a bureau does not fix a genuine error in 30 days?
You are entitled to ₹100 per calendar day beyond 30 calendar days from your initial filing. Escalate to the bureau's Nodal Officer and Principal Nodal Officer, then to the RBI under the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2026 through the RBI Complaint Management System.
Does LetsInvest offer credit-score checks or sell score repairs?
Neither. We publish the rules and link straight to each bureau's own free-report page. We never ask for your PAN, never earn from a score-improvement service, and there is no paid lever that changes a score — corrections are free and disputes are the only route.
Glossary and guides
Glossary
Guides
How to improve your credit score
Payment history, utilisation, mix and age — the levers bureau guidance names, and realistic timelines.
How to read your credit report
A section-by-section walkthrough: personal details, accounts, repayment history, enquiries and dispute flags.
How to remove a wrong credit enquiry
Five steps from spotting an unrecognised enquiry to disputing and tracking it, with what cannot be removed.
Sources
Reviewed 23 Sept 2026. Rules change — the RBI directions and each bureau's own pages are the authority, and this hub links straight to them.
- RBI — Master Direction – Reserve Bank of India (Credit Information Reporting) Directions, 2025 (6 Jan 2025)300–900 calibration across CICs, the free full credit report (once a year), the 30-day correction rule and ₹100/day compensation, access alerts, dispute flags on the CIR, and the ban on reporting declined applications.
- RBI — list of Credit Information Companies registered under the CICRAThe four registered bureaus, their legal names and corporate identities.
- RBI — Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2026 (RB-IOS 2026), FAQ (updated 1 Jul 2026)The Ombudsman route for complaints against a bureau, the scheme in force from 1 July 2026, and the fact that CICs are covered.
- TransUnion CIBIL — “All You Need To Know About Your CIBIL Score And How It Is Calculated”CIBIL's score range, its four key factors (payment history, credit mix, multiple enquiries, high credit utilisation), its improvement tips and the 79%-above-750 figure.
- Experian India — Consumer Services (score range, factors, grievance levels)Experian India's 300–900 range, its factor list, its unauthorised-enquiry guidance and its Level 1/2/3 grievance escalation contacts.
- CRIF High Mark — Raise a Credit Report DisputeCRIF's raise-a-query flow, its service-request ticket, its 30-day resolution commitment and its Level 1/2/3 escalation contacts.
- Equifax India — Free Credit Report (support)Equifax India's own route to the free report and how it is requested.
Where this hub is deliberately careful
- Score-reading bands ("700+ is good"). The RBI fixes the 300–900 scale but not what counts as a good score — lenders set their own cut-offs, and they differ by product. Where we quote a band it is the bureau's own wording (CRIF says above 700 is generally considered good; CIBIL notes 79% of loans are sanctioned above 750), not a regulator's threshold.
- Bureau pages that still cite the older Ombudsman scheme. Some bureau dispute pages still name the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021. That scheme was replaced by RB-IOS 2026 with effect from 1 July 2026; we describe the 2026 scheme and note the lag rather than repeat the stale name.
- Exact factor weightings. No bureau publishes the weights behind its score. CIBIL describes four “key factors” and Experian lists six inputs, but neither publishes percentages, so this hub never prints one.