Credit score · Bureau
Equifax
Equifax holds one of the earliest certificates of registration among the four bureaus and runs a consumer support site with a formal free-credit-report route. Lenders use it across both retail and commercial lending, so your file there can matter even if you have never seen an Equifax score.
Both links go to Equifax's own site. We never ask for your PAN and do not check scores ourselves.
- Legal name (RBI register)
- Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited
- RBI certificate of registration
- 26 March 2010
- Corporate identity
- CIN U72300MH2007PTC217729
- Score scale
- 300–900 (RBI's common calibration for every bureau)
What Equifax publishes about its own score
- Equifax India's support site publishes a step-by-step free-credit-report request route (request form plus identity documents).
- Score calibration follows the RBI's common 300–900 scale, as it does at every registered bureau.
- Equifax India sells paid report and monitoring subscriptions alongside the free annual route — the paid tier is optional, not the way to see your data.
What to watch for here
- The free-report route on Equifax India's support site is a request flow rather than an instant portal in every case, so allow time for the identity step.
- Paid subscriptions appear prominently on the consumer site; the free annual report is the one RBI entitles you to, and it must be as detailed as the lender version.
Equifax specifics, then the rules every bureau shares
The four answers below are Equifax's own routes and timings. Everything under “The same at all four bureaus” comes from RBI's directions, so it is identical on every bureau page.
- How often the data updates
- The same RBI cycle as every bureau — four reference dates a month since 1 July 2026 — so Equifax is as fresh as the most recent submission from your lenders, and no fresher.
- How to get your report
- Equifax India's support site runs a formal free-credit-report request (a form plus identity documents), alongside paid subscription tiers on its consumer site. The free annual report is the RBI entitlement and must be as detailed as the version lenders see.
- How a dispute runs
- Raise the correction with the lender that reported the data and with Equifax India's consumer support. Underneath sit the same RBI rules: 30 days to act, 21 days for a lender to forward corrected particulars, ₹100 per calendar day beyond that, and the Ombudsman route through the RBI Complaint Management System if it stalls.
- How enquiries are treated
- Equifax records lender enquiries on the report. For one you do not recognise, get the lender's written position and dispute it — and treat it as possible identity misuse until the lender confirms otherwise.
The same at all four bureaus
How often the information is updated
- Lenders report to every bureau on the RBI reporting cycle: four reference dates a month (the 9th, 16th, 23rd and last day) since 1 July 2026, replacing the earlier fortnightly 15th-and-last-day rhythm.
- A bureau can only be as current as the last submission it received, so a payment made this week may not show for weeks. Each account on your report carries the date the lender last reported it — read that date before treating a figure as current.
- Two bureaus can legitimately differ in the same month, because each lender submits to each bureau on its own schedule.
How to interpret the score
- Every bureau calibrates to 300–900 — that is an RBI requirement, not a bureau choice — so the number is comparable across bureaus even though the underlying data is not identical.
- There is no regulator-defined “good” score. Lenders set their own cut-offs and they differ by product, so treat any published band as that bureau's guidance rather than a threshold you must clear.
- A score is only one input a lender weighs, alongside income, existing obligations and its own policy. A high score does not guarantee approval and a mid score does not bar it.
How to read the report and spot errors
- Work through the sections in order: personal details (name, PAN, date of birth, address, phone), then accounts — lender, type, sanctioned limit or amount, outstanding, status and payment history — then enquiries, then any dispute flags.
- The errors worth chasing: an account or card you never opened, a loan you repaid still shown open, a duplicate entry, a wrong overdue amount, a settlement or write-off label that does not match what happened, a closed account shown active, and a balance you cleared.
- Loan applications you were declined must not be reported at all, so a “rejected” entry is something to dispute rather than a permanent mark.
How to raise a dispute and get it corrected
- File with the bureau whose report shows the error and with the lender that submitted it — where the data is wrong, the lender's submission has to be corrected.
- The clock is RBI's: on your request the bureau or lender must take steps to update the information within 30 days, and a lender at fault must forward corrected particulars within 21 days of being told of the inaccuracy.
- Beyond 30 calendar days from your first filing, ₹100 per calendar day accrues in your favour. Keep the ticket number and that date.
- While a dispute is unresolved the entry must be disclosed as disputed, with the code, description and date — and you may have your own comment added to the report.
How enquiries work, and unauthorised ones
- A lender pulling your report to assess an application is recorded as an enquiry; your own request for your report is not.
- Bureaus must send you an SMS or email alert when a specified user accesses your report, so an unrecognised check surfaces quickly. Match the alert against the enquiries section.
- For an enquiry you did not authorise: get the lender's position in writing, then dispute it as an inaccuracy. Bureau guidance is explicit that you should contact the lender immediately — do that alongside the dispute, not instead of it.
- If it looks like identity misuse rather than a slip, follow the fraud chapter: lender in writing, dispute in parallel, and the government channel for the fraud itself.
How to improve the score at this bureau
- Repay every due on time, keep card balances low relative to limits, keep accounts old, apply for credit in moderation, and watch co-signed or guaranteed accounts monthly — the levers bureau guidance names.
- Nothing removes accurate information, and no bureau publishes a timeline for score movement, so ignore any promised number of points or days.
- Because lenders report to each bureau separately, improving one report means improving the underlying behaviour — the fix is not bureau-specific even though the report is.
Questions about Equifax
Is the Equifax free report instant?
Equifax India's support page describes a request flow with identity documents rather than an instant portal in every case, so allow time for the verification step. The report you receive must be the full report including your score, not a summary.
Do I need an Equifax subscription to see my data?
No. The free full report including your score is an RBI entitlement once per calendar year. A subscription buys frequency and monitoring, not access to your own credit information.
Do all bureaus use the same 300–900 scale?
Yes. RBI requires every credit information company to calibrate its credit scores from 300 to 900 so the scores share a common classification. The models, inputs and weights behind the number are each bureau's own and are not published.
Why does the same month look different at two bureaus?
Because the data is collected separately. Each lender reports to each bureau on its own schedule, so one bureau may already show a closed account that another still lists as open. Neither is “wrong” in the sense of a scoring error; one is simply further behind.
Can I get the report for free from every bureau?
Yes — RBI requires each bureau to give you one free full credit report including your score, once in each calendar year (January–December), electronically on request and after authentication, with the link prominent on its home page.
Go deeper
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.
- Equifax India — Free Credit Report (support)Equifax India's own route to the free report and how it is requested.
- RBI — list of Credit Information Companies registered under the CICRAThe four registered bureaus, their legal names and corporate identities.
- 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.
How to dispute a wrong entry →RBI Master Direction (primary source) ↗