Applying for aloan? Check if you've paid your telephone bill or insurance premium first. Soon,your loan proposals will not depend only on your credit card and debt paymentrecord with banks but also on whether you've paid your phone bill, insurancepremium and stock broker dues on time.

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday paved the way for banks to access moreinformation on potential borrowers by granting in-principle approval for theregistration of four companies under the Credit Information Companies(Regulation) Act (or CIC Act). These companies included Credit InformationBureau (India) Ltd or Cibil, Equifax Credit Information Services, ExperianCredit Information Company of India and Highmark Credit Information Services.

At present, Cibil is the largest agency, with database on around 135 millioncustomers of 164 banks and non-banking finance companies. Once these companiesreceive the final registration and operational guidelines, they will be able tocollect information from more sources.

Cibil provides a credit score of up to 900 based on the borrower's liabilitiesand payment history. A delay in the payment of an instalment affects the creditscore. Similarly, if a cheque is dishonoured, the credit record is impaired.Cibil provides the score and banks, based on their estimate of risk, decidewhether to give a loan or not.

From the next financial year, Cibil will also be able to provide citizens withthe details of their credit history. The operational details for this serviceare being worked out, but the broad plan is to provide individuals a toll-freenumber or a website login to access the details after making a payment.

"Identity theft is a big issue and we are trying to make the systemfoolproof. The problem is compounded by the lack of social securitynumbers," Cibil Managing Director Arun Thukral said. He, however, added thatthe process would be similar to getting details of your credit cards or mobileconnections where certain queries need to be answered.

But the actual implementation of the combined system that includes informationnot just from banks and finance companies could take a while. The details ofutilities that could be covered are not clear. The draft rules only providedfor insurance companies, stock brokers, credit rating agencies and telecomservice providers. Utilities such as electricity and water supply providerswere not listed.