The CIBIL, the central agency which collects and maintains credit information of borrowers, and shares it with a closed user group of banks and financial institutions to determine their credit worthiness, will now allow individuals or companies to get a copy of their credit history and credit score.

Users can request for their CIBIL TransUnion score online by paying Rs 450 and sending a self attested copy of their identity proof and address proof by post. The report is then sent to users by post in 10 days time. According to TOI’s report, the user also needs to answer three questions based on his credit history, after which the report is released, however we did not find these conditions mentioned in the request page.

Credit reports are used by Banks, Financial Institutions, NBFCs, Housing Finance Companies and Credit Card companies to verify the credit worthiness of an individual/company before granting him/it a loan or a credit card. They are collated on the basis of borrowings, repayment history and other similar factors. So acces to one’s credit scores will enable him to keep a check of his credit worthiness and allow him to improve it by repaying debts on time.

Although, not all financial institutions were using CIBIL’s credit reports when it started, it has seen an increase in its members over the years and claims to have a database size of over 170 million consumer records and 6.5 million company records contributed by over 500 Members. So we’re assuming that most mainstream financial institutions take and share borrower information with the organization.