There must have been a moment in your lifetime when you, or your friend or someone else been talking about credit cards and their benefits, be it during shopping online or traveling. But have you wondered on what basis these credit cards are issued to people? For the card issuing company, we are a total stranger, then how do they decide which card to issue to whom? After all, in the end, it’s an uncollateralized loan only.
The answer is that every person, and every business, has a score that depicts how creditworthy they are, and in this blog, we are going to talk about this score, specifically, that is the CIBIL score vs CRIF score, and what the differences are between the CIBIL score vs CRIF score.
Table of Contents
What is a CIBIL score?
Credit Information Bureau India Limited, or CIBIL, is a company that started its services in 2004 in India. It handles data from over 600 million individuals and over 32 million businesses in its database. This data is nothing but the credit history, everything related to the payment/borrowing history of a person/company. CIBIL is now referred to as TransUnion CIBIL, as CIBIL is a part of TransUnion, which is an American company started in 2000.
It is a 3-digit score that tells the financial institutions how creditworthy a person or business is. Many factors are included while calculating this score.
What is the CRIF Score?
Centre for Research in International Finance or CRIF, also known as CRIF High Mark, is a bureau reporting credit information which is based in Europe, and was established in 1988 in Bologna (Italy). It is one of the largest credit reporting organizations in India. It is based out of 4 continents.
High Mark got the RBI license and started its operation in India in 2011. Similar to CIBIL, it is also a 3-digit score given by the CRIF Highmark to businesses or individuals based on their credit history.
CRIF acquired HighMark in 2014 before that, HighMark was an individual entity founded by Dr. Anil Pandya, specializing in credit information services.
In India, CRIF has three different entities:
- CRIF High Mark, RBI licensed credit bureau
- CRIF Solutions offers Analytics & Scoring services, Credit Management solutions, Decision solutions, and Business Information Reports from
- CRIF Connect, an RBI-licensed account aggregator
Comparison (CIBIL score vs CRIF score)
| CIBIL | CRIF |
| CIBIL stands for Credit Information Bureau India Limited | CRIF stands for Centre for Research in International Finance |
| 3-digit scores given to you to showcase your creditworthiness based on your financial history | 3 score given to you to showcase your creditworthiness based on your financial history |
| TransUnion, an American company, holds a major stake (92.1%) in CIBIL | In India, CRIF (a European company) acquired HighMark, which was a startup by an Indian investor in 2014 |
| Based out of India only | Used in 40+ countries also apart from India |
| Score Range: 300-900 | Score Range: 300-900 |
| Check your CIBIL score here: CIBIL SCORE | Check CRIF score here: CRIF SCORE |
How to increase your creditworthiness?
An increased credit score can be a lot of help when it comes to getting a loan or a good credit card. There are some broad steps that one can keep in mind if he/she want to increase their CIBIL score vs CRIF score.
Some of the areas are as follows :
- Payment History – Whether you have taken any kind of loan, be it collateral or uncollateral, you are bound to make monthly payments or payments in definite intervals if you don’t make these payments at the set time. Then your credit score takes a hit.
- Utilization – Generally, it is considered that in the case of credit cards, whatever your limit is set, if you use a maximum of 30% of it every month, it comes under good usage. If you go above and beyond it then your credit score might get impacted.
- Time Frame – How much time you have been consistent with your payments also matters very much while building your credit score.
- Queries made for you – Whenever you apply for some kind of loan or credit card, even by mistake, if some financial institution makes a query to check your credit score, it’s considered a hard query. The more these inquiries are, the greater the chance of your credit score being impacted.
- Loan Rejections – Whenever you are denied any type of loan from a financial institution, it impacts your creditworthiness, leading to fewer chances of getting a loan in the future.
- Accounts – How many loan accounts or credit cards one has also has an impact on the credit score.
| SCORE | Actions |
| Below 600 | Not considered a good score. Need for urgency, check all your loans and start making timely payments if you have missed some of your installments |
| 600 – 649 | This range of scores is in the grey zone, meaning you have fewer chances of getting approval for the loan. |
| 650 – 699 | In this range of scores, you might be able to get some loans with lower amounts. Just keep on making timely payments and give your account some time to mature, and you will have better chances. |
| 700 – 749 | This is a good score range, meaning you are more capable of getting loans, and institutions won’t have much hesitation while processing your applications |
| 750 – 900 | If you are in this range, you are already in the top percentile of people having amazing credit scores, having access to excellent loan/credit opportunities, and you will be entitled to a much higher credit limit too. |
Conclusion
Both CIBIL score vs CRIF score come from a credible source, which is among the top credit information bureaus in India. Both organizations are recognized and licensed by the RBI. Both of them have strong algorithms and have robust procedures to define your credit limit.
At the end of the day, your creditworthiness is more important than the CIBIL score vs CRIF score and for that you need to act upon few of the criteria like timely payment of your credit dues, not frequently opening too much loan accounts, try not to utilize more than 30% of the limit assigned to you and keep on regularly checking your spends and credit history.
FAQ
What is a CIBIL score?
It is a 3-digit score provided by the TransUnion CIBIL credit information bureau, which indicates the creditworthiness of an individual or a business.
What is a CRIF score?
CRIF is a 3-digit score provided by CRIF High Mark Credit Bureau, which is evaluated based on multiple criteria and given to a business or individual so their credit merit can be proven.
Which is better, the CIBIL score vs CRIF score?
There is no hard rule as to which is better (CIBIL score vs CRIF score); it depends on the lending institution, which one they find more credible. CIBIL is mainly used only in India, while CRISIL is used in many countries too apart from India.
How to increase your credit score?
There are many different permutations and combinations when it comes to evaluating your credit score. But, broadly, there are some major criteria that you must focus on to increase your credit score, one of which includes Timely Payments, your past credit history, your credit utilization, and no default payments/loan rejections in the past.
Are the CIBIL score vs CRIF score the same?
Not mandatory, as CIBIL score vs CRIF score are both different organizations, they will have different algorithms and criteria to evaluate your score. So both CIBIL vs CRIF scores may or may not be the same for one.
Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional before making a financial decision.
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