BankBazaar.com, India’s leading financial marketplace, has tied-up with credit bureau Experian to offer a free credit-monitoring service to customers, giving them a much better understanding of their financial behaviour.
A general misconception is that checking your Credit Score on platforms like BankBazaar will cause your score to dip. This is not true. BankBazaar will make a soft enquiry on your behalf which will not affect your Credit Score. A soft enquiry is made by a person or company and not by a financial institution. An enquiry made by a financial institution is a hard enquiry and that affects your score by a few points.
Additional Reading: All About Your Credit Score
This one-of- its-kind integration brings several benefits to customers:
- Firstly, checking your Credit Score is absolutely free. Generally, consumers have to pay credit rating companies if they make more than one soft query in a year. BankBazaar.com is facilitating this service through Experian and it’s absolutely free. This makes it a cost effective option.
- Second, unlike the usual procedure, which is a mix of online and offline processes, BankBazaar has made the entire process of checking your Credit Score completely online and instant – convenient and fast.
- Finally, the report, which provides a detailed history of the applicant’s financial history till date, is supported with a detailed analysis and recommendations by financial experts at BankBazaar to improve and maintain a good Credit Score.
Adhil Shetty, Co-founder and CEO, BankBazaar.com said, “BankBazaar.com has always strived to make access to the right financial products easy for consumers. The integration with Experian will complement our efforts and empower our consumers with better financial decision making abilities. I am very happy to announce that this service is now available on BankBazaar and customers don’t have to juggle between multiple platforms and organisations to make an informed purchase decision.”
This service extension will improve the quality of credit applications at BankBazaar as the users will get an idea of their credit eligibility before they apply.
Navin Chandani, Chief Business Development Officer, BankBazaar.com added, “Customers should obtain Credit Scores in order to evaluate their eligibility accurately and to time their application right. If they have a good score, they will be able to negotiate for better offers. If not, experts’ tips on BankBazaar will help them improve their score. This way, the customer will be able to access the right financial product and apply for it at the right time. This will also enhance the quality of applications on BankBazaar and will assure our partners of our users’ creditworthiness.”
Additional Reading: Tips To Improve Your Credit Score
The integration is expected to motivate customers to keep a stronger check on the state of their finances.
Mohan Jayaraman, Managing Director, Experian Credit Bureau, said, “We believe our association with BankBazaar, given their significant presence in the online financial market, will help in generating more awareness amongst consumers about the importance and relevance of a credit report and score in the current context. Individuals being able to better understand their credit profile, is key to supporting them take well-informed decisions concerning their credit profile besides ensuring protection from the fast-growing threats of identity fraud in today’s increasingly digital world”.
Additional Reading: Ways to improve your Credit Score
The report will essentially give a snapshot of customers’ current credit status, shedding light on their utilisation of loans and Credit Cards by stating a score between 300 and 900. It will indicate score details and state reasons influencing the score, such as credit repayment behaviour, credit utilisation pattern, type of loan (secured/unsecured), default in EMI payments, etc. Customers may also see whether banks have closed the loans which have already been paid off by them.