Check CIBIL Score for Credit Card in Just 2 Mins - Kotak Bank (2024)

What is the CIBIL or Credit Score?

The credit score is a 3 digit number between 300 and 900 that helps determine your creditworthiness. When you are applying for a credit card, the lending bank will look for a good credit card CIBIL score, that is above 750. Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited or CIBIL is an organization that provides the lending banks with this credit score, also called the CIBIL Score.

Based on the borrower’s credit information, CIBIL comes up with a credit report and calculates the credit score. Once the lending bank has these details from CIBIL, they can better evaluate the applicant’s credit history and repayment ability. Higher your credit card CIBIL Score, better deals and offers you can get on your credit card. Apart from that a higher credit score can make availability of credit, loan approval and disbursem*nt easier and faster for you. So, if you are applying for a credit card, it is best to start with finding out your credit card CIBIL Score.

There are multiple factors that can positively or negatively impact your credit score. You can change your financial behaviour to improve the credit score, increasing your chances to avail of a credit card facility from your bank. For example, regularly repaying your loans in full and within the stipulated time reflects well on your ability to pay back.

Kotak Mahindra Bank offers a variety of credit cards to our customers. All you need to ensure is a good credit card CIBIL Score for better chances of approval.

What is CIBILScore for Credit Cards?

With Kotak Mahindra Bank you can enjoy the benefits of different credit cards suited to your needs and necessities. However, there are certain eligibility criteria that the applicant must fulfill, and your credit score is among the most important of these.

The minimum CIBIL Score for credit cards from Kotak Mahindra Bank is 750. A credit score below 750 might result in the rejection of your credit card application. So, before applying for a credit card from Kotak Mahindra Bank, it is advisable to find out what your CIBIL Score in India is. A good CIBIL Score can also help you with easy and quick loan approvals from Kotak Bank.

If your credit score is not up to the mark, you can improve the same with simple changes in your financial behaviour. You can start with timely payments of your utility bills, regular and timely repayments of existing loans, maintaining a good balance of secured and unsecured loans to suggest some ways.

In case your financial journey has just started and hence you do not have a CIBIL Score for credit card, you can opt for a secured credit card. A secured credit card is provided to you against a minimum fixed deposit amount. To avail of a credit card facility in this way can help you build a good credit score. Kotak Mahindra Bank’s #811 Dream Different Credit Card allows the applicants to avail a credit card with a fixed deposit amount of as less as Rs. 10,000.

Steps to Check CIBIL Score for Credit Cards

Credit score check is a simple process. You can do it yourself on the CIBIL website. Here are the steps to follow:

• Visit the official website of CIBIL.
• Once you are on the CIBIL website, click on the ‘Get Your CIBIL Score’ button.
• After this, you will be presented with subscription options. Choose one option as per your choice.
• Upon selecting the option, you will be taken to an online form. Provide the basic details here: your name, address, ID proof, birthdate, etc.
• After filling up the form, you will be redirected to the payment page. Make the required payment through various modes like credit cards, net banking, etc.
• Once the payment goes through, you will be taken to an authentication page. Here, you will be asked a few questions related to your credit history, which will help to authenticate your identity with CIBIL.
• After your authentication process is complete, you will receive a detailed CIBIL report on your registered email address within the next 24 hours.
• Congratulations, your credit score check is complete.

Remember, a credit score above 750 is considered an ideal and will help to increase your chances of getting a credit card from Kotak Mahindra Bank.

CIBIL Score Range for a Credit Card

The CIBIL score required for credit cards is further divided into various categories. Here is a closer look at each credit card CIBIL score category:

Why Do Banks Check Your Credit Score Before Issuing a Credit Card?

A credit card is an unsecured type of loan that a lending bank provides its borrowers. In case of unsecured loans, the borrowers are not required to provide any collateral to the bank against the amount they borrow. So, a thorough check of the applicant’s creditworthiness is imperative when issuing credit cards.

Your credit score helps in analyzing the factors crucial to your creditworthiness like your repayment ability, financial behaviour, credit history and so on. That’s why your credit score falls in the must-meet category of the eligibility criteria for credit card applicants. The most efficient way to determine an applicant’s credit score is through a CIBIL score check.

Credit card applicants with the best CIBIL score are offered lucrative credit card deals as opposed to the borrowers with a poor CIBIL score. The lending banks avoid issuing a credit card if the applicant has a low credit score for credit cards. A low credit score denotes a bad history of loan repayment or the inability to pay dues and EMIs on time. The lending banks consider such applicants as high-risk borrowers. What’s more, they can even become defaulters in the future and may cause the bank to incur losses.

On request, TransUnion CIBIL Limited provides the lending banks with the credit score of applicants. Through CIBIL or credit score, the bank analyzes the applicant’s sincerity towards paying the credit card bills in a regular and timely fashion.

In the past, there may have been examples of some banks having issued low credit score credit cards. Nonetheless, such cases are rare and the credit card perks have been rather limited. That’s why it is best to maintain a good credit score when you are applying for a credit card. You can improve your credit score with regular and on-time repayments with regular and on-time repayments.

Minimum CIBIL Score Required to Get a Credit Card

A minimum CIBIL Score required for credit card application is 650, whereas a credit score of 750 is ideal to avail of best credit card deals from issuing banks. Kotak Mahindra Bank issues credit cards to applicants with a CIBIL Score of 750 and above. Applicants can even open a fixed deposit account with a minimum amount of Rs. 10,000 to get Kotak Mahindra Bank’s #811 Dream Different Credit Card.

Issuing banks critically review the applicant’s credit report and credit score provided by CIBIL. Hence, it is advisable that you find out your own credit score before proceeding with your credit card application. The credit score categories range from poor to good. In case you have never borrowed a loan or have never used a credit card, your credit score may show NA or NH. Depending upon your credit score, you can find out which category you fall into and how easy or difficult it may be for you to avail a credit card.

CIBIL Score required for credit card is a crucial determining factor of your credit card eligibility. So, it may be useful to focus on improving your credit score. That might help to increase your chances of getting your desired credit card.

Apart from the minimum CIBIL Score required for credit cards, issuing banks have various eligibility criterias such as minimum age, income and so on.

How to Maintain a Good Credit Score?

A credit card CIBIL Score is crucial in deciding whether you can get a good credit card or not. Therefore, it’s advisable to maintain a good credit score. Here are a few points to keep in mind when you need to increase credit score:

• The very first rule in maintaining a healthy credit card CIBIL Score is to avoid late payments. One must make sure that any repayment related to loan or credit card should not get delayed, or your CIBIL score will be impacted negatively. You can avoid such hassles through auto-pay mode, setting up reminders and making a monthly task sheet.
• Next step to maintain a healthy credit card CIBIL score is to review your CIBIL report regularly. Through this, one can make sure that whether any inaccuracies or misinformation are present in the credit report or not. This not only helps in resolving a dispute but also helps in increasing the credit score.
• To ensure the maintenance of a good credit card CIBIL score one must maintain a credit utilization ratio below 30% of the total available credit limit. Through this simple practice, one can increase and maintain credit card CIBIL score which can lead to financial stability.
• Another way to increase credit score is to manage a credit mix; that is, one should always opt for a mix of both secured and unsecured loans. This balances the risk factor, thereby giving an opportunity to maintain a better credit card CIBIL score.
• One should also be wary of applying for credit cards. Do not apply for multiple credit cards simultaneously. This will send a negative impact to the lending institutions, which in turn increases the chances of rejection, thereby impacting credit card CIBIL Score.
• It’s also very important to notice that to increase credit score one must not exhaust the available credit limit, as it can lower the credit card CIBIL score.
• If one has no credit history then it will be difficult to obtain a credit card. In that case one can avail a secured credit card to build a good credit card CIBIL score.

Benefits of a credit card with a good CIBIL score

Credit card CIBIL Score is a tool that banks or lending institutions use to check whether the applicant is financially capable of owning a credit card or not. Further, there are different categories of credit card CIBIL Score, ranging from poor to the absolute best.

With a credit score below 650, you may not be eligible for a credit card at most banking and financial institutions. A credit card CIBIL score of 650 may get you a credit card, but it may have drawbacks of its own. For example, the interest rate could be high, the credit limit could be low and the rewards may not be exciting. Therefore, it is advisable to maintain the best CIBIL Score, as that helps you to avail of the best credit cards with numerous attractive benefits. Such quality deals may not be otherwise offered along with low CIBIL Score credit cards.

Some of these lucrative benefits are:

• Cheaper interest rates
• Rewards ranging from dining to theater
• Lucrative EMI offers
• Discounts on select products, both online and in shops
• Higher credit limit
• Quicker approvals on other credit applications

Kotak Mahindra Bank offers credit cards to applicants with a credit score of 750 and above.

When is a Good Credit Score Not Enough?

At times, even the best CIBIL Score will not suffice to get you the best credit card deal. Apart from your CIBIL Score, credit card issuing banks and financial institutions consider multiple factors. So, despite a high credit score, if you fall into any of the lender’s negative criterias, your credit card application may get rejected.

• CIBIL is considered to be the best company in India for generating a credit score. However, apart from CIBIL for credit cards, there are other companies that generate and regulate their own scores. Even banks rely on their own scoring models. For example, a good credit score on Experian, may not be that high on CIBIL. That’s why it is important to understand your issuing bank’s scoring model and then find out your own credit score from a relevant company.
• A short credit history may be another factor wherein a good credit score may not suffice. In such a case, even an excellent CIBIL Score does not invoke great confidence among the banks and credit card lending companies. The reason being, banks and other such financial institutions generally look for individuals with a substantially long credit history.
• Employment is also an important factor. Even if you have the best CIBIL Score, it does not indicate that you have a job or your employment is stable enough. CIBIL does not capture your income and employment status when generating your credit report and score.
• Another reason which lessens the effectiveness of your best CIBIL score is a previous negative event. Even though you have the best CIBIL Score, a bad financial situation in the past can affect your credit application in the future.

Credit Cards for People with Bad Credit or Low CIBIL scores

Credit score is an extremely crucial factor when applying for a credit card. However, if you have found out that your credit score is not up to the mark, you need not lose heart. There are ways in which you can still avail of a low CIBIL credit card.

Your bank may issue a credit card without CIBIL Score in certain situations:

• You may choose to apply for a secured credit card. Unlike the unsecured credit cards, secured credit cards are issued against a fixed deposit. Kotak Mahindra Bank offers #811 Dream Different Credit Card against a fixed deposit amount of Rs. 10,000 and onwards.
• In case you enjoy a good relationship with your bank and have an excellent track record, then your bank may issue a free credit card for you.
• You may apply for credit cards with higher fees and interest rates, but remember that this might increase your financial burden.