Quick answer: You're entitled to one free, full credit report and score per calendar year from each of India's four licensed credit bureaus, CIBIL, Experian, Equifax, and CRIF High Mark, under a standing RBI requirement. Check directly at cibil.com for CIBIL specifically. Checking your own score is a soft inquiry and never lowers it, regardless of how often you do it, though only the first check each year is free through the bureau's own official channel.
Last verified: September 2026.
This Is a Legal Entitlement, Not a Marketing Offer
RBI first directed CIBIL to introduce a free annual credit report in 2016, and the requirement now extends to all four bureaus operating in India. This means, in practice, you can access up to four free reports a year, one from each bureau, since scores and data can vary slightly between them depending on which lenders report to which bureau. This is a standing regulatory entitlement, not a limited-time promotion, and it doesn't require going through a third-party app to access.
The Four Bureaus, at a Glance
| Bureau | Official Site | Free Reports/Year |
|---|---|---|
| CIBIL (TransUnion CIBIL) | cibil.com | 1 |
| Experian | experian.in | 1 |
| Equifax | equifax.co.in | 1 |
| CRIF High Mark | crifhighmark.com | 1 |
How to Check It, Step by Step
- Go to the official bureau website (cibil.com for a CIBIL score specifically) rather than a third-party aggregator, to ensure you're using your free annual entitlement rather than a paid or promotional product.
- Register with your PAN and basic identity details, since the bureau needs to match your request against your actual credit file.
- Verify your identity, typically through an OTP or a similar verification step.
- View or download your free score and report, which should include both the three-digit score and the full underlying report, not just the number.
Who Actually Gets a Score
A score only exists if you have an active credit history reported within the last 36 months. If you've never taken credit, or your last account closed more than three years ago, you may see "no history" instead of a number. This isn't a bad score; it reflects an absence of recent data to score against, and a secured credit card or a small starter loan is the standard way to begin generating one.
What "Free" Does and Doesn't Cover
The RBI entitlement is one free full report and score, per bureau, per calendar year. If you've already used your free CIBIL check for the current calendar year, your next free one becomes available on January 1 of the following year, not exactly twelve months from your last check. Checking again within the same calendar year through the bureau's own detailed-report system typically requires a paid report. Separately, several third-party apps and lender platforms offer ongoing free score views throughout the year; these are a different arrangement from the bureau's own annual entitlement and are commonly funded by the app's own lending or referral business rather than being a regulatory requirement.
FAQ
Does checking my own score lower it? No. Checking your own score, whether through the official free annual report or a third-party app, is registered as a soft inquiry and has no effect on the score. Only a hard inquiry, triggered when a lender pulls your report after a formal credit application, carries any weight.
Why does my score differ slightly between CIBIL and another bureau? Different lenders report to different bureaus, and not every lender reports to all four, so each bureau's underlying data can differ slightly, producing a modestly different score even for the same individual at the same time.
Is there a fee for the report beyond the free annual one? Yes, for additional checks within the same calendar year through the bureau's own official channel. Third-party apps offering ongoing free score views operate separately from this and are not the same as the bureau's paid detailed-report product.
Can a third-party app give me a fake or inflated score? A reputable third-party app pulls the real score directly from the bureau via an authorised integration; it doesn't generate its own number. If a platform's score consistently and significantly disagrees with your official bureau report, verify directly at the bureau's own site.
Source note: The one-free-report-per-year entitlement traces to RBI's 2016 direction to CIBIL, since extended in practice to all four bureaus operating in India (CIBIL, Experian, Equifax, CRIF High Mark) under RBI's broader credit information framework.
Disclosed. Not inferred.