Credit scores and credit remarks are two different things, but both affect your loan eligibility. The credit bureau maintains the history of all your financial activities up to date. The details about your loans, credit cards, repayment history etc. are maintained up to date in your credit report. The credit score is not always enough to determine your loan eligibility. Many lending institutions also compare the credit score against the credit reports. Remarks on your credit report may reduce your chances of getting a loan. If a lender comes across good credit remarks, the loan application gets approved instantly. Financial institutions and lenders lay more emphasis on credit remarks than on credit scores in some instances. Let us now proceed to understand in detail about credit scores and credit remarks. 

What Is A Credit Score?

A credit score is a 3-digit number that falls between 300 and 900. It summarizes your repayment history and represents your creditworthiness. It shows lenders your capacity to repay the loan. Most lenders look at your credit score before approving loans. And this applies especially to unsecured loans that do not require any collateral or security. To reduce the risk for these loans, lenders look at your credit score. A high credit score represents a good repayment history and that you have the ability to handle your finances well. The probability of getting your loan application approved is more. Whereas, if your credit score is low, the chances of getting a loan approval is low. Even if you manage to get loans with a bad credit score, you may not be able to get preferential loan amounts or interest rates. 

Credit Remarks 

Credit remarks are comments made on your loan or credit card statement by the bank or financial institution. Remarks like settled or written off reduce your chances of getting a loan. This is because it means that you have paid a lower amount than the outstanding amount on the loan. Even if you have a good credit rating, these negative remarks will hamper your chances of getting credit. 

You can easily access your credit history or your full credit report under the “Account Information” section.  

The details in your credit history are as follows: 

  • The name of the account 
  • Lender’s name 
  • The type of credit facility 
  • Loan amount 
  • The date on which the account was opened
  • Overdue amount 
  • A record of payments 
  • Whether single or joint with a guarantor
  • Current balance
  • Timely repayment of loan EMIs and credit card dues 
  • The number of hard credit enquiries, etc. 

Credit Score or Credit Remarks? What Determines Your Loan Eligibility 

Both the credit score and credit remarks have an impact on your loan eligibility. Lenders look at both to determine whether to sanction you a loan or not. 

How To Remove Negative Credit Remarks?

Negative credit remarks can be removed from your credit report by following up with the credit bureau. You should check your credit report thoroughly. The derogatory credit remarks could be due to misrepresented identity or wrong account information. It can be due to wrong loan dates or loan amounts. So, you can follow up with a credit bureau and correct them quickly. 

How To Improve Credit Scores and Increase Loan Eligibility 

  • Make Timely Payments of Loan EMIs And Credit Card Bills: Your payment history is one of the most important factors in deciding your credit scores.  If you pay your loan EMI or credit card bill on time, then you will get credit healthy over a period of time.  

 

  • Do Not Just Pay The Least Amount Due: You should make the payment of your credit card bills either fully or more than the minimum amount due. Paying only the least outstanding amount reduces your chances of improving your credit score. 

 

  • Maintain A Healthy Credit Mix: Don’t take too much of one type of credit as it may have a negative impact on your score. On the other hand, having a healthy credit mix will help you boost your credit score. A healthy credit mix can include a credit card, a student loan, a home loan, and a line of credit, among other things. This credit diversity demonstrates to lenders that you can effectively handle a variety of credit types.

 

  • Review your credit report for any discrepancies and rectify them: If you discover inaccurate information on your credit report, you must correct it right away. Then, follow up to ensure that it has been rectified. If you don't repair the mistake, it will stay on your credit report, potentially decreasing your credit score. Request an investigation with the credit bureau that issued the inaccurate report. Notify the lender who provided erroneous information to the credit bureau that you are disputing the information.

 

  • Do not remove old accounts from The credit report: Sometimes, people tend to remove old accounts, deactivated accounts, or accounts with negative history from their credit report to make it look clean. Sometimes, they try to remove old debts from their reports once they are paid. But, this is not suggested. Although negative history affects the credit score, they get removed automatically from the credit report after a certain period of time. Getting old accounts removed may have a significant negative impact on your score as they may have a good repayment history. Also, if you have paid off your debts, then you should keep them in your report as they will improve your credit score and show your creditworthiness. 

 

  • Maintain a CUR below 30%: The credit utilization ratio is one of the most essential factors that is considered when the credit score is computed. The amount of revolving credit that is available to you divided by how much of it you are utilizing shows your dependency on credit. It is suggested to keep the credit utilization ratio below 30%. So, if you have many credit cards, keep track of how much money you are using on credit. Also, try to find a credit card issuer who will take multiple payments in a month.

Conclusion 

At some point of time, you will need a loan in your life for something or the other. It is difficult to start improving your credit score and credit remarks at that time. So, start taking steps to improve your credit score and do away with negative credit remarks. Also remember that having no credit at all also does not help since lenders have nothing to assess to infer your creditworthiness.
 

FAQS Difference Between Credit Score and Credit Remarks, and Their Effect on Loan Eligibility

1:Is the credit score more important than the credit report?

Both the credit score and the credit report are essential when it comes to getting credit. If your credit score is good and if your credit report has negative remarks like written off, settled etc., you may still not get a loan easily. 

2:Can you check your credit score online?

Yes, you can do a free credit score check on Creditmantri. You can also download a free credit report. You can subscribe to our Credit improvement services and Credit Fit program to improve the credit score.