Getting a loan is difficult but these things can make it worse for you

Bad credit behaviour is bad because it ruins your chances of getting any kind of funding from the banks or financial institutions. And while it is not rocket science to understand why your loan application has been rejected, we still feel its important to send you reminders about what it really means to have a ‘bad credit behaviour’.

Skipping EMIs

Have you missed out on paying your monthly EMIs on any of your loan. This is quite a common trend often observed amongst young consumers, who often take loans and delay the EMI payment. “Default on the monthly payment will occur if sufficient fund is unavailable in your linked account. Defaulting on loan EMIs is detrimental to your CIBIL TransUnion Score. So ensure you pay your loan EMIs month on month and have adequate funds in your bank account for the loan EMI debit,” said Harshala Chandorkar, COO, CIBIL.

Defaulter! Defaulter!

Not everyone is Vijay Mallya, who defaults on Rs 9,000 crore loan and still have a good credit score. We are aam aadmi, so defaulting isn’t an option for us. “Delay or default on credit card bill payment: Forgetting to pay your credit card bill on the due date or not paying your credit card bill at all can hamper your credit score drastically. Ensure you set up payment alerts on your credit card bill and make the payments before or by the due date,” she explained.

Settling down

You may think it is a wise idea to settle your outstanding credit card bill or loan but believe it or not, it is often considered to be bad credit behavior by the banks.

“If the customer has partly paid the dues and settled a loan or a credit card then the status will reflect as "Settled" in the credit report. It is important to understand that though there will be no impact of the “settlement” flag on the customers CIBIL TransUnion Score, his credit history will show a “Settled” status in his CIBIL Report and there will be Days-Past-Due reflecting on the report since the payment on the loan has not been timely. Each bank has its own policy of viewing at a “Settled” status and will decide on the consumers future loan applications accordingly. Therefore it’s best to not ever get into a loan settlement,” pointed out Chandorkar.

Crossing the limits

No, we aren’t trying to scare you. We are only talking about your credit card limit, which if reached and worse exceeded can adversely impact your credit score. “Spending more than the assigned limit on your credit card or spending close to the limit on the credit card may affect your credit score to some extent. Therefore ensure that you spend well within the limit on your credit card,” she noted.