Stressing that borrowers with a credit score of 750 and above have a higher chance of getting a home loan, the Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL) on Wednesday urged consumers to get their credit scores before applying for loans with banks and financial institutions.
Citing CIBIL data that show 88 per cent of home loan borrowers in 2011 had a credit score of 750 and above on a scale of between 300 and 900, Mr Arun Thukral, Managing Director, told a news conference here that home loan inquiries had doubled since 2007, indicating the huge demand. These inquiries increased more than 18 per cent in the first quarter of 2011-12 compared to the same quarter the fiscal before.
“According to CIBIL data, about 75 per cent of new accounts opened in 2011 had sanctioned amounts between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50 lakh. This also means that the shift is clearly towards higher value loans, indicating the rise in property prices and higher borrowing affordability,” he said.
In 2011, 48 per cent of the total home loans sanctioned in the metro cities had a ticket size of more than Rs 20 lakh. Moreover, loans with a ticket size of less than Rs 50 lakh increased from around 7 per cent in 2007 to over 12 per cent in 2011.
More than one-third of borrowers sanctioned home loans in 2011 were less than 35 years of age and 70 per cent less than 45 years of age, Mr Thukral said.
The trends in acquisition of new home loans by banks based on the CIBIL TransUnion Score show that in 2008, 23 per cent of new home loan borrowers acquired had a credit score of 800 and above. In Q2 2011, more than 62 per cent borrowers acquired had a score of 800 and above.
This indicates that the CIBIL TransUnion Score has now become an integral risk assessment tool for banks and financial institutions for sanctioning any new credit. All the banks and financial institutions have started accessing CIBIL reports and CIBIL TransUnion Scores before sanctioning a loan, he said.