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In today's time, whenever you apply for a home loan, car loan, personal loan or credit card in any bank or non-banking financial company (NBFC), the lender first looks at your Credit Score (CIBIL Score) Checks. Ranging from 300 to 900, this score reflects how disciplined you have been in paying off old debts and bills.

If your CIBIL score is less than 750 or around 600, banks either reject your application immediately or offer the loan at extremely high interest rates. However, if your credit score has deteriorated, there is no need to despair. By adopting the right financial strategy, timely payments and a disciplined approach, you can raise your CIBIL score to a safe level of 750 within the next 6 months.

The biggest 35% weightage in calculating credit score is your Payment History Is of.

• Avoid delay: Instead of paying the minimum due date of the credit card, pay the entire due amount every month before the due date.

• Turn on auto-debit: Keep auto-debit (NACH Mandate) active in the bank account for all loan EMIs and ensure sufficient balance in the account 2 days before the installment is deducted. Just making 6 months of consistent on-time payments without any defaults can see your score jump exponentially.

Credit utilization ratio means what percentage of the total credit card limit you get is being utilized every month.

If the total limit on your card is ₹1,00,000 and you spend ₹70,000 to ₹80,000 every month, then the credit bureau considers you 'credit hungry'. To improve your CIBIL score faster, limit your expenses within the total limit. Less than 30% (i.e. within ₹30,000) Keep. If your expenses are high, contact the bank to increase your credit limit or divide the expenses among more than one card.

If your score is very low and no bank is willing to offer a new credit card or loan, Secured Credit Card Proves to be the most effective weapon.

• Make a fixed deposit of ₹ 20,000 to ₹ 50,000 in the bank and get a secured card based on it.

• Make small daily expenses (like petrol, grocery or bill payment) with this card and pay the bills on time every month.

• This regular payment history is directly reported to credit bureaus like CIBIL, Experian and Equifax, leading to a new and strong credit track record in 4 to 6 months.

Many times, due to a technical mistake or misidentification of a bank, the default of another person gets added to your CIBIL record.

• Download the free credit report once a year from the official website of CIBIL.

• Carefully check your personal details, status of old closed loans and active accounts.

• If any loan is showing which you have never taken, or any closed loan is still showing as 'Open' or 'Written Off', then immediately apply online on CIBIL portal. Dispute Enter. Once the mistake is rectified, there may be an immediate increase of 40 to 80 points in the score.

Whenever you apply for a loan or credit card in a bank, the bank makes a note on your report. Hard Inquiry Does.

• Avoid applying to 4-5 different banks or loan apps simultaneously, as repeated hard inquiries cause the CIBIL score to drop rapidly.

• Do not close old active credit card accounts suddenly, as the old account shows your 'Length of Credit History' as strong.

• Maintain a healthy credit mix of secured loans (like gold or auto loans) and unsecured loans (personal loans) in your portfolio.

Credit scores don't improve overnight, but 180 days of financial discipline can completely change it. If you stick to the rules of regular payments, low credit utilization and correcting report errors, after 6 months your CIBIL score will not only reach above 750, but you will also be able to easily get loans at the cheapest interest rates in the future.