Next: Credit and debt
Credit cards without the trap doors
A card is a short free loan with trap doors: the minimum due, cash withdrawals and no-cost EMIs each cost far more than the sticker suggests.
16 min
beginner
Credit scores, decoded
Four bureaus score you from 300 to 900, every one of them owes you a free report each year, and most of what people repeat about scores is wrong.
3 lessons · about 14 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-11
The number lenders check first
Four RBI-licensed bureaus watch how you repay and boil it down to a number between 300 and 900 — and your salary is nowhere in the file they keep.
5 min
Your report is free — go and read it
RBI makes every bureau hand you one full report a year at no cost — four in all — and the accounts grid inside says far more than the score does.
5 min
Score myths, and the score-fixing scam
Checking your own score is harmless, carrying a balance buys you nothing, and nobody — however official the job title — can sell you a better number.
4 min
Check yourself
3 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India — credit information companies and customer rights — Reserve Bank of India · checked 2026-08-11