FREED launches EMI Score, a free 0-to-100 score that tells borrowers how much loan their finances can sustain, while they can still do something about it

National, August 17, 2026 — FREED, India’s first liability management platform, today launched EMI Score, a free borrower-first measure of financial health. EMI Score reads income stability and quality, monthly savings, and total loans and EMIs, then places each borrower on a scale of 0 to 100 that shows exactly where they stand and what they can comfortably carry.

The score is free and live today at freed.care/emi-score.

Why India needs a borrower-side score

Credit is one of the most powerful tools a household has. Borrowing is how millions of Indians move their lives forward, and the expansion of credit in this country has been genuinely good for people and for the economy. A loan works best when it is taken to build something, and when it is taken after an honest assessment of whether it can be repaid sustainably.

That second part is where the gap lies. Household debt has climbed to 45.5% of GDP, and non-housing loans now account for 58.4% of household borrowing, per the RBI’s Financial Stability Report of June 2026.

Borrowers today have no simple way to answer the question that matters most to them: can I genuinely afford this EMI alongside everything I am already carrying? Without an answer, millions quietly take on more than their income and savings can sustain and find out only after a payment is missed, by which point the options have narrowed. What has been missing is a way for people to see stress building while they can still do something about it.

How EMI Score works

EMI Score brings together three parts of a person’s financial life into a single number between 0 and 100:

Income- how stable and sufficient monthly earnings are

Savings- the cushion available to fall back on

Loan behaviour- how well existing loans are being handled

The score places each borrower in one of three zones, and each zone leads to a clear next step.

Zone

What the score is saying

What follows

Green

65 to 100 · Prevention

Income covers EMIs, savings are steady, loans are well managed. There is room to borrow if needed.

Keep the habits going and check again before taking on anything new.

Amber

35 to 64 · Care

Stress is building. EMIs are rising as a share of income, savings are thinning, loans are getting harder to juggle.

Nothing has broken yet, but this is the moment to simplify, often by consolidating multiple EMIs into one affordable repayment.

Red

0 to 34 · Cure

Finances are under real strain, and repayment is a struggle.

This is the point to stop borrowing and resolve what is already owed, through a structured settlement and repayment plan.

Prevention, care and cure are how FREED has built its debt relief solutions stack. EMI Score is the diagnosis. What follows it is treatment.

Ritesh Srivastava, Founder and CEO, FREED said, “FREED exists to put the borrower first, and EMI Score is the clearest expression of that. Credit is a good thing. It is how people buy homes, educate their children and build businesses. The question is never whether to borrow. It is whether this loan, at this moment, is one you can comfortably carry. Today most people discover they are in stress only after a missed payment. We want to move that moment earlier, from cure to care to prevention. A loan should help you move forward. It should never become the thing that keeps you up at night.”

Every borrower already knows their credit score, and it does its job well. EMI Score answers a different question, and it answers it for the borrower rather than the lender. It is not a record of how loans have been handled in the past. It is a read on whether today’s income and savings can carry today’s EMIs, and what happens if one more is added.

Both readings matter, and they are strongest together. When borrowers understand what they can sustain and stay within their means, defaults become less likely and the wider lending system grows steadier. Over time, a trusted borrower-side measure of borrowing health becomes a bridge between borrowers and lenders, helping both sides make better and more sustainable decisions. That is the India FREED is working toward, where people borrow confidently, responsibly, and with a clear understanding of what they can truly afford.