How to fix errors in your Cibil credit report?

Your Cibil credit report is an important document that comes to your aid for everything from availing of a loan to a credit card application and will sometimes even be referred to by a prospective employer. A discrepancy in your Cibil report thus will not only cause your loan application to be rejected, but may also cost you the possibilities of getting a better job. However, if you find that there are errors in your Cibil report, the good news is that you can go about with dispute resolution to get an error free report.

The nature of errors can be something mundane as mistakes in the spelling your name, age, address or PAN card. These errors may not necessarily ruin your Cibil score, but need to be corrected nevertheless. The really damaging errors in your report may arise from a mistaken identity when you find there are someone else's loan details in your report or an overdue amount that is on a loan you have not taken! Such an error can bring down your Cibil score drastically for no fault of yours. If you find such an error exists in your Cibil report, here's what you need to do to rectify it.

The first step

The first step is obviously obtaining a copy of your credit report. More often than, not such errors happen because people undermine the importance of obtaining their credit reports till they hit a roadblock in their loan application process. If you find that there is an error in your report you will need to "initiate" a dispute by submitting a dispute resolution form.Once Cibil receives this form, it takes approximately 30 days to resolve a dispute. This is however subject to the time taken by the credit institution (bank or NBFC or card issuer) to send the required information to Cibil.

For lender related disputes

If you find that the lender has supplied incorrect data to Cibil with regards to your loan details (eg: an overdue amount that you may have cleared is still showing on your report, or a loan is being shown as active even after its closure) you can contact your bank and report this discrepancy. Your bank will then contact Cibil and give the correct information regarding your loan account, after which the information will be updated on your Cibilreport.  Once you get a confirmation from your bank about the rectification of this information in their records, it takes 45 days for this rectified information to show up on your Cibil report.

In case of a mistaken identity

If you find that your report is showing the details of a loan or a credit card that you have not availed of, you will have to raise a dispute regarding the same using the online dispute redressal mechanism of Cibil. Once Cibil receives your application, it will take up the issue with the concerned lender and if it reverts saying that your complaint is a valid one, it will make the necessary changes and submit the rectified information to Cibil. On the basis of this new information that it receives, Cibil will rectify your credit report within 30 working days.

Problems that can arise

If the errors in your report are regarding your own loan or credit card account, the redressal mechanism is easy, but in case of mistaken identities where the bank may have submitted the information of someone else's loan account under your name, the difficulties are much more. The bank in such cases will need to get in touch with the person with whom your identity has been confused and follow up with him. However, since banks mostly outsource their collection process to third parties, there may be some lack in documents or adequate proof. In such cases, the dispute resolution mechanism can go up to more than 60 days.

If the redressal is not satisfactory

If you are not satisfied with the dispute resolution process of the credit bureau, you may approach the bureau directly again, this time making a specific request about what you want. More often than not Cibil will have resolved your dispute in the first shot, even if it does take a little longer if the process in a complicated one.

Your Cibil report  is your passport for a smooth loan application process and is increasingly assuming importance in other spheres of life as well. The prudent thing to do therefore is not to wait till you apply for a loan to take a look at your credit information. Obtain your Cibil report at least once a year to ensure that it is free of errors, or in case there are discrepancies, there is enough time to correct them.

To avoid the complicated prodecure of dispute resolution just book an appointment at www.cibilconsultants.com and get end to end solution for rectification of errors.