Solutions for CIBIL Report Problems

CIBIL Report contains details of an individual’s credit behaviour across various loan types and lending institutions as reported to TransUnion CIBIL by member banks and financial institutions. A clean CIBIL report (i.e. no defaults) and a high CIBIL score are vital to secure additional/new credit. However, there may be some CIBIL credit report problems or errors that might creep in from time to time. These could be the result of poor management of one’s own finances, administrative errors, fraudulent usage of data/ information, etc. Timely identification and rectification of these problems and errors is essential to maintain a healthy credit profile and a good CIBIL score. Let us look at some common CIBIL report problems and errors and simple ways to resolve them.

Common CIBIL Report Problems and Their Solutions:

Given below are a few common CIBIL report problems and their solutions:

First Problem: Poor Credit History

A CIBIL report with a low credit score indicates irresponsible credit behaviour in the past that may reduce your ability to avail additional credit. Frequent delays and defaults in repayments, high credit utilization, default on loans/credit card debt, etc. are some of the key reasons that could result in a low CIBIL score being recorded in your CIBIL report.

Solutions:

• Pay your EMIs and credit card bills on time.
• Avoid making minimum payments or settling your debts.
• Borrow according to your need and repayment ability.
• Check your CIBIL report and CIBIL score regularly. You can do this online by downloading your paid credit report from the official website of TransUnion CIBIL or avail it absolutely free with monthly updates from Paisabazaar.com.
• In case there is any wrong information or error in the report, you must immediately contact the concerned lending institution and/or raise a dispute with CIBIL.
• Try and work out an alternate repayment plan such as loan restructuring with your bank/ financial institution in case you are unable to make your payments on time.

Second Problem: Errors in Personal or Account Details

You should regularly check your CIBIL report for errors. These errors also known as CIBIL dispute can be either minor or major. Minor errors may be something as simple as your name misspelled or wrong date of birth or typo error in address. On the other hand, major errors can be an error of mistaken identity where for instance you might find someone else’s loan being credited to your account or an overdue amount on a loan that you haven’t taken. Both major and minor errors can drastically affect your CIBIL score and may even result in the rejection of your loan application.

Solution:

1. Avail a copy of your CIBIL report from the CIBIL website.
2. Check for all possible errors in the report.
3. Once you spot the error(s), you can raise a dispute by filling up the online CIBIL dispute resolution form.
4. Once, CIBIL verifies all your details all the possible errors will be removed from the CIBIL report.

Third Problem: Days Past Due (DPD)

DPD or Days Past Due means the number of days by which the due payment on an account has been delayed in a given month. In case your DPD indicates anything other than ‘000’ or “XXX”, it means you have delayed your payment (s) and this may be interpreted negatively by lenders.

Solution:

Timely payment of dues is the best possible way to avoid a DPD value greater than 000 or XXX. While a single late payment will have minimal or low impact on your CIBIL score, multiple late payments will adversely affect your score.

Fourth Problem: Closed Account Still Shows as Open/ Incorrectly Tagged Accounts/ Errors in Account Ownership

There may be loan/credit card accounts which have been closed (i.e. paid off in full) already but have not been reported to CIBIL by the lending institution. There could be errors in account ownership, whereby some open accounts are mentioned in your CIBIL report which are actually not yours. These could either be the result of administrative errors or could indicate fraudulent usage. An account can also be incorrectly tagged as “written off” or “settled” that may adversely impact your score and be viewed negatively by the lenders.

Solution:

• In case a closed account (such as an already paid off personal loan, home loan, credit card, etc.) still shows as open, you must contact the lending institution and verify whether or not they have closed the account. In case they have not yet closed your loan file, you must immediately provide them with all necessary details so that you can obtain a NOC (No Objection Certificate).
• In case there is an incorrect mention of open accounts which are not yours or an incorrectly tagged account, you can raise a dispute using CIBIL’s Dispute Resolution Process.

Fifth Problem: CIBIL Report Shows Overdue even for Paid Off Accounts

Your CIBIL report may show an overdue amount which has already been cleared or show defaults in payment history even when you have been regular with all your past repayments.

Solution:

Lenders submit data to CIBIL every 30 – 45 days and in case you happen to avail your CIBIL report within 45 days of pay off or closure of your accounts, it may not be updated in CIBIL records. In case it has been more than 2 months since the lender has submitted the data associated with that account, you can contact the credit institution and ask them to rectify the data in their records and also request them to submit the correct data to CIBIL so that it can be updated on the report. This is important because CIBIL bears no responsibility when it comes to verifying the credit data reported by lenders. In case of errors or inconsistencies, you can raise a dispute using CIBIL’s Dispute Resolution mechanism and then your claim will be verified and if applicable, updated on the report.

FAQs

Q1. Why is rectification of problems/ errors important?

Identification and rectification of CIBIL report problems/ errors is important to maintain a healthy credit profile and a good CIBIL score. Problems/ errors if not rectified can lead to a bad CIBIL report and a low CIBIL score. This could result in outright rejection of your loan application or higher rates of interest, shorter repayment tenure, etc.

Q2. How can I decide whether an error should be reported to the concerned credit institution or to CIBIL?

Once you find out an error, it is good to check all four credit bureau reports including those from Experian, Equifax and CRIF Highmark as it will help you ascertain whether the error is only in one bureau report or all of them. If the same error is there in all four credit reports, the mistake is at the lender’s end. In case the issue pertains only to a particular bureau, the bureau must be reported about the same. However, one could also get errors rectified by raising a dispute with the concerned credit bureau which will then verify the information with the credit institution (lender) and make the relevant changes upon authentication. Informing the credit institution simultaneously may help speed up the process.

Q3. When can I expect the error to be corrected and information updated on my CIBIL report?

Credit institutions usually submit information/data to CIBIL every 30 to 45 days. However, in case you raise a dispute with CIBIL, it may take up to 30 days to resolve a dispute, depending upon the time taken by the lender to respond.

Q4. What should I do in case the concerned credit institution does not properly respond to my complaints?

In case the bank (credit institution) does not properly respond to your complaints or is unable to sort out the issue, you can contact the banking ombudsman who then takes up the issue with the concerned lender.

Q5. How can I raise a dispute with CIBIL?

To raise a dispute with CIBIL, you need to first register yourself and complete MyCIBIL Login avail a CIBIL report from the TransUnion CIBIL website and gain access to myCIBIL. Following this you can raise a dispute online for inaccuracies, duplication of information or account ownership by simply following the steps given below:

1. Visit the official website of TransUnion CIBIL and Register on CIBIL website.
2. After logging in, go to the Credit Reports Section, navigate to the Dispute Center and select ‘Dispute an Item’.
3. Fill out the online dispute form and select the relevant section that you would like to dispute.
4. If the dispute is about account ownership/duplicacy, choose the applicable dispute type and click on ‘Submit’. In case your dispute relates to data inaccuracies, enter a value for the disputed field and click on ‘Submit’.

Alternatively, you can also raise a dispute by writing to CIBIL at the below mentioned address:

TransUnion CIBIL Limited,

One Indiabulls Centre, Tower 2A, 19th Floor,

Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road, Mumbai – 400 013.