Credit Report is today an important part of one’s life as it is used to profile an individual for their creditworthiness and whenever there is a need for a loan, be it a personal loan, a car loan or even a home loan the lenders evaluate creditworthiness on the basis of the credit profile which eventually has the credit report as its key parameter.
The Credit Report consists of all the transactions related to the loans we have taken, it includes the repayments, loan amounts and the time schedule of payments. While every timely payment and keeping the loan amount in check earns us points that improve our credit score, every late payment and excess utilisation of credit limit reduces our points. While all these computations are automated and record hence is mostly accurate, seldom there are some errors in the credit report that may reduce our credit score in an unwanted manner. Here are the top tips to resolve such credit report disputes:
- Register a Dispute – Online Method
In India, the credit reports are mostly issued by the Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited or CIBIL as it is commonly referred to as. One can raise a dispute by Login on to their CIBIL account and clicking on raising a dispute tab when allows users to easily fill their concern by selecting the relevant sections of dispute for example items like data accuracy. If a user does not has an account with CIBIL, they can simply fill the CIBIL form for online dispute resolution without losing to their website. The form can be easily accessed using the below-mentioned URL: https://www.cibil.com/dispute/. Similarly, in case of a dispute in the commercial account, one may file the online commercial despite form using the below URL: https://www.cibil.com/online/file-company-dispute.do. - Register a Dispute – Offline Method
While we recommend an online route for filing a discrepancy as it is easier to track and followup and is mostly faster. One can also raise a dispute offline by sending a letter to the Credit Bureau. In our case, we have taken the example of CIBIL as a credit bureau and the letter needs to be dispatched to the below address:
TransUnion CIBIL Limited, One Indiabulls Centre, Tower 2A, 19th Floor, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road, Mumbai – 400013
One should attach all the relevant proofs of their claim along with the letter and optionally the lender can also be marked a copy of the same. - Resolution of Dispute
Once a dispute is raised via either the online or the offline channel, the disputes are categorised as per their category and are then sent to the lender or institution for ratification on the issue/s raised. If the changes are acknowledged and accepted by the concerned institution then the relevant change is incorporated in the credit bureau records as well. However, if the institution rejects the claims, there is no change done in the credit report and it remains the same. - Turn Around Time and Intimation
The TAT or the turn around time for the Credit Dispute Resolution is 30 days and the Credit Bureau has to complete the process within the TAT. The Credit Bureau then marks and the result in the customer login and sends an intimation to the customer via online or offline channels as communicated by the customer. Customer also receives an SMS intimation on their mobile phone.
Dissatisfactory
Response
While a rare occasion, in case a consumer feels the response by the Credit
Bureau is not satisfactory and the due diligence is missing, a consumer may, in
that case, raise a new dispute resolution mentioning the previous dispute’s
number and furnishing all the proofs needed to refute the claim, the further
process remains same as the normal dispute resolution process.
Normally, the Credit Bureaus mark the disputed section as a highlighted (red)
section and once the dispute is resolved the highlight is also removed as well.
A similar process is also followed by other major credit bureaus for dispute
resolution.
