Things That Can Go Wrong With Your CIBIL Report

Credit Information Bureau India Limited (CIBIL) is one of the foremost credit information companies in India. The role of the CIBIL is to collect and maintain payment records of both individuals and commercial entities pertaining to loans and credit cards. 

If you apply for a loan today, the common conception is that getting a loan is a difficult and tedious task. Moreover, understanding the reason your loan application has been rejected can be quite complicated. A good CIBIL score can go a long way in obtaining a loan with stringent bank requirements.

That is why it is imperative to make sure that you get your CIBIL report right. Here is a list of common errors which you can learn about and lookout for in your own CIBIL report:

Confusion of names

There can be lakhs of names that are similar in the CIBIL database. Things can go haywire if a person with your name has defaulted and all his defaults get recorded in your file.

• Eg: In one report, the name Anju was confused with Anjum. However, it was later discovered that Anjum was deceased with no one to identify her. The corrective procedure was started only started after CIBIL examined Anju’s credit report. Till that point in time, the bank had put down her bouncing cheques, as default payments, issuing warnings etc. on deaf ears.


 

Identity Theft 

This is the most serious of all causes of errors and can have a disastrous impact on a person’s credit profile. In recent times, identity thefts are on the rise. Right from a petty shopkeeper who swipes your card several times to sneak in an unofficial payment or track credit card details, which he can exploit, to a terrorist who wants to access a billionaire’s account in a remote corner of the world, identity theft is becoming a serious crime that needs a check.

• Eg: Take Anuj’s case, an impostor had somehow captured his Pan Card details and opened an account with a bank entering all the details he had gathered on him by accessing his mailbox. Anuj did not know for a long time about this. It was only when he decided to apply for a new credit card and his bank rejected him for being a defaulter. To clear his name as a defaulter Anuj has to go through a long drawn out process that takes up a lot of his time.


 

It is essential for CIBIL to allow access to an individual’s credit report not only in cases when the fact needs to be verified but also as a way for individuals to keep a tab on their money inflow and outflow. This will help them weed out errors, clarify facts and even identify impersonations before it’s too late.