Credit rating is an influential and effective system which helps credit card users get loans at times of need, or upgrade to a higher version of credit card. It is a reflection of our financial discipline, and is a viable proof which shows how diligent we have been in making all our payments on time. It is the recognition or cognizance we receive for paying all our dues on time and provides many additional financial benefits to us in the future. Sometimes, customers may find themselves in a distraught position when their application for a loan is rejected or their request to upgrade to a higher category of card has been denied, even though they have made all their payments on time and possess a strong credit rating. This can happen if your application shows a poor credit score on the face of it due to technical error, or human error, ie, when executives mix up applications or fail to enter certain information while keying in the data, or by a sheer confusion in individuals with similar names. Crimes like identity theft are very uncommon in India and can thus, be easily spotted and rectified by the bank authorities.
In case you notice any such discrepancy, send an email immediately to the Credit Information Bureau of India Limited or CIBIL which can be accessed at info@cibil.com with all their personal identification information, along with their Enquiry Control Number. It is a 9 digit number which helps identify your Credit Information Report. After verifying all your personal details and information, CIBIL will contact your credit grantor immediately and seek to correct and rectify such erroneous information. In order to simplify such a process and enable the comprehensive verification of information, it is important for the credit card user to submitting relevant documents that prove that they have cleared all their dues on time. Once this has been done, the borrower who intends to borrow the loan must approach the same bank for the loan again, and the Credit Information Report of CIBIL will reflect the corrected and rectified status of your credit rating. If the bank still refuses to grant the loan to you, you must post an online or a written complaint to the bank’s nodal officer stating the issue and demanding clarification. If no action has been initiated within a period of 15 days, then the customer is free to approach the banking ombudsman.
During this process, banks are required to furnish information like the control number of the application, which is a 9-digit number which helps provide unique identification to every borrower in the country, along with the information on the credit report, which was responsible for the decline of the borrower’s application. With the help of this control number, CIBIL tracks individual applications and takes relevant actions. The reasons behind a low credit rating can be the low and inconsistent income of the borrower, higher discrepancy in the ratio between Equated Monthly Installments and loans, any additional liabilities of the borrower, and if there are few earning members in his immediate family and the number of dependent family members is high. The system of credit rating in the country is yet to gain momentum as banks are still struggling to have a standardized system in place. Although banks are willing to tighten and regulate the nature of credit rating in the country, with a rise in the number of default payments, the ratings are still in a highly subjective stage. Banks are exercising extreme caution in the matter of borrowing loans, limiting to them a select batch of highly convincing and well deserving candidates.