CIBIL Admits Issue with Credit Data But Has No Answers on Static Credit Score for Months
TransUnion CIBIL Ltd (CIBIL), the first company to start tracking credit data of individuals in India, has admitted to “an issue with the credit data” that led to a significant reduction in the credit score. Despite this discovery, which Moneylife has been pursuing for several months, CIBIL’s stand is that "all is well" with its systems.
In August 2019, right to information (RTI) activist Girish Mittal had
pointed out, with his own example how CIBIL can mess up the credit score of an individual.
His credit card application was rejected citing low credit score when he had absolutely no default.
"I was in a state of shock because the last time I checked my credit score, in 2018, it was 800 plus, which is classified as excellent credit score. I have 100% record of making timely payments of all bills, credit card and loan dues since beginning of my career, spanning almost 25 years. I have no outstanding loans, delays or defaults. I have cleared all my loans before time. I checked with friends in the credit industry and nobody could point out the exact reason for lowered credit score," he had said.
After repeated efforts to get an explanation from CIBIL, Moneylife received a reply on 3 September 2019 saying, "With reference to the consumer grievance cited, the CIBIL Score change in this particular instance was a result of an issue with the consumer's credit data, which we identified and corrected immediately.
There was no issue in the score computation methodology and change in the score was the result of the data correction...The score is dynamic and will change based on the individual's month-on-month credit activity and payment behaviour."
A similar response was sent to Mr Mittal on 18 September 2019. He was told "...the CIBIL Score change in this particular instance was a result of an issue with the credit data which we identified and corrected immediately. There was no issue in the score computation methodology and change in the score was the result of the data correction."
This did not ring true, because, Mr Mittal’s bank, which was Axis Bank in this instance, does not show any delay or mistake in what it has reported to CIBIL. Yet, Mr Mittal's credit score had dropped from 800 plus to 662 from 800 plus.
He has now received a response from CIBIL saying: “Reference your queries, the CIBIL Score change in this particular instance was a result of an issue with the credit data which we identified and corrected immediately. There was no issue in the score computation methodology and change in the score was the result of the data correction. The quality, accuracy and security of the data we collect and maintain is paramount to us and we continue to enhance our processes, systems and technology to provide reliable solutions and services to our members and consumers”.
That is all very well, but why has CIBIL been dodgy for months? In an email to CIBIL, Mr Mittal has said, “This is the first time you have admitted that there was problem in data at your end, which you have rectified. This is not as if somebody decided to play mischief with my data - there is systemic issue, which could have affected credit scores of thousands of individuals - having disastrous effect on their financial lives!!!”
Credit score is a 3-digit number generated by credit information companies (CICs), in the range of 300 to 900, with 900 being the best, is supposed to decide whether you will get a loan and at what interest rate. Everything like a credit card or a home loan is dependent on your credit score and, hence, it is imperative that the scores are calculated and reported correctly.
CIBIL says the credit score is calculated based on the credit history of an individual over past 24 months. The score is dependent on a combination of factors like credit utilisation; type, amount and duration on credit facilities availed; month-on-month credit payment behaviour; delinquencies and defaults; written-off or settlements on credit facilities and also the credit history on loans guaranteed or co-owned by the consumer. The score is dynamic and will change based on the individual's month-on-month credit activity and payment behaviour, it adds.
However, what Mr Mittal found there was no change in credit scores for months together for him and his wife. He says, “CIBIL says credit score is dynamic and will change month on month with credit consumption and repayment behaviour. My credit score has not been revised since 30 July 2019 and my wife's score has not been revised since May 2019. Again your (CIBIL) statement is full of fallacy and points to errors in your systems and procedures.”
In
his previous article , Mr Mittal has raised the issue of free credit report per year that would be provided by credit ratings agencies. A circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with number DBR.CID.BC.No.11/20.16.042/2016-17 dated 1 September 2016 mandates CICs like CIBIL to give one credit report annually to individuals annually in the same manner it is given to lenders. The lenders get downloadable copy of credit information report, however, CIBIL consistently refuses to give the report in downloadable format, the way it is available to lenders, he had said.
However, till date, according to Mr Mittal, CIBIL continues to provide only credit score and not the report. In his email to CIBIL, he says, “You have not given any response on your not following RBI directions on giving pdf report once a year to all the users !!! You just provide credit score, not credit report as mandated by RBI!”
Credit score only provides only the ranking based on your credit history between a range of 300 and 900. On the other hand, a credit report provides all details related with credit, repayments, delays and defaults of the individual.
We have sent an email to senior officials of TransUnion CIBIL. We will update this story as and when we receive a response from them.
Sanjay Vetal
2 weeks agoCIBIL report is like supreme Court order for lenders, but does CIBIL has same sanity as SC
B. Yerram Raju
2 weeks agoUnfortunately, Banks and NBFCs heavily, rather solely, depend on CIBIL rating for credit risk assessment. Since 98% of micro and small enterprises are proprietary CIBIL score is the only credit rating instrument for them. All of them are a deprived lot!!
J D VIJAY KUMAR
4 weeks agoI request RBI and All Bank's not to depend on CIBIL report for Loan process, Personal profile, Bank transactions, Personal Discussion, Co Applicant to be considered for loan process...Only CIBIL report is not always Right.
atul wade
4 weeks agoMost of time bank employee doesn't understand cibil report and try to insult the applicant or account holder. Please give the proper training to officials that they understand the cibil report. Transunion cibil report is one sided authority ,data given by lending firm is not always right. Sometimes lending firm try to threaten to person taken loan from there finiach company and take excessive amount of charges which is 100times greater than principal amount. Please have some logical view and consideration.
Arun Kumar Saha
4 weeks agoAfter reading this scary story, I checked my CIBIL score which appears low. This score was last updated on 30/08/2019. The reason for law score is mentioned as - Accounts with irregular payment history is a risk factor to lenders. Timely payments in the future will contribute to a gradual improvement to your CIBIL Score. Surprisingly, I dont have any outstanding loan, and I always made full payments of my Credit card dues timely without any single instances of miss. Can you please help me to resolve this issue?
ANIRBAN TARAN
In Reply to Arun Kumar Saha 4 weeks agoYou could try accessing your Experian report as well . If you see similar issues, then the problem is probably with reporting data from financial institutions.
If your Experian report has no disputable information, then the issue is with CIBIL and you could raise a dispute online with CIBIL.
ANIRBAN TARAN
In Reply to Arun Kumar Saha 4 weeks agoFor resolving the discrepancy, you could try raising a dispute thru CIBIL website.
Arun Kumar Saha
In Reply to ANIRBAN TARAN 4 weeks agoUnfortunately I didnt see any proper way in their website for this kind of issue redressal. You can report only if you have dispute only one (or few) creditor, that will work if you know the origin of discrepancy. In my case, all I have is some vague statement from Cibil
ANIRBAN TARAN
In Reply to Arun Kumar Saha 4 weeks agoPlease try Experian. If the data reported there is correct, then you can write to CIBIL by postal mail.
ANIRBAN TARAN
In Reply to Arun Kumar Saha 4 weeks agohttps://www.cibil.com/self-service-portal/viewGeneralQueryFormAction.action
ANIRBAN TARAN
4 weeks agoI checked CIBIL score today and it looked odd as it was stuck at the same number as last year. When I opened the report, I saw that the last reported data was from June of last year, even though I have been using the Credit Card and making payments.
I then checked the free Experian report and it is up-to-date. Not sure who is at fault as one credit bureau has updated payment information whereas the other doesn't. Hard to imagine that my Bank has not reported information to all credit bureaus but who knows?
What makes it harder is that one cannot raise a dispute on data with agencies (at least online) that is not yet reported, Decided to open a case with my Bank's CC division as a start-off. Even opening a case with my Bank online was frustrating as they have no drop down lists that relate to credit information or credit reporting. I have opened a case under a different heading, and hope that the case will assigned to a appropriate personnel for resolution.
Sucheta Dalal
In Reply to ANIRBAN TARAN 4 weeks agoThis is something that can be agitated as a group by putting together enough of information and data of multiple cases where CIBIL has it wrong and Experian is correct
ANIRBAN TARAN
In Reply to Sucheta Dalal 3 weeks agoAfter I exchanged few emails with CIBIL, My CC data got updated along with updated Credit score.
ANIRBAN TARAN
In Reply to ANIRBAN TARAN 3 weeks agoI received a call from CIBIL stating that unless I click on the Free Credit Report under "My Account", the data does not get updated. This was weird but that is what happened with me last evening. After I clicked on the link for Free Credit report, my score and data was updated instantaneously. I do not know what kind of policy or rules CIBIL is following as Experian has no such rules or issues. Credit Score maintained by CIBIL should be dynamic and should not require consumer input for updation!
Another point is that, they do not provide any PDF of the Credit Report, just a HTML version unlike Experian.
I guess if you are experiencing static scores, then click on the free credit report link under "My account", and then go to your dashboard for the updated score.
Sanjay Vetal
4 weeks agoCIBIL with it's fabricated data and suspicious reports has ruined the life of middle class in India. Due to their false score I am not able to raise even 50000 loan from banks. There should be a governing agency to look into operations of such agencies.
Sucheta Dalal
In Reply to Sanjay Vetal 4 weeks agoRequest you to see the details posted by MDT below. We would like to hear cases posted by most writers in detail. Would request you to email us at [email protected] for a follow up.
JOBBY
In Reply to Sucheta Dalal 3 days agoGrievances against bank can be escalated to higher authority and even RBI has a portal now for this. But there is not such grievance escalation for credit reporting agencies. Even RBI portal has not category to complaint against them.
JOBBY KUNJACHEN
4 weeks agoI am in similar situation. My CIBIL score droped from 840 to 800. CIBIL and CRIF says credit utilization limit is highly influential on my score yet they accept data from HDFC bank which does not report credit limit to credit bureaus. Their convenient excuse for all queries is contact the bank. My question how CIBIL and CRIF can calculate credit utilization limit if the bank does not report the credit limit. HDFC bank has also conveniently said it is their policy to not report it. How can HDFC bank report what it prefers and how CIBIL CRIF can accept data with missing information from credit granting agencies such as bank can refuse to provide the important information.
If I am not mistaken banks such as HDFC and other are also shareholders of these consumer credit bureaus and have a vested interest in making consumers suffer for no fault of theirs.
It is also ridiculous that an industry has been built on consumer credit data and yet consumer has side stepped and harassed in determining the authenticity of their own information. It is time that the consumer disputing the data should be accepted as such and burden of proof be on credit granting institutions.
Hyder Mirza
4 weeks agoIs there a way I can contavmct cibil an email address or something because I raised Multiple disputes from personal info to professional info and had been expecting a change for over a year and half but there is not a single chnage.The funniest thing is I am working at a company which I am not at all aware about and the second most hillarious part is my contact number belongs to someone whom I dont know at all, I tried to change this information over and over again but I guess no one actually works at CIBIL.
I just need to an email to contact them or atleast a phone number if no one responds on email.
ANIRBAN TARAN
In Reply to Hyder Mirza 3 weeks ago[email protected]
M D Khattar
4 weeks agoWhom to complain if you dint get even information on your credit score , let alone the report
Also in case you are no longer a Director in a company which has a history of delayed payments , how much longer your score highlights the default?is there no time limit
MDT
In Reply to M D Khattar 4 weeks agoMr Khattar,
Request you to tell us more about not getting information on credit report.
Just for information...
You can get the credit report online. There are four credit bureaus in India, CIBIL, Experian, CRIF Highmark and Equifax. Here is a link to avail your credit report online from CIBIL by paying a fee
https://www.cibil.com/online/credit-score-check.do
Here is a link to obtain your free credit score/report from CIBIL https://www.cibil.com/freecibilscore (this is one report/year)
Another way is to ask the bank to give you copy of your credit report, if you had applied for a credit card/personal loan etc in recent past. As per RBI circular on 24 June 2009 (http://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/scripts/Notification.aspx?Id=455 ), a borrower, whose loan application is processed by the credit institution/ bank can obtain his credit report by paying Rs50, from the lender.
Harish
4 weeks agoWhat is RBI doing when CIBIL is violating its directives?
bhaveshh manekk
4 weeks agoCIBIL is useless. I had settled my credit card account in 2003 and in 2010 bank sold my settled account to third party as NPA and today it is showing an outstanding over 40 lakh on my name in CIBIL by that third party. I have raised dispute in CIBIL about the same and submitted my settlement letter and CIBIL give me resolution that third party is not agreed with dispute so contact third party. I wrote to CIBIL that why you want me to go to third party whom I don't even know , evidences of settlement I have submitted to you so if you want you can confirm with bank and if bank confirm the same than do the corrections as per law in my CIBIL account and I also asked a question to CIBIL that when you updated my account with huge amount of outstanding on information by third party , have you confirmed with the bank that outstanding details are correct or not ? CIBIL did not reply me on that till now. I have consulted with my legal advisor and output came that first bank cannot sell settled account as NPA because bank have issued full and final settlement letter. Secondly damage to my profile happened because outstanding amount of displayed on CIBIL and after submitting all evidences if CIBIL refuse to do corrections than CIBIL also is at legal fault. Now I have started legal proceedings against bank for selling settled account as NPA and CIBIL for updating unverified outstanding on CIBIL on my name and for not taking any action instead of providing all evidences and documents.
Subhabrata Datta
In Reply to bhaveshh manekk 4 weeks agoyou need to file a complaint with Consumer forum as well file a complaint of extortion. These Banks in collusion with CIBIL have made it a habit to make changes, modify accounts, sell account to 3rd class ARC's like Phoneix , who then brilliantly carry out the process of extortion. RBI of course is blissfully asleep.