Errors in Credit Report

Understanding the functioning of credit bureau is very important for disputing the errors in the credit report. Credit information companies also called credit bureaus regularly collect information on credit history of an individual such as types of credit used, length of credit history, payments made against loan, credit card payment history etc. from the members of the bureau and credit institutions. Credit bureaus then acts on this data and does statistical analysis in order to check his/her credit worthiness and based on that credit score is assigned to a person.

Information gathered is then handed over to the banking/financial institutions, insurance companies, employers and others offering credit to borrowers. Now members and credit institutions often outsource data entry work to third party companies or use their own resources for entering this data. And due to manual work, there is always a chance of data entry error. Credit bureaus on their end can also make an error while aggregating the data. And also the data exchange between the bureau and lender takes after a certain time lag and in between if you apply for any credit then report pulled from the bureau would not be an updated one.

How to resolve disputes in credit report

Many a times, the application of the person applying for a credit gets rejected due to errors or inaccurate details in credit report due to non-update of records, error in reporting etc. So what should an individual do in order to resolve disputes in credit report in such cases:

1) The person should immediately contact the respective bank/insurance companies or credit bureau with the matter and get the details corrected.

2) It is mandatory for these financial institutions to take action within 30 days of the request and 45 days is the time limit for the dispute resolution.

3) After verifying all the details, credit bureau can update their records once they receive authorization from the financial institutions.

4) It is then the duty of credit bureau to notify the individual of successful data updation.

5) If the individual still finds errors in the credit report, then they should reapply for the change back to the financial institution.

6) However to dispute the mistake in the credit report caused by the bureau, the person has to fill dispute resolution form available on their websites. Individuals need to download the same and submit to the bureau along with the supporting documents. It is then the responsibility of the credit bureau to take action and update the person on the status of the dispute.

Read tips on improving credit score in India

Other solutions for disputing the mistakes in credit report

In case your financial institution fails to update credit bureau with the accurate data even after the request, then the borrower should approach Bank Ombudsman or Consumer Forum to get their issue resolved.