The four bureaus together hold credit records on roughly 60+ crore Indians. Industry estimates (RBI's 2024 Trend & Progress Report) suggest 8-12% of credit reports contain at least one factual error — wrong DPD, wrong outstanding, identity mix-up, or a “ghost” hard inquiry. The dispute mechanism works — but you have to use it. Most citizens never pull their report and never know.

A credit score is a 300-900 number computed by a bureau from your repayment history. Lenders use it to decide whether to lend, and at what rate. A score below ~650 typically means rejection or a sharp interest-rate premium.

A credit information report (CIR) has four parts:

1. Personal info — name, date of birth, PAN, Aadhaar last 4 digits, address(es), phone(s).
2. Account section — every loan / credit card you have or have had, with monthly DPD (Days Past Due) for the last 36 months.
3. Inquiry section — every hard inquiry made on your file in the last 24 months (each lender pull when you apply).
4. Score — the bureau's headline number.

The legal anchors:

• Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 (CICRA) — the parent statute. §18 gives every consumer the right to access and dispute their information. §21 mandates accuracy.
• Credit Information Companies Regulations, 2006 (CIC Regulations) — §15-§16 mandate that disputes be resolved within 30 days.
• RBI Master Direction on Credit Information Reporting — operational details for bureaus and lenders.
• RBI Direction dated 26 October 2023 (“Strengthening of Customer Service rendered by Credit Information Companies and Credit Institutions”) — w.e.f. 26 April 2024. Six new compensation rules:
  • ₹100 per day to the consumer if a dispute is not resolved in 30 days (split — bureau pays for first 21 days of delay; lender pays after).
  • Mandatory SMS / email alerts every time your report is accessed by a lender.
  • Mandatory alerts on every default reporting before it hits the bureau.
  • Mandatory annual free full report from each bureau (this is in addition to the existing CIBIL-only free annual report).
• DPDP Act 2023 — applies to personal data including credit data.

Every bureau is obliged to give you one free full report per year. After that, paid reports start at ₹550 (CIBIL) - ₹399 (CRIF).

• CIBIL TransUnion — https://www.cibil.com → “Get Your Free CIBIL Score” → register with PAN, name, DOB, mobile, email → KYC questions (last 4 of credit-card number, sanctioned amount, etc.) → score + report.
• Experian — https://www.experian.in → “Free Credit Report” → similar PAN-based KYC.
• Equifax — https://www.equifax.co.in → “Get My Free Credit Report” → PAN + Aadhaar OTP.
• CRIF High Mark — https://www.crifhighmark.com → “Free Credit Score” → PAN + Aadhaar OTP.

Do all four. Different lenders report to different bureaus (some only to CRIF, some only to CIBIL); errors can sit on one bureau and not the others.

Common, high-impact errors:

• Settled loan still shown “Outstanding” or “Open” — should be “Closed” with closure date.
• Written-off loan not flagged as “Settled / Written-off” — instead shown as live with growing DPD.
• PAN mismatch — someone else's loan on your PAN (the Kavita case).
• EMI bounce wrongly reported — bank's clearing house glitch wrongly marks DPD 30 / 60 / 90.
• Closed credit card showing as active — counts in your credit utilisation, depresses score.
• Hard inquiry from a lender you never approached — may indicate identity theft or an aggregator that pulled your data without consent.
• Wrong DPD code — “STD” should be standard; “SUB” / “DBT” / “LSS” are sub-standard / doubtful / loss and lethal to your score.
• Same loan reported twice under slightly different lender names (especially after bank mergers).
• Old address / wrong employer / wrong DOB — affects KYC matching at the lender.

• CIBIL — login → “Dispute Centre” → “Raise a New Dispute” → choose section (Personal / Account / Enquiry) → choose dispute type → write a brief explanation → upload supporting documents (Aadhaar, PAN, lender's NOC / loan-closure letter, bank statement, FIR if identity theft).
• Experian — login → “Dispute Resolution” → similar form.
• Equifax — login → “Dispute Resolution” → form.
• CRIF — login → “My Dispute” → form.

For each bureau a dispute reference number is generated. Save it.

The bureau cannot change a lender-reported entry unilaterally. It refers your dispute to the lender (the bank / NBFC / credit card issuer that reported the entry) within 7 days of your filing. The lender has up to 21 days to investigate and reply. If the lender confirms you're right, the bureau updates your report within ~7 days. If the lender disputes (says data is correct), you can escalate.

• Write to the lender's grievance officer (every bank's website has one) with all your proof.
• Demand the lender file a correction request with the bureau in writing.
• If the lender refuses, file a parallel complaint at the RBI Ombudsman under the Reserve Bank — Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2021 (cms.rbi.org.in) which covers both banks/NBFCs and credit information companies.

Once the bureau updates the entry, the score is recomputed in 7-15 days. Pull a fresh report (free if you haven't used your annual quota; otherwise ₹399-550) to confirm.

+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Free credit report (per bureau,   | ₹0. One full report a year per       |
| once a year — RBI mandated)       | bureau (CIBIL/Experian/Equifax/CRIF).|
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Paid CIBIL report                 | ₹550 (single) / ₹800 (3 reports/yr)  |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Paid Experian / Equifax / CRIF    | ₹399 - ₹699 depending on plan        |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Online dispute filing             | ₹0 — free at every bureau            |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Bureau resolution SLA             | 30 days (CICRA + CIC Regulations)    |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Lender investigation window       | 21 days (out of bureau's 30)         |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Compensation for delay (RBI       | ₹100 per day from Day 31 onwards.    |
| direction dated 26 Oct 2023)      | Auto-credited if bureau is at fault. |
|                                   | Lender pays if lender is at fault.   |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| RBI Banking Ombudsman (RBIOS)     | FREE. cms.rbi.org.in. 30-day SLA.    |
| under RB-IOS 2021                 | Award up to ₹20L + ₹1L compensation. |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| RTI to PIO RBI Mumbai             | ₹10 IPO / DD. BPL = free.            |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+

• “Account holder name does not match” — most common identity mix-up. Upload Aadhaar + PAN + a bank's KYC certificate. Bureau fixes within 30 days.
• “Loan closed but shown outstanding” — get a No Dues / Closure Certificate from the lender (mandatory under RBI's Fair Practice Code), upload, dispute. Bureau fixes within 30 days.
• “Settled vs Closed” — these are different. “Settled” means you paid less than the full amount; depresses score. “Closed” means you paid in full. If you paid in full but it shows “Settled”, get a letter of correction from the lender; without it the bureau won't change.
• “Hard inquiry I didn't authorise” — file a written complaint to the lender (the inquirer); also report to bureau as “Inquiry not made by me”. If it's identity theft, file an FIR + cybercrime.gov.in complaint and add the FIR to your dispute.
• “EMI bounce wrongly reported” — get a bank statement showing the EMI was paid on time, get the lender's confirmation, dispute. Note: EMI paid on the due date but reported 1 day late by the lender's clearing system is technically not a default — fight it.
• “Old credit card still active” — call the issuer, get a closure confirmation in writing, attach to dispute. (Many issuers “close” cards on their own systems but never report closure to bureaus.)
• “DPD codes look wrong” — STD = Standard (good), SMA = Special Mention Account (early warning), SUB = Sub-standard, DBT = Doubtful, LSS = Loss, WO = Written Off. Anything other than STD harms your score badly. If you're regular, dispute.
• “Same loan twice” — common after bank mergers (Vijaya/Dena/OBC/Allahabad). Identify the duplicate, dispute, attach bank's merger circular if needed.

Each bureau has a Nodal Officer listed on its grievance page. Email the nodal officer with: dispute reference number, all evidence, RBI 26 Oct 2023 direction, and your compensation claim of ₹100/day from Day 31.

• CIBIL Nodal Officer: nodal.officer@transunion.com
• Experian Nodal Officer: grievance.officer@in.experian.com
• Equifax Nodal Officer: grievanceofficer.india@equifax.com
• CRIF High Mark Nodal Officer: grievance.officer@crifhighmark.com

If the bureau says “lender confirmed entry as correct”, your fight shifts to the lender. Every bank's website lists a Customer Service / Grievance page → write to the Principal Nodal Officer of the lender. SLA: 30 days.

The 2021 scheme covers both banks/NBFCs and credit information companies. File at https://cms.rbi.org.in → “File a Complaint” → choose entity type (Bank / NBFC / Credit Information Company). Free. 30-day SLA. Award up to ₹20 lakh + ₹1 lakh compensation.

Wrong credit reporting that causes loan rejection / financial loss is a deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act 2019. District / State / National Commission depending on amount of loss claimed.

The RBI is a public authority under §2(h) RTI Act 2005. The credit bureaus themselves are private companies, not public authorities (no RTI on CIBIL directly).

RTI helps here when:

• The bureau has missed the 30-day SLA and is also ignoring the ₹100/day compensation claim — RTI to PIO, RBI Mumbai (Department of Supervision / Department of Regulation) asking for: (a) the bureau's compliance report on the 26 Oct 2023 direction for FY 2024-25, (b) the number of disputes resolved by that bureau within / beyond 30 days, © any inspection or supervisory action taken by RBI on that bureau, (d) total compensation paid by the bureau to consumers under the 2023 direction.
• Identity theft has caused a fake loan to be reported and the police have not registered an FIR — see RTI for FIR not registered.
• The bureau-lender are bouncing the file between each other for months — RTI to RBI for the bureau's standard turnaround data, useful as Ombudsman / Consumer Forum evidence.

RTI does NOT help here when:

• You want the bureau to fix YOUR specific entry — that's the bureau-lender process. RTI to RBI cannot order CIBIL to update your account; only the bureau can do that. Use the dispute portal first.
• You want CIBIL's internal scoring formula — bureaus treat this as commercial confidence, and even RBI does not hold the proprietary algorithm. RTI will be denied.
• You want a competitor's credit score — third-party personal information bar under §8(1)(j).
• You want to find out which lender pulled your file — that's already on your credit report (Inquiry section); no RTI needed.

For the citizen, the order of operations is: bureau dispute portal → bureau nodal officer → lender's nodal officer → RB-IOS 2021 Ombudsman. RTI to RBI is the fifth rung — useful for stubborn, multi-month deadlocks and for claiming the ₹100/day compensation — not the first.

Q. How long does it take for the score to update after the entry is corrected?
Typically 7-15 days from the date the bureau marks the dispute “Resolved”. Pull a fresh report after 15 days to confirm.

Q. Will disputing my own settled loan hurt my score?
No — raising a dispute is free and has no impact on the score. Only the underlying entry's correction (in your favour) will move the score.

Q. Can I dispute the same entry at all four bureaus?
Yes — and you should, if the wrong entry appears at multiple bureaus. Each bureau handles its own dispute.

Q. The lender has shut down (a small NBFC / cooperative). How do I dispute?
File the dispute with the bureau anyway, attach proof of the lender's closure (RBI cancellation order if any). Bureau will mark the entry “Disputed” and after 30-60 days of no lender response is required to update.

Q. My CIBIL score is 750+ but a bank still rejected me. Why?
Score is one input. Lenders also look at FOIR (fixed-obligation-to-income ratio), credit utilisation %, age of credit history, employer category, and internal blacklists. A high score with high credit utilisation can still be rejected.

Q. Does paying off a settled loan in full upgrade “Settled” to “Closed” on my report?
Yes — if you pay the differential amount and obtain a fresh No Dues Certificate, you can dispute the “Settled” status to be re-classified as “Closed”. Lenders are obliged to update under the RBI Fair Practice Code.

Q. I never took a loan but my report shows one — is this identity theft?
Yes, almost certainly. File: (a) FIR at your local PS / cyber cell, (b) cybercrime.gov.in complaint, © bureau dispute with the FIR copy. The bureau will mark it under investigation and remove if you can prove identity mismatch.

• How to recover money lost to UPI fraud — full 2026 guide
• How to file a cybercrime complaint
• RTI when the police refuse to register your FIR
• RTI in 12 simple steps
• All Indian government helplines — one master directory
• RTI forms + state-wise fee chart

Last reviewed: 26 April 2026 by RTI Wiki editorial team. Bureau portals and RBI directions are updated periodically — verify on rbi.org.in / cibil.com / cms.rbi.org.in or write to admin@bighelpers.in if you spot a stale figure.