Credit Report Locking System | Unauthorised Credit Report Access

Currently, consumers do not have the ability to lock their credit reports to prevent unauthorised access. Banks and NBFCs not only periodically check our credit reports but also make hard inquiries without our explicit consent, resulting in unwanted entries on our credit reports.

Have you ever applied for a credit card through an SBI Card agent at locations like shopping malls or railway stations? These agents often save your details and contact you later to process credit card applications. Unfortunately, even if you decline to apply for a new credit card, they sometimes submit random applications using your old information, leading to unwanted hard inquiries and fulfilling their lead generation targets.

When applying for a credit product from a bank, they should only check your credit once. However, multiple hard inquiries for a single credit product application are prevalent. Banks even conduct hard pulls on consumer credit data without any new applications.
Such practises are increasingly common nowadays.

We urgently need a robust system to protect consumers from fraudulent hard inquiries. Just like the Aadhaar biometric lock, we should be able to lock our credit reports as well. It is essential for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to address this issue and establish comprehensive guidelines for all banks and NBFCs.

We hope the RBI will take the necessary steps to safeguard consumers' credit information and prevent unauthorised hard inquiries in the future.

 

[Anon1]

I totally agree with this and this will reduce unnecessary hard enquiries and customers time for fighting back about these unauthorised enquiries or loans.

 

[romilq]

Regarding your SBI Card point, now they have changed their system. You need to provide OTP to agent for bureau access and that is mentioned in the OTP message itself. So no hard inquiry if you do not provide bureau access OTP to agent. I applied through an agent and my card was approved. During March the agent called again and was trying to fool me to apply once again to finish her targets. She said I will get double limit and another card. I firmly said no. She still went ahead and started a new application from her side and I got the OTP. She called me and asked for OTP saying that it is for verification purpose of my old card. But the OTP message clearly mentioned it is for bureau access for new application. So I denied sharing the OTP and then one month later I got rejection email of some SBI fuel card that I never applied. So at least we are safe from hard pull in SBI if agent makes new application using old information. Earlier there was no such safeguard. I think they changed after many complaints.

 

[TechnoFino]

Regarding your SBI Card point, now they have changed their system. You need to provide OTP to agent for bureau access and that is mentioned in the OTP message itself. So no hard inquiry if you do not provide bureau access OTP to agent. I applied through an agent and my card was approved. During March the agent called again and was trying to fool me to apply once again to finish her targets. She said I will get double limit and another card. I firmly said no. She still went ahead and started a new application from her side and I got the OTP. She called me and asked for OTP saying that it is for verification purpose of my old card. But the OTP message clearly mentioned it is for bureau access for new application. So I denied sharing the OTP and then one month later I got rejection email of some SBI fuel card that I never applied. So at least we are safe from hard pull in SBI if agent makes new application using old information. Earlier there was no such safeguard. I think they changed after many complaints.

Right, the issue was highlighted multiple times.

 

[Shrinit Padwal]

Regarding the multiple enquiries for single application - happening a lot nowadays.
In my case it was for Axis Airtel card - 2 enquiries were done on 2 different days - but were removed when mailed and escalated to Axis Pno.

Also there should be a system to check pincode serviceablity at the first step of card application and then should ask for aadhar pan to avoid cibil hit.

Moreover many criterias like cibil score, no of past enquiries, pincode serviceablity should be clearly mentioned by each bank before applying for a particular credit card, so we can save unnecessary cibil hits.

 

[Shraaj]

Regarding the multiple enquiries for single application - happening a lot nowadays.
In my case it was for Axis Airtel card - 2 enquiries were done on 2 different days - but were removed when mailed and escalated to Axis Pno.

Also there should be a system to check pincode serviceablity at the first step of card application and then should ask for aadhar pan to avoid cibil hit.

Moreover many criterias like cibil score, no of past enquiries, pincode serviceablity should be clearly mentioned by each bank before applying for a particular credit card, so we can save unnecessary cibil hits.

Axis Bank also did this to me. Couple of month back I have applied for the Airtel Axis credit card and I have submitted the form and when it was showing the final status it's said sorry you are not eligible as we are not service able in your area pin code. Then My question is and when you have already new that my area pin code is not serviceable then while filling the form why didn't you say that you are not eligible please do not apply on introduction page.
Bhai hitting the CIBIL Check they save the customers financial and sell it to the corporates.

 

[technom]

Currently, consumers do not have the ability to lock their credit reports to prevent unauthorised access. Banks and NBFCs not only periodically check our credit reports but also make hard inquiries without our explicit consent, resulting in unwanted entries on our credit reports.

Have you ever applied for a credit card through an SBI Card agent at locations like shopping malls or railway stations? These agents often save your details and contact you later to process credit card applications. Unfortunately, even if you decline to apply for a new credit card, they sometimes submit random applications using your old information, leading to unwanted hard inquiries and fulfilling their lead generation targets.

When applying for a credit product from a bank, they should only check your credit once. However, multiple hard inquiries for a single credit product application are prevalent. Banks even conduct hard pulls on consumer credit data without any new applications.
Such practises are increasingly common nowadays.

We urgently need a robust system to protect consumers from fraudulent hard inquiries. Just like the Aadhaar biometric lock, we should be able to lock our credit reports as well. It is essential for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to address this issue and establish comprehensive guidelines for all banks and NBFCs.

We hope the RBI will take the necessary steps to safeguard consumers' credit information and prevent unauthorised hard inquiries in the future.

Thank you. This is very much needed. At least a OTP confirmation (like SBI is doing proactively) should be made mandatory for all and a separate OTP for each credit check should be enabled.

Is there a petition or any other initiative in this direction

 

[D₹V]

Yes, we need it.

 

[Abhirup]

I had sent a feedback email to RBI regarding a similar concern and got the following reply from them.

I don't think they would take any action though.

 

[thewitchking]

Currently, consumers do not have the ability to lock their credit reports to prevent unauthorised access. Banks and NBFCs not only periodically check our credit reports but also make hard inquiries without our explicit consent, resulting in unwanted entries on our credit reports.

Have you ever applied for a credit card through an SBI Card agent at locations like shopping malls or railway stations? These agents often save your details and contact you later to process credit card applications. Unfortunately, even if you decline to apply for a new credit card, they sometimes submit random applications using your old information, leading to unwanted hard inquiries and fulfilling their lead generation targets.

When applying for a credit product from a bank, they should only check your credit once. However, multiple hard inquiries for a single credit product application are prevalent. Banks even conduct hard pulls on consumer credit data without any new applications.
Such practises are increasingly common nowadays.

We urgently need a robust system to protect consumers from fraudulent hard inquiries. Just like the Aadhaar biometric lock, we should be able to lock our credit reports as well. It is essential for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to address this issue and establish comprehensive guidelines for all banks and NBFCs.

We hope the RBI will take the necessary steps to safeguard consumers' credit information and prevent unauthorised hard inquiries in the future.

With SBI cards it happens. I have taken SBI credit card twice with 5 hard enquiries. I don't know why they need to check again and again for the same. Even when i closed my SBI card they did one hard enquiry.

 

[caabhi]

G

Currently, consumers do not have the ability to lock their credit reports to prevent unauthorised access. Banks and NBFCs not only periodically check our credit reports but also make hard inquiries without our explicit consent, resulting in unwanted entries on our credit reports.

Have you ever applied for a credit card through an SBI Card agent at locations like shopping malls or railway stations? These agents often save your details and contact you later to process credit card applications. Unfortunately, even if you decline to apply for a new credit card, they sometimes submit random applications using your old information, leading to unwanted hard inquiries and fulfilling their lead generation targets.

When applying for a credit product from a bank, they should only check your credit once. However, multiple hard inquiries for a single credit product application are prevalent. Banks even conduct hard pulls on consumer credit data without any new applications.
Such practises are increasingly common nowadays.

We urgently need a robust system to protect consumers from fraudulent hard inquiries. Just like the Aadhaar biometric lock, we should be able to lock our credit reports as well. It is essential for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to address this issue and establish comprehensive guidelines for all banks and NBFCs.

We hope the RBI will take the necessary steps to safeguard consumers' credit information and prevent unauthorised hard inquiries in the future.

Great article @TechnoFino !!!
This is a real menace. I was checking offers last week on HDFC platform (read when the news of Infinia Reserve came in, I was curious and wanted to check if they have included any details in site) and they did a hard enquiry on CIBIL which was totally unwarranted!!
Just that I did not have energy to deal with them so had to let it slide.
Kudos to you raising this issue across forums. This is need of the hour!!

 

[Tejo]

Currently, consumers do not have the ability to lock their credit reports to prevent unauthorised access. Banks and NBFCs not only periodically check our credit reports but also make hard inquiries without our explicit consent, resulting in unwanted entries on our credit reports.

Have you ever applied for a credit card through an SBI Card agent at locations like shopping malls or railway stations? These agents often save your details and contact you later to process credit card applications. Unfortunately, even if you decline to apply for a new credit card, they sometimes submit random applications using your old information, leading to unwanted hard inquiries and fulfilling their lead generation targets.

When applying for a credit product from a bank, they should only check your credit once. However, multiple hard inquiries for a single credit product application are prevalent. Banks even conduct hard pulls on consumer credit data without any new applications.
Such practises are increasingly common nowadays.

We urgently need a robust system to protect consumers from fraudulent hard inquiries. Just like the Aadhaar biometric lock, we should be able to lock our credit reports as well. It is essential for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to address this issue and establish comprehensive guidelines for all banks and NBFCs.

We hope the RBI will take the necessary steps to safeguard consumers' credit information and prevent unauthorised hard inquiries in the future.

hard enquiry happens with otp verification only, even agents are required to ask otp.

you can stop banks doing soft enquiries unless you are having any finanacial credit lines from bank, We need mail grievance for this.

 

[shrirang]

This is true not only for Credit Cards.

For my IDBI home loan, 6 hard credit enquiries were made ranging across quarters without my consent.

When I raised the issue, those people have no idea who did that!

 

[NikunjP]

Hard inquiry was made for me without applying any card. This needs to be regulated.

 

[nrb]

This is needed for sure. Some explicit permission from the consumer before these hard pull can proceed.

 

[abhishek0882]

The hard CIBIL pull is a menace. But it is part of a much larger problem I feel, which is the root cause, and leads to not just this problem, but to many other problems.

The whole thing about credit, whether cards or any other loans is so shady. I do not understand why criteria has to be different based on the discretion of certain bank staff. Why can the criteria not be completely transparent and on a simple system of fulfilling a few criteria and anyone who fulfils a criteria is eligible and anyone who doesn't, is not. If I need a credit card or a loan, why can't I just go to a bank website or a branch, upload/share documents (a standard set, not random documents asked by the staff on their whims, different for different people), click a button or sign the section in a form to approve CIBIL enquiry (where CIBIL score criteria is mentioned for approval of loan) and if score fall within that, credit card or loan should be granted.
Another issue is, how the CIBIL itself treats banks compared to customers. If there is ever a dispute over a CIBIL entry, CIBIL can never rule or act in favour of the customer until the bank agrees to correct the wrong entry, whatever evidence the customer may have. CIBIL is totally the banks' domain, and customers have to fight with the bank on different forums and then get justice and then fight with them once again to get banks to admit to the mistake to CIBIL and get it corrected there.

If the overall system is transparent, the onus of giving approval for CIBIL hits is with the customer else their application will not move forward - this menace will be reduced automatically. Also, CIBIL should be a platform for both banks and customers and not just banks. However, it is not ion the interest of banks to make the system transparent in favour of customers, because then they will lose the powers they have. How is this relevant to the thread, you may ask - think about it - if CIBIL also addressed the grievances of the customers and could reprimand or atleast remove the hard enquiry by any bank, which was done without approval from the customer, banks would not be able to continue doing it for too long.

 

[abhishek751]

I had sent a feedback email to RBI regarding a similar concern and got the following reply from them.

I don't think they would take any action though.

Their reponse is like a formality,
If one reads it carefully after they have acceseed the report wrongly, we should ask them to correct their, which they generally have no idea how it happened like its not their mistake or problem of the system. This generally can stretch to a month or two.
After they refuse then we can go to RBI ombudsman. After wasting time.

 

[Fintellect]

Regarding your SBI Card point, now they have changed their system. You need to provide OTP to agent for bureau access and that is mentioned in the OTP message itself. So no hard inquiry if you do not provide bureau access OTP to agent. I applied through an agent and my card was approved. During March the agent called again and was trying to fool me to apply once again to finish her targets. She said I will get double limit and another card. I firmly said no. She still went ahead and started a new application from her side and I got the OTP. She called me and asked for OTP saying that it is for verification purpose of my old card. But the OTP message clearly mentioned it is for bureau access for new application. So I denied sharing the OTP and then one month later I got rejection email of some SBI fuel card that I never applied. So at least we are safe from hard pull in SBI if agent makes new application using old information. Earlier there was no such safeguard. I think they changed after many complaints.

No Dear, Via one OTP they can apply many Cards. Especially SBI card team. I was agree with SBI Click but later I know 2Cards got applied by the Agent. Now SBI Card is not taking responsibility and I have decided to take them into Criminal Court. The agent said only sorry and accepted his mistake as he has targets, Due to 2hard enquiries my CIBIL score goes down 795 to 788.

 

[romilq]

No Dear, Via one OTP they can apply many Cards. Especially SBI card team. I was agree with SBI Click but later I know 2Cards got applied by the Agent. Now SBI Card is not taking responsibility and I have decided to take them into Criminal Court. The agent said only sorry and accepted his mistake as he has targets, Due to 2hard enquiries my CIBIL score goes down 795 to 788.

Totally false. One OTP is linked to one application only. And you will need to give another OTP for second application. And SBI Card did two inquiries for my single application too. That is how they work sometimes.

 

[Fintellect]

Totally false. One OTP is linked to one application only. And you will need to give another OTP for second application. And SBI Card did two inquiries for my single application too. That is how they work sometimes.

In case you don't know that I do work in Bank. Due to hectic work culture I could not able to share my story but soon I'll do. There is no need of OTP to do hard inquiries. L&T Financial Services, IIFL Loan, IDFC Bank LTD and some other institutions directly process loans and conduct inquiries. Case registered against L&T Financial Services too.