The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked credit information companies (CICs) to send alerts through SMS or email to customers when their credit information report (CIR) is accessed by credit institutions (CIs), wherever mobile number or email ID details of the customers are available.

Further, such alerts should also be sent by CIs (including banks, non-banking finance companies, housing finance companies, and credit card companies) when they submit information to CICs regarding default or Days Past Due (DPD) in existing credit facilities.

RBI said the alerts should be sent by CICs only when the CIR inquiry reflects in the CIR of the customer.

CIs are required to inform the customers of the reasons for the rejection of their request for data correction, if any, to enable such customers to better understand the issues in the CIR, per the RBI’s circular on strengthening customer service rendered by CIs and CICs.

“A list of reasons for rejection of requests shall be circulated by CICs to all CIs. CIs shall use the same while communicating the rejections of the requests for data correction made by customers/ CICs during the grievance redress process,” RBI said.

Free Full Credit Report

The central bank asked CICs to provide easy access to the Free Full Credit Report (FFCR), including credit score, once a year (January–December) to individuals whose credit history is available with the CIC by displaying the link prominently on their website (on the Home page itself) so that individuals are able to access their FFCR conveniently.

The central bank has modified the Uniform Credit Reporting Format for reporting credit information by CIs to CICs to enable the sending of alerts through SMS or email.

RBI advised CIs to organise special awareness campaigns to sensitise their customers about the benefits of submitting their mobile numbers or email IDs.

CIs are required to have a dedicated nodal point or official point of contact for CICs for the redress of customer grievances. Details of the nodal point or official, along with the email ID and telephone or mobile number, shall be furnished by CIs to CICs.

The RBI directed CIs to undertake root cause analysis (RCA) of customer grievances at least on a half-yearly basis. CIs should also use, among others, information on data rejected by the CICs and the Data Quality Index (DQI) provided by CICs as sources of information for carrying out RCA.

The analysis of the RCA has to be reviewed by the top management of CIs, at least on an annual basis.