MUMBAI: Consolidating its guidelines on credit information reporting in a master circular, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has instructed credit information companies (CICs) to notify customers when their credit information reports (CIRs) are accessed. Additionally, it has made it mandatory for credit institutions (CIs), such as banks and non-banking financial companies, to provide reasons when rejecting data correction requests from individuals.
In the master circular issued on Monday, the RBI has consolidated the various instructions issued to banks and other financial institutions on reporting of the credit information of their customers. According to the new master direction, CICs will have to send alerts through SMS/email to customers when their credit information report (CIR) is accessed by the specified users.
"The alerts shall be sent by CICs only when the CIR enquiry is reflected in the CIR of the customer," said the central bank. Also, credit institutions, which include banks and non-banking financial companies, will have to inform customers the reasons for rejecting their request for data correction, if any, to enable such customers to better understand the issues in the CIR, the circular said.
"Complainants shall be entitled to a compensation of Rs 100 per day in case their complaint is not resolved within a period of 30 calendar days from the date of the initial filing of the complaint," the RBI said.
The objective for issuing the master direction is aimed at establishing a standardised framework for reporting and dissemination of credit information; safeguard the confidentiality and security of sensitive credit data; among others, it added.