How to test your credit score records for errors

If the bank does not approve the loan, although you have a good income and there are no delays, there may be factual errors in your credit history — they prevent the bank from evaluating you as a reliable borrower.  The good news is that these errors can be fixed. We tell you how to do it. How to test your credit score records for errors

 

Step 1. Request your credit history

 

Credit history — information about all your loans: where, when and how much you borrowed, whether you were a co-borrower or a guarantor, whether you paid the loan on time. Your credit score score relies upon in your credit score history. If it is high, then the probability of loan approval is also high. Moreover, the higher your rating, the higher the probability that the bank will approve the amount you requested.

 

This is what the credit rating looks like in the SberBank Online application. The rating is assigned not by the bank, but by the credit bureau in which your credit history is stored

There are two ways to find out your credit history:

Get a report to SberBank Online in a few minutes.

Or contact the credit bureaus that collect credit history data. This can be done for free twice a year. The list of bureaus is available on the Central Bank's website.

 

Step 2.Check your credit score records for errors

 

There are errors and false information in the credit history for various reasons. Fraudulent stories are known when attackers apply for a loan on someone else's passport or deceive gullible people. But most often they appear not because of malicious intent, but because of a software failure, technical delays or a human factor - someone's typo or inattention.

Most often, creditor banks make 4 types of mistakes that lead to the appearance of unreliable data in the credit history and affect future decisions of banks:

 

Step 3. Contact your bank or credit bureau

 

If you find an error, first of all double-check everything and make sure that this is really false information. Reliable data cannot be deleted — if you allowed delays, they will remain in your history. Only information that does not correspond to reality can be corrected. If someone under the guise of a lawyer, a police officer or a bank claims to help remove some data from your credit history, you are almost certainly a fraudster, since there is no way to remove reliable information from your credit history.

 

What is not considered a mistake

 

In your credit history, you can find information that, in your opinion, seems incorrect, but is not legally considered an error:

Not a fully closed loan. The borrower thought that he had closed the loan, but incorrectly calculated the accrued interest, so he underpaid a few rubles. Such a loan is considered open.

Delay due to inattention. The borrower made the next payment on the loan not 2-3 days before the scheduled payment date, but day in the evening at the very last moment. In such cases, the bank can transfer money to the account only the next day, which is why the delay is formed.

An open credit card. Once upon a time, the borrower took a credit card just in case, but did not use it. Despite the fact that it is gathering dust on the shelf, it is quite possible that such a credit card is considered valid and therefore increases your debt burden.

 

What to do if the error is real

You have two ways to fix it:

1. Apply to the bank — that is, to the lender who sent false information to the credit history bureau. Write a written statement of claim and state what information you think is incorrect. Ask them to fix it. The bank will either disagree with you by providing counterarguments, or admit the mistake and correct it in your credit history.

2. Contact the credit history bureau. In this case, the bureau itself will ask the lender to check and correct the information. Write an application and attach evidence to it — for example, a certificate of interest paid and the principal debt on the loan or an account statement for a certain period.  Certificates and statements are available in SberBank Online.

There is no single sample application, each BCI has its own requirements. Here are the sample statements of three popular BKI:

National Bureau of Credit Histories

BKI "Equifax"

United Credit Bureau

You can send a claim in person, by mail or by e-mail. The bureau will send a response within 30 days, and if you are right, the bank will remove the error and inform you about it. After that, the information in the bureau will be updated within 10 days. If your history is stored in several bureaus, then you will have to correct errors everywhere.

Which is better — to contact the bank or the bureau?

In fact, the effectiveness of both methods is approximately the same, since the decision on whether to correct the information or not is still made by the lender. But solving the problem through the bank directly will often be faster.

What to do so that there are no mistakes in the credit history

Check your credit history at least twice a year. That's when it's especially worth doing it:

before applying to the bank for a loan,

2-3 weeks after the full repayment of the loan, to make sure that the loan is completely closed,

if you suspect that your personal data could fall into the hands of fraudsters. For example, after the loss or theft of a passport, sending copies or photos of their documents. Briefly: how to test your credit score records for the absence of errors

1. Request your credit score records. This can be done at Sber Bank Online or at your credit history bureau.