How to Remove Inquiry from CIBIL

If you are wondering how to remove inquiries from CIBIL, the answer is that you may not be able to. 

You can raise a dispute and rectify your CIBIL score, but you cannot remove a valid inquiry from your CIBIL report. 

This article will cover what can be removed and the steps to do so.

What is a CIBIL Inquiry?

Every time you apply for a loan, the lender runs a credit history check. It is referred to as a hard pull or a hard credit check, and this inquiry stays on your report for up to 2 years. So, if an inquiry is genuine, i.e., you applied for a loan and a lender ran a check, you cannot remove the entry. 

But if the inquiry was a soft one wherein you just to get an overview of your score, or you had checked your score, it doesn’t show on your score.

How to Remove Inquiry from CIBIL Report?

When you are checking your CIBIL score, there might be a possibility that you spot a hard inquiry that was not genuine. It might be a potential fraud, or an error on the side of the bureau. In such a case, you have the right to raise a dispute to get it removed from your history.

You can follow these steps to raise a dispute to remove an ingenuine inquiry from your CIBIL - 

STEP-1: Go to the official CIBIL website and create an account. If you already have an account, you can login using your credentials. 

STEP-2:  You will be able to see your report on the dashboard. Then go to ‘Credit Report’ → ‘Enquiry Information’. Here you will be able to see a list of all the enquiries on your CIBIL report.

STEP-3: Go through all enquiries carefully and spot the queries that were not authorized by you. Now click on the ‘Raise a Query’ button on the top right corner of the screen. 

STEP-4: Then click on the ‘Dispute an Item’ button. On the next screen that opens up, choose the ‘Enquiry Information’ option, because that is what you want to report in this case. 

STEP-5: You will see small check boxes beside the queries. Select the ones which were not authorized by you. Each time, the website will ask you to confirm if you want to dispute the selected item. Click on ‘Yes’. 

STEP-6: After selecting all the items you want to report, click on ‘Submit Dispute’. You will be redirected to a page which will contain the summary of all the disputes raised by you. 

Now CIBIL will get in touch with the specific bank or NBFC that had raised the disputed enquiry, and update the status. This process might take 45-50 days. 

Please note that you should only report those requests that you have not authorized. If you had applied for a loan and a lender had checked your CIBIL against the application, you cannot remove that enquiry from your CIBIL. 

How to Remove Negative Accounts from CIBIL Report?

Removing unauthorized enquiries from your CIBIL is one thing, but there also might be other things that are affecting your CIBIL score negatively. So read ahead to know how to remove negative accounts from CIBIL.

Here are some tips on what you can do in such cases - 

Make a Goodwill Request

Consider a situation wherein you have already paid your loan, but you were not punctual with your payments. In that case, the lender might have reported you negatively. 

In order to clear that from your CIBIL, and improve your score, wait till all your dues against that loan have been cleared. Then you can draft a letter to your lender explaining why your payments were delayed. 

You can make a polite request saying that you are a loyal customer, and you would be obliged if they could report you more favorably. While one cannot guarantee that all lenders will agree but it is worth a try.

Raise a Dispute

In case there is an error on the part of your lender, you can simply raise a dispute following the process mentioned in the previous section. If the lender has made a mistake, they will correct it as soon as possible. 

Please note that disputes may take up to 50 days to be investigated and acted upon.

Wait it Out

Your last option is to wait out the time it takes for the negative accounts to automatically stop impacting your credit score. 

In most cases it will take 1-2 years, and you can keep working on making timely payments during that time. 

Importance of a Good CIBIL Report

Having a good CIBIL score is essential if you want to take a big loan in the future. Here are a few advantages of a good CIBIL report - 

• Easy approval of loans

• Affordable interest rates

• Comfortable tenures

• No requirement of guarantor or co-signer

• No need of collateral

A good CIBIL score will help you avail a variety of loans at affordable interest rates. In order to build a good score, it is important to understand what aspects affect your CIBIL score in which way. 

Once you know, you will be able to rectify the mistakes or negative comments from your CIBIL. Please note that only unauthorized or potentially fraud enquiries can be removed from your CIBIL. You cannot drop the genuine enquiries that banks might have made before approving your loan.