CICs will join non-banking finance companies, commercial and co-operative banks under the purview of the scheme that was launched last year.
“This will provide a cost free alternate redress mechanism to customers of regulated entities for grievances against CICs. Further, with a view to strengthen the internal grievance redress of the CICs and to make it more efficient, it has also been decided to bring the CICs under the Internal Ombudsman (IO) framework,” the RBI said in
the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies.
Governor Shaktikanta Das said introduction of the ombudsman scheme has led to a reduction in the time taken to solve consumer problems and expressed hope that it will be a case with CICs as well.
Harshala Chandorkar, COO at TransUnion CIBIL, said her company is committed to implement regulatory directives.
Currently, consumers raise disputes through CICs’ websites, which is then routed to the credit institution from where the consumer has taken loan. CICs cannot make any changes to the data unless authorised by the credit institution concerned.
According to the scheme, a regulated entity will not have the right to appeal in cases where an award is issued by the ombudsman against it for not furnishing satisfactory and timely information or documents. The executive director-in charge of consumer education and protection department of RBI would be the appellate authority under the scheme.
Raj Khosla, CEO at MyMoneyMantra, said the scheme gives consumers a much needed option for redressal.
“There have been instances where information has been wrongly mentioned impacting credit scores. Then there are also serious issues concerning identity thefts. Consumers did not have much of an option other than approaching CICs and then waiting for a redressal. This move will quicken redressal with a neutral person being in charge under the RBI,” Khosla said.
