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The RBI on Thursday rolled out new rules for strengthening the customer service rendered by Credit Information Companies and Credit Institutions.

The move comes as part of the RBI’s move to put "a comprehensive framework in place for strengthening and improving the efficacy of the grievance redress mechanism and customer service provided by the Credit Institutions (CIs) and Credit Information Companies (CICs)".

The RBI has directed CIs and CICs to implement the following:

*CICs shall 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 reflects in the CIR of the customer.

*CIs shall send alerts through SMS/ email to customers while submitting information to CICs regarding default/ Days Past Due (DPD) in existing credit facilities.

*CIs are advised to organise special awareness campaigns to sensitise their customers about benefits of submission of their mobile numbers/ email IDs.

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

*CIs shall undertake Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of the customer grievances at least on a half yearly basis. CIs shall also use, among others, information on data rejected by the CICs and Data Quality Index (DQI) provided by CICs as sources of information for carrying out RCA.

*CIs shall inform the customers 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.

*CICs shall have a board-approved policy for undertaking periodic review (at least on a half-yearly basis) of the 'Search & Match' logic algorithm implemented by them to provide Credit Information Report (CIR) of a borrower.

*CICs shall ingest credit information data received from the Credit Institutions (CIs) as per its data acceptance rules, into their databases within 7 calendar days of its receipt from the CIs.

*CICs shall disclose on their websites, details of complaints registered against them and CIs as per the given format.

*CICs shall provide easy access to Free Full Credit Report1 (FFCR) including credit score, once in 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 directions will come into effect 6 months from the date of this circular. CICs and CIs which contravene or default in adherence to the above directions shall be liable for penal action.