Prajna Capital - An Investment Guide

If in a dispute over repayment with your lending or credit card-issuing bank, can you be forced to pay up or else face an entry of your refusal in Cibil database? Borrowers must know that loan and credit card repayment details are passed on by banks to a centralised body, Credit Information Bureau India ( Cibil ). This information — both positive and negative — plays a vital role in determining whether a borrower’s future loan applications get accepted or rejected. As a pointer to a disturbing phenomenon, a senior official at the banking ombudsman says such ‘arm-twisting’ tactics are not unheard of. A Delhi resident who formally discontinued his credit card in December 2005 and thus refused to pay the annual maintenance fee of Rs 826, says he was harassed by the card-issuing bank since. Not only did the card-issuing bank fail to reverse the charges, it kept levying latepayment fees, which over the years totalled Rs 3,500. In April this year, he received a call from a bank executi...