How to fix a wrong loan-app entry on your credit report

Written and verified by the Grahak Mitra research team — an independent project documenting digital consumer self-help in India.

Last updated: 2026-07-11

If a loan app reported a loan or default to the credit bureaus that is wrong, disputed, or never yours — and it is dragging down your credit score — you can dispute it. You raise the correction two ways in parallel: through the credit bureau's official dispute process, and with the lender that reported the entry. The RBI's credit-information framework requires lenders and bureaus to report accurately and to run a dispute-resolution mechanism, and if it stays unresolved you can escalate to the RBI Ombudsman.

A wrong entry on a credit report is fixable through a defined process — this page walks it in order. It does not require paying anyone, and you do it directly with the bureau, the lender, and, if needed, the RBI.

What the rules require

Under the RBI's credit-information framework, the lenders that report your loans and the credit bureaus that hold your report must keep the information accurate and must give you a way to dispute what is wrong. The exact steps and the timeline for handling a dispute are set by that framework — check the linked RBI source for the current detail rather than relying on a figure quoted second-hand. What matters here is that a dispute mechanism exists by right, and you are entitled to use it.

How to dispute a credit-report entry — in order

1. Get your credit report and find the exact entry. You are entitled to check your own credit report. Get a copy from the credit bureau — every bureau provides your report, and you request it on the bureau's own official site — and pin down the specific wrong entry: which lender, which loan, which amount or "default", and the date. Note the details exactly; your dispute names this entry.
2. Raise a dispute through the credit bureau's official dispute process. Every credit bureau runs an official dispute process — find it on the bureau's own site — where you flag the entry as incorrect and submit your explanation and evidence. This is the standard route to get an entry investigated and, if it is wrong, corrected.
3. Raise it with the lender too. In parallel, complain to the lender that reported the entry, in writing, through its grievance channel — the lender is the one that sent the data to the bureau, so its correction is what ultimately updates the report. Describe the entry, say why it is wrong or disputed, and attach your evidence.
4. Keep every record. Save your dispute reference numbers, dates, the report copy showing the wrong entry, and every acknowledgement. A dispute is only as strong as what you can show, and the records are what you escalate with.
5. Escalate to the RBI Ombudsman if it is not resolved. If the lender or bureau does not fix a genuine error through their own process, escalate to the RBI Integrated Ombudsman (cms.rbi.org.in) for a grievance against a regulated lender or credit bureau. If the app itself was an illegal or abusive lender, also report it to RBI Sachet (sachet.rbi.org.in).

Where to raise what

What a dispute can, and cannot, do

Be realistic about the outcome: correcting a credit-report entry is a process with a timeline set by the framework, not a guaranteed instant removal — and a genuinely-owed debt will not simply vanish because you dispute it. What the framework does guarantee you is the right to have a wrong or disputed entry investigated and corrected if it is indeed wrong. So a real, outstanding loan you took stays on the report; but a mistaken entry, a loan that was never yours, or an entry from an illegal app can be disputed and, on a correct finding, fixed. Keep your records, follow the steps, and give the process the time the framework allows.

Two more things worth knowing

If the app that put the entry there is also harassing you over the debt, remember the conduct limits: a lender or its agents cannot threaten you or shame your contacts — see the recovery-agent rules and how to complain. And to work out whether the lender was ever legitimate in the first place, see how to check if a loan app is legal.