Gujarat man appeals court over wrongly lowered CIBIL score

A man from Gujarat has gone to the high court after his credit score dropped because of a name mix-up with a loan guarantor. The Gujarat High Court has now sent a notice to a cooperative bank in Rajkot and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regarding this issue. The man, Pravinbhai Mohanbhai Rathod, was wrongly sent notices demanding payment for loans he did not guarantee. These notices were meant for another individual with a similar name who had defaulted on payments. Rathod had several notices sent to him between February and October 2019, despite never agreeing to be a guarantor for those loans. In July 2019, Rathod contacted the bank to clarify the situation. In August of the same year, the bank admitted it had made a mistake and confirmed that another person with a similar name was the actual guarantor. They promised to correct the issue so that Rathod would not be troubled again. Despite this admission, Rathod's credit score fell significantly over the years. His score, previously above 750, dropped to 486 by January 2025. He attempted to rectify his score with the bank but received no assistance. This affected Rathod’s ability to secure a loan for self-employment, as lenders considered his low credit score. Now, Rathod has appealed to the high court to order the bank to fix his credit score and to investigate the bank's error. The court, led by Justice Aniruddha Mayee, has scheduled a further hearing for April 11.