Complaints Against Credit Bureaus Quadruple in Three Years: RBI Ombudsman Report

Serious inaccuracies have been found in credit reports, leading to growing dissatisfaction amongst borrowers. This becomes evident by the fact that complaints against credit information companies have quadrupled in three years. This sharp increase comes at a time when the number of complaints handled by the Financial Ombudsman of India against banks, NBFCs, and digital payment companies is steadily on an upward trajectory.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) annual report on the Ombudsman came out on Monday. According to it, complaints about credit information companies increased from 1,039 in 2022-23 to 3,847 in 2023-24 and 4,585 in 2024-25. This is the fastest increase among all regulated entities. Many such complaints are on loans and advances. They account for over 84 per cent of complaints about credit information companies.

Total complaints filed with the Ombudsman increased to 2.95 lakh in 2024-25. These figures reflect the financial sector's struggle with a growing customer base, more refined products, and rising expectations for service accuracy. Banks continue to receive the highest number of complaints, with 241,601 complaints received in FY 2024-25. Similarly, cases related to deposit accounts accounted for 20.63% of all complaints. Credit card complaints increased by more than five percentage points over two years to 17.16%.

However, some categories saw some relief. Complaints related to ATM and debit cards declined from 14.56% to 7.47%. The report states that this decline may indicate a shift in behavior as more consumers are shifting from card-based transactions to digital payment systems. This is reducing friction in areas once known for customer dissatisfaction. Public sector banks received 103,117 complaints and private sector banks received 111,199 complaints.