How Name Change Can Affect Your Credit Score?

Does a Name Change Affect Your Credit Score?_WC

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How Does a Name Change Affect Your CIBIL Score_WC

4 min 07 Jan 2024

Highlights:

Know if Changing Your Name Affects Your Credit Score
Steps to Take After Changing Your Name

When you apply for a loan, your lender enquires about your credit score to decide on the loan terms and conditions based on your CIBIL score. If you are applying for a Home Loan, it is advisable to have the required score of CIBIL for a Home Loan.

Your credit score is calculated based on the details in your credit report, such as your past loan repayment history, the number of loans you currently have, the number of loans you have applied for, and your credit utilisation ratio.

Apart from this, your credit report also contains personal information, such as your name, age, and address. This information helps credit bureaus to match the right credit report with the right person. It is, therefore, important to have accurate information on the credit report.

How Does Changing My Name Affect My CIBIL Score?

Changing your name does not have a direct impact on your CIBIL score. However, when you change your name, credit information agencies find it difficult to fetch the right report in case of a CIBIL score enquiry, in case you do not update your name in CIBIL’s record. This way CIBIL may not be able to fetch the correct credit data associated with you. This way your lender will not have enough information on you to decide on your loan application and may reject your loan application.

Also Read: 10 Reasons Why a Housing Loan Application May Be Rejected

What Should You Do After You Change Your Name?

If you have changed your name, the first step is to inform your lender so that they can update your records accordingly. The lender will then communicate these modifications to CIBIL, ensuring your credit report reflects your new name. This process may take some time, so it is advisable to notify your lender promptly after a name change.

Write to CIBIL to Speed Up the Process

If you want to speed up the process of having your name change reflected in your CIBIL score, instead of waiting for your lender to pass on the information to CIBIL, write to CIBIL yourself. To get your name changed in your CIBIL records, you can either write to CIBIL or raise a dispute with them. In either case, know that you will need to provide the following information in the letter you write to CIBIL or the CIBIL dispute form you fill out on their website.

Your full name
The name that is registered with your bank
Your complete address
If you have changed your name recently, you will need to provide legal documents with your new name.

After you have written to CIBIL, follow up with them regularly to make sure the changes are reflected in your report accurately and soon.

Check Your CIBIL Report Often

If you have changed your name, make it a point to check your credit score and credit report often to make sure all details in your CIBIL report are correct. Borrowers should, in general, check their CIBIL report at least once every six months for two reasons.

First, if on checking your credit score, you find out that your CIBIL score is low and would not help you qualify for any type of loan, you will need at least six months to take the required corrective measures and for these measures to reflect on your CIBIL score. Second, if you see any errors in your credit report or if you have changed your name recently, know that CIBIL will take at least a few weeks to months to rectify these errors or changes in your name and for these changes to reflect in your credit report.

Conclusion

If you have recently changed your name, notify your lender and CIBIL promptly to prevent any discrepancies in your credit records.

Also Read: Five Reasons Why a Low Credit Score Could Lead to Loan Rejection

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Frequently Asked Questions

A name change typically takes around 30 days to reflect on your CIBIL report, but it can sometimes take a few weeks to a couple of months depending on how quickly your lenders update their records and report the change to the CIBIL. You may need to follow up with CIBIL to monitor the process and ensure the update is complete.

To update your name in your CIBIL records, you should provide:

- Your updated legal name.

- Name registered with your bank

- Complete residential address

- Legal documents supporting the name change

To update your name, follow the steps given below:

Inform your lender about the name change and request an update in their records.
The lender will then pass this information to the respective credit bureau.
To speed up the process, you can directly write to the credit bureau or raise a dispute online.
Regularly check your CIBIL report to ensure the update has been processed.

Typically, the updated name takes a few weeks to months to reflect on the report.

A name change does not directly lead to missed payments or credit issues. However, failing to update your name with lenders and credit bureaus can cause confusion, potentially delaying loan approvals or credit checks due to mismatched records.

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