To improve your CIBIL score, it is important to know and understand the various terms that are associated with your CIBIL report. Before knowing the ways to remove the ‘Written Off’ status from your report, we need to first understand what the “Written Off” status actually means in a credit report.
What is the Written Off status in your CIBIL report?
A ‘Written Off’ status in the CIBIL Report is displayed when a borrower has not been able to pay-off the outstanding loan amount for more than 180 days. This status on the CIBIL report can negatively impact the borrower’s CIBIL score and eventually may result in the rejection of loan or credit card application. Therefore, to avoid any future complications, you need to check Credit Score online on a regular basis for errors, as well as put effort to remove ‘Written Off’ status form your CIBIL report at the earliest. Below-mentioned are the simple steps to clear your ‘Written Off’ status from your CIBIL report:
How to clear Written Off status from your CIBIL report?
You need to follow these simple steps to remove the ‘Written Off’ status from your CIBIL report:
Step 1: Request a copy of your CIBIL report from the TransUnion CIBIL to check whether the ‘Written Off’ status is correct or not by checking the number of open accounts, whether they belong to you. Sometimes the accounts that you have closed may read as ‘Written Off’ in your CIBIL report.
Step 2: If the status is incorrect and you have a grievance, then make sure you have appropriate proof to raise a complaint with the respective credit bureau.
Step 3: Next step is to contact your lender and request them to resolve the error or clear the status. Before contacting your lender, you should be well prepared with the evidence to support your complaint.
Step 4: If there are any outstanding dues with the lender, then settle them in full and ask your lender to share the update with the TransUnion CIBIL.
Step 5: Post clearing all the outstanding dues with the lender, ask them to provide you with a No-Objection-Certificate (NOC).
Step 6: If your lender denies providing you with NOC, then go ahead to file a complaint with CIBIL via Consumer Dispute Resolution Process by filling an online form at CIBIL’s official website.
Step 7: Lastly, you need to regularly check the status of your complaint that might get resolved within a few working days. CIBIL may take up to 30 days to resolve your complaint from the date of filed complaint.
Once your complaint is resolved by CIBIL, the ‘Written Off’ status shall be removed from your CIBIL report for the next month and so on. Also, note that CIBIL’s online dispute resolution process is free of charge for its customers.
Note: TransUnion CIBIL is not associated with any credit repair company. A credit repair service cannot remove or edit any information in your CIBIL credit information report directly.
Difference between CIBIL Report Status – ‘Closed’, ‘Settled’ & ‘Written Off’
Knowing the difference between these common terms used in your CIBIL report shall help you in maintaining a healthy credit report by correcting discrepancies or errors, if any.
Closed
If there is any date mentioned in the ‘Closed’ section of your CIBIL report, which signifies that the loan has been closed by the lender. This status further signifies that you have already fully paid-off your loan and the respective bank has marked it as ‘Closed’ in your CIBIL report.
Settled
Settled status implies that you have partially paid the loan amount and the corresponding loan account is marked as settled by the lender. This depicts that you weren’t able to pay-off the loan in full and have done a settlement with the bank due to your inability to repay on actual terms. Settled status leaves a negative impact on your CIBIL report.
Written-Off
If you are unable to repay the outstanding loan amount for more than 180 days, then the lender notifies your loan account as NPA or non-performing asset and is forced to ‘Write-Off’ the balance amount. It signifies that you didn’t make the repayment of existing loan and thus would pose a high risk to lenders if offered credit in future as well. This heavily affects your CIBIL score and further makes it difficult for you to avail loans or credit cards from potential lenders because of loan default(s).
Things to consider
There could be instances when you are penalised without any fault of yours. Similarly, if your ‘Written Off’ status is not cleared at the earliest, it can become a hindrance in your loan approval process, as this status shall substantially lower your CIBIL score. The only way out to clean the ‘Written Off’ status is by clearing all your past dues and asking the lender to provide you with an NOC and further to update the credit bureau regarding the same. The best remedy to remain credit fit is by following a disciplined credit behaviour and checking your CIBIL report regularly for errors and getting them resolved to improve your credit score to secure your financial future.