A good score hid a broken report — 15 accounts that weren't hers.

By Supraja, Sr. Credit Analyst, Kenstone Credit.

Background

Jyothi Lakshmi Venkatesh, from Bengaluru, approached Kenstone Credit after a distressing experience at her bank. She had gone in simply to revise the Rate of Interest on an active loan — a routine request. But when the banker pulled her credit report, he told her that despite a good credit score, a written-off account made revising the ROI impossible.

She was shocked — she had never defaulted on a loan in her life. That contradiction, a good score alongside a written-off account she didn't recognise, is exactly the signal that a report has been corrupted by someone else's data. She reached out the same day.

What I found

The problem was far larger than one account. Her report carried serious data-mismatch issues: the name, driving licence, mobile number and email ID on it did not match her actual details. And around fifteen accounts on her report did not belong to her at all. This was identity contamination, not delinquency — someone else's credit trail had merged into her profile, and the written-off account the banker saw was simply the piece that surfaced first.

My approach

I raised a dispute with CIBIL immediately, then did what a mismatch case demands but a single-account dispute doesn't: reviewed all four bureaus, because contaminated data rarely sits on just one. That check was justified — Experian, too, carried several accounts incorrectly reflecting on her profile. I approached the bureaus directly and escalated wherever necessary, so fifteen-plus disputes moved rather than stalling in a queue.

The result

Why this case matters

A good credit score can hide a broken report. Jyothi's score was fine; her report was contaminated with a stranger's accounts and mismatched identity details, and it took a specific, disqualifying event — a blocked ROI revision — for it to surface. Anyone can be affected, and it is fixable: the accounts that aren't yours can be disputed off, across every bureau they've spread to. Reviewing all four bureaus rather than only the one that flagged the problem is what makes the correction complete. Published with the client's written consent.

0:53

This is the second time I've used their services — once again, extremely happy.

Jyoti

Returning client · thanks Supraja