ALL ABOUT CREDIT SCORES

PRAPHUL KUMAR was in for the shock of his life. While casually checking his credit score one day, he saw it at a low 650, instead of his usual score of 870. That set alarm bells ringing. “I dug in and read through the credit report, and found there are loans running [in my name]. I never applied for these loans. They were given without my consent and knowledge. My personal details such as date of birth and address were also not valid,” says the 33-year-old Pune-based businessman, adding that his PAN card details were used to obtain the loan. The amounts were small—₹5,000 and ₹56,000—but they hit his credit score, and impacted his credit profile.

Kumar isn’t alone. Bollywood actors Rajkumar Rao and Sunny Leone also tweeted that their PAN details were used by a third party to take loans