
as my loan applications are getting rejected
You need to apply for your credit report first and figure out what has gone wrong. If you are wrongly marked a defaulter, you need to fight it out. If you have a past settlement or default, you need to pay up with interest and get your credit report and record cleaned up.
Please understand, there are no short cuts to this. It is a serious business, because it means that you cannot get a credit card or a loan of any kind for as long as the default remains in your record.
And there are no quick fixes either. If you hear from companies that offer to fix your credit score for a fee or remove you from the defaulters list for a price, it is false.
It is to stop people getting cheated twice over that we have started this Credit Helpline. You can seek FREE counselling from our experts. But before that we urge you to spend some time reading the resources we have on our helpline to understand what is a credit score and what are the consequences. Here is the link http://www.freecredithelp.in/faq/
At present, we suggest you to check with a bank if you can get a secured credit card/loan against a FD. Asking your bank/lender to open a secured account, can be a good way to demonstrate you can manage your finances, which can lead to establishing a credit history and building strong credit scores, although it might not happen immediately. You can then check back on a regular basis to monitor your progress.
Also remember, do not make inquiries with several companies/lenders for loan, unless it is really needed, as this also affects your credit score.

Sucheta Dalal Trustee - Moneylife Foundation

Abhay Datar Abhay Datar is a consumer activist. After working at Bank of Baroda for about 29 years, he retired as IT Manager. After retirement, Mr Datar joined Consumer Guidance Cell of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) in 2008 and solved many cases related to banking including online fraudulent transactions, misuse of credit cards and ATM cards. Also handled cases related with mobile banking frauds and mediclaim. He was a Member of the Managing Committee of MGP till March 2021.

Shirish Shanbhag Shirish Shanbhag has an MSc in Organic Chemistry, Diploma in Higher Education, a Diploma in a French and has completed his LL.B. in first class, in 2021. Before his retirement, he was a junior college teacher at Patkar College from July 1980 to May 2012, where he taught theoretical and practical chemistry. Post retirement in 2012, he started providing guidance and counseling to people on several issues, with a specific focus on co-operative housing society related matters. Adv Shanbhag has a kee

Suresh Prabhu Mr Prabhu retired as Senior Vice President from HDFC Bank

R Bhuvaneswari After serving Bank of Baroda for almost 40 years, Ms Bhuvaneshwari retired as Chief Manager in 2013.

Yogesh Sapkale Yogesh Sapkale is Deputy Editor of Moneylife and writes on finance, credit related issues