If you have more than one PAN number, get them cancelled or else you could be charged a fine of Rs 10,000
Has your application for a credit card or loan been rejected? One reason could be because you have two PAN cards against your name. This is because lenders see this as a leading indicator of fraud and hence, don’t want to engage with customers.
PANs in 11,46,796 cases were deleted or deactivated where multiple PANs were found allotted to one person, according to a reply filed in response to a question raised in the parliament, in July 2017.
If an individual who has misplaced his existing PAN card and applied for a new one, gets a new PAN number, it is a genuine mistake. But since records will show that you have two PAN numbers, it rings alarm bells for lenders. As per government rules, one cannot apply for a credit card unless one has a PAN card.
“We do come across cases of customers who try to create a new identity by using a new PAN number in order to apply for loans or credit cards. They do this in order to get over their past credit history which may be bad,’’ a private sector bank retail lending head said.
Impact of duplicate PAN cards
While applying for a new PAN number the individual may change the name by one initial or the date of birth by one day or one year in order to get a new PAN number and create a new identity.
“It is very easy to get a PAN card today. So, we reject cases of dual PAN cards unless the customer comes to us and says it is an error because it is a crime to hold two PAN numbers’’ a bank official said.
Vaishali Kasture, country head, Experian India, also agrees that data on duplicate PAN cards and PAN number inconsistencies have been a constant fraud trend.
“Out of all the cases where lenders have declined applications due to fraudulent reasons, we have seen around 8.5% of them being rejected as the applicant data is mapped to multiple PAN cards. This value increases to about 12% for loans amounting over Rs 50,000. The key purpose of the fraudsters in such situations is that they circumvent the existing systemic checks that are done primarily before approving a loan,’’ she said.
Holding multiple PAN cards usually do not have an impact on the individual’s credit score or history as the latter is connected to the performance of the loan disbursed and does not include any fraudulent information hence is difficult to detect. Thus, for detection of this type of fraud, the traditional checks will not be able to spot multiple PAN ownership cases as they are not equipped to run multiple checks across parameters on applications wherein such cases are detected. For detecting these types of frauds multiple rounds of checks would be essential, which only credit bureaus are able to do with their specialised fraud detection services.
An individual who has defaulted on his earlier loans or credit card payments will have poor credit score and history and will find it difficult to get a new loan. Such an individual can create a duplicate identity by getting a new PAN card. This becomes an intentional fraud, said Anubhav Jain, co-founder and head of risk, Quebera, an online lending platform.
“When we run our loan and credit applications through credit bureaus and discover a case of dual PAN card, we find that most of these cases have a history of default. So we reject them. And given that we incur cost on acquiring customers, it is a huge expense for us,’’ Jain said.
What to do
If you are applying for a new PAN card to replace your earlier one, make sure you apply for a duplicate card and not a new one. This will ensure that the same PAN number is issued. If you have more than one PAN number, get them cancelled or else you could be charged a fine of Rs 10,000.
HOW TO CANCEL DUPLICATE PAN CARD
- Fill form 49A for “Change or Correction in PAN’, mention PAN number to be cancelled
- Submit this to the NSDL office along with a letter to the IT assessing officer of your respective jurisdiction
- Mention details as per your PAN card-full name, date of birth, details of PAN to be retained and of those of the duplicate one to be cancelled
- Also, submit a copy of the PAN to be cancelled
- Get an acknowledgement from the assessing officer
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "PAN card")
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}