A momentous moment in India’s retail lending history has just been ushered in very quietly.

A few days ago, Credit Information Bureau of India Ltd (Cibil), the only fully operational credit bureau in India, quietly introduced a manual system to provide consumers with their own credit history on a test basis.

A written communication from Cibil to Apna Paisa has clarified that “Cibil has started offering consumer disclosures through an interim solution. This interim solution is a testing phase and we will be able to operationalise the full-fledged consumer relations system basis our learning from this phase.

In this interim phase Cibil will be manually handling consumer requests for a copy of their credit information report. Cibil is also developing the infrastructure, systems and processes for an automated solution that would be needed to enable an individual direct access to their credit reports from Cibil online. The consumer relations system will have world-class features that will allow consumers to access their report online and banks to respond to errors via an online maintenance tool. The automated phase is expected to be ready by the beginning of next fiscal year”.

So what makes this a momentous occasion? Cibil is one of four credit bureaus licensed by the RBI under the Credit Information Companies Regulations Act, 2005 (CICRA). Cibil, though, is the only one that already been operational for around a decade now and has the credit repayment history of around 13.7 crore loans or credit cards.

Almost all of the major lenders provide details of the credit facilities given by them to their customers as well as the amounts that have fallen due and the repayment made by the customers on a periodical basis (monthly or quarterly). Cibil collates and aggregates this information.

Thus when a customer (say, Promod Desai) approaches any bank (say, Bank of Bharat) for a credit facility, Cibil is in a position to go through its records and provide details of the existing credit facilities enjoyed by Desai to Bank of Bharat, as well as his repayment history on such facilities.

This enables Bank of Bharat to take a more informed decision on Desai’s credit application since it now has access to credible third-party information on Desai’s existing obligations as well as his repayment history. It also benefits Desai if he has maintained a spotless repayment history, since he is able to get the credit facility quickly and cheaper based on his good record.

Of course, if Desai’s earlier repayment history is not so good, he will find it difficult (and more expensive) to get the credit facility.

A large number of consumers today feel helpless about erroneous repayment history being reported by the banks to Cibil showing the consumer in default even where the so called “outstanding payment” is in dispute. This is highest in the case of credit cards.

Now that he can have access to his own report, the consumer can point out any errors in the report to Cibil who are, under the CICR Act, required to notify the concerned bank. The erroneous entry will have to be deleted by Cibil unless the concerned bank reverts within 30 days of the consumer filing his error report with the bureau.

If the consumer is not satisfied with the action of the bank in this regard, he can always file a grievance before the banking ombudsman.

Thus, by having access to their own credit report, good consumers can ensure that they do not fall victim to erroneous reporting by the banks. At the same time, consumers who delay payment for any reason will have to pay the price for such delays.

Good consumers who pay their installments will stop subsidising the consumers who delay payments. At a future point of time, Cibil may even share their proprietary credit score with the consumers.

This score predicts a customer’s likelihood of becoming a defaulter after 91 days and within the next year. Higher the score, fewer the chances that the consumer will default.
For your own credit report from Cibil, you can download the form available on the Apna Paisa website at CIBIL.pdf.

I have applied to Cibil too. Now I’m awaiting my own credit report.

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System images are exact images of the drive that Windows is installed on and are used by Windows 7’s Backup and Restore tool. You can read more about Windows 7’s Backup and Restore in my Backup and Restore in Windows 7 – What it should have been in Vista! and Restoring Files with Backup and Restore in Windows 7 articles. A system image includes Windows and system settings, programs and files. You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer, or the drive that Windows is installed on, if your hard drive or computer ever stops working. When you restore your computer from a system image, it is a complete restoration and you can’t choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced. Restoring Windows 7 systems with System images and Backup and Restore tool is also addressed in an future article which I am working on.

Note: Although this type of backup includes your personal files, remember that because of the fact that they cannot be used to restore individual items to restore, I strongly recommend that you regularly back up your files using the Backup and Restore.

Note: If you have more than one drive or partition on your computer, a system image is only made of the drive or partition that Windows is installed on.

Note: Remember, Windows 7 is still under development. The version I’m working with to grab screenshots from is beta build 7000, and things might (and probably will) change by RTM comes along.

Open Backup and Restore by going to the Control Panel and typing “backup” in the search box. One of the results will lead you to it.

You can also type “backup” on the Start Menu search box, and again, one of the results will lead you to it.

You can also run the following command from the Run or search box option:

sdclt.exe

Naturally, you’d want to perform a manual or scheduled backup of files and folders on your computer. So when you set up a backup by using the Backup and Restore tool, you can let Windows choose what is backed up or you can select the individual folders and drives that you want to back up.

Read more about this in my Backup and Restore in Windows 7 – What it should have been in Vista! article.

Note: If the destination drive is formatted using the NTFS file system and has enough disk space, a system image of your programs, Windows, and all drivers and registry settings will automatically be included in the backup.

However, this article is about working with System Image backups, so we’ll click on the “Create an Image Backup” link on the left hand side of the Backup and Restore tool.

Backup and Restore will look for a backup destination. Read more about this in my Disk Considerations when using Windows 7 Backup and Restore article.

Choose your backup destination and press Next.

Read and confirm your settings by clicking on the “Start Backup” button.

Creation of the system image will begin, and you’ll notice the progress bar.

Note: Unlike regular file and folder backups with Backup and Restore, a System Image uses a VHD file type for the backup media.

When finished, you’ll get a confirmation window.

Next, make sure you safely keep this backup, you’ll need it in case your computer stops working and you decide to restore it. Read my upcomoing “Restoring Windows 7  Systems with System Images and Backup and Restore” article for more information.

Note: You can also create a System Recovery Disk for use when the system is so badly messed that it cannot boot even in safe mode. More on that in a separate article.

Following my Backup and Restore in Windows 7 – What it should have been in Vista! article, I would like to walk you through the steps needed to restore files or folders from a previous backup created by the new Windows 7 Backup and Restore tool.

In Windows 7 (currently in beta phase, build 7000), the Vista’s Backup Status and Configuration tool is replaced by a tool called “Backup and Restore”. You can access it by going to the Control Panel and typing “backup” in the search box. One of the results will lead you to it.

You can also type “backup” on the Start Menu search box, and again, one of the results will lead you to it.

You can also run the following command from the Run or search box option:

sdclt.exe

(insert in text box)

The Backup and Restore tool will open.

If you’ve already created a backup previously, you’ll see the “Restore my files” button. You can restore individual files, multiple files, or all files in a backup.

Lamer note: There’s no real point in trying to restore files from an un-existing backup, is there? Make sure you regularly backup your files, settings and folders, otherwise you will not be able to restore them when you need to. Duh…

If you have more than one backup, you can select which backup media you wish to restore from by pressing on the “Selecting another backup to restore files from” link.

Going back to business, to restore your files, click “Restore files”, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

To restore the files of all users, click the “Restore all users’ files” link, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

Note: You might be prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

In the Restore files window, you can select one of 3 options:

1.    Browse for files – to manually choose specific files to restore. When you do, you can browse through the contents of the backup media, and in the right-pane of the window you can click to select any file that you see. This file or files will be restored.

2.    Browse for folders – to manually restore specific folders and everything in them. When you do, you can browse through the contents of the backup media, and in the right-pane of the window you can click to select any folder that you see. This folder will be restored.

3.    Search – to manually search for and select specific files and file types. Type in a file name or file extension and click on the “Search” button. All files that meet your search criteria will be displayed, and you can manually select one or more of them.

Prior to selecting the file I needed to restore, the original folder looked like this:

Now, I pressed Next.

I was prompted to select my restore destination. I chose the original location.

Pressing the Restore button resulted in a short delay. After all, I chose to only restore one small file.

The result is that my missing file was restored to the original location.