Your PAN Card may be linked to unknown loan accounts! This user's experience may shock you

How would you feel when suddenly finding that there are several bank loan accounts linked to your PAN card? Surprised? Shocked? Whatever you may feel, but a user literally felt these after learning his PAN was linked to three SBI loan accounts even as he had not borrowed from the bank! 

The Income Tax Department has been asking taxpayers to link their PAN Card with Aadhaar before March 31. With strict criteria in place for loan eligibility, the PAN card has gained more importance than ever. However, there are chances that your PAN or Aadhaar may get misused by others. 

While you may check the usage history of your Aadhaar online, there isn't any such provision available for PAN card usage history. You should know that the misuse of your PAN may affect your credit score. In a surprising case, an SBI account holder discovered to his shock that three unknown active loan accounts were linked to his PAN even as he had never borrowed from the bank.

How did the person find it?

The SBI account holder generated his credit score using Paytm and was surprised to see three loan accounts linked to his PAN.

"Used Paytm new option of finding credit score and out of nowhere three unknown loan accounts of @TheOfficialSBI are linked with my pan card!! This is bizzare. What to do now @TheOfficialSBI ???????," the user tweeted in his bewilderment. 

The bank looked into the matter and de-linked the loan account from the user's PAN card after reviewing the complaint. 

How did it happen?

There may be a number of reasons behind it. However, at first, it looks like a case of negligence, fraud and misuse of someone's document. 

How to check whether your PAN has been misused?

For this, you will have to generate your credit score using any service provider. While CIBIL charges a fee for generating your credit score, there are several other platforms which help you get your credit details for free. Once you have your credit history, you can check all the details of financial transactions linked to your PAN.

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How to be safe?

You should not share your documents like PAN, Aadhaar with unknown persons. If you do, cross mark the document and write the purpose for which you are sharing it. Also, you should keep a track your credit history every quarter. If you find any suspicious transactions linked to it, report it to your bank