Thread: credit report questions

I just did the free credit report from Experian and have some questions. First, in 2001, just after 9/11 and the Enron collapse, I was laid off from my IT position as the company I worked for closed its doors (a natural gas trading company in Houston). I was out of work for 15 months, and subsequently, two credit cards fell into collections.

On one, the bank supporting the card just closed without transferring or allowing transfers of the balances. It just put all its debtors to collections (nice, huh?). On the report, it shows the the balance and status as a Charge-off, and has a note saying "credit line closed-consumer request-reported by subscriber". Any idea what this means, and if it affects how I can deal with the debt?

On the second, we just fell behind on payments during that time. But I've noticed that the balance on it as gone up significantly (over $1700) since the last report I saw in 08. The bank the card was on has also since closed. Can they continue accruing interest or raising the balance like they are when it's in collections and the account is closed?

Also, finally, there is a listing for an old auto loan that shows as closed and listed as a Charge-off, but there is no balance. Should this still be showing on the report? Is it still being there affecting the score, and if so, how much?

Thanks for all the help.