My question has to do with 2 closed accounts on my Equifax credit report. The accounts are student loans from the US Dept of Education that are carrying balances of $6700 and $2900 each. Both accounts say “student loan assigned to government collection account” and I am 95% sure I have paid them off through collections. My Transunion report shows all accounts closed with zero balance, including my Dept of Education accounts. I believe that I have paid what I owe through collections and that the Equifax report should show my 2 Dept of Education accounts as closed with zero balance. Is there any reason why one report would show zero balance across the board and the other would have 2 still showing a balance even though they are closed? Is a closed account with a balance going to continue to hurt my credit as I work on the rebuilding process, or since they are closed should I ignore them and focus solely on doing everything I can to restore my credit. At this point I have no more debt and would like to get a secure credit card to begin the healing process. Any sound advice would be greatly appreciated.