Equifax Equifax Credit Reporting Bureau WILL NOT RAISE MY CREDIT SCORE ABOVE 580 EVEN AFTER I PAID OFF SEVERAL LOANS AND CREDIT CARDS!! Atlanta, Georgia

The "evil" credit reporting agencies have an entire floor in their office building dedicated to people who do nothing more than put in random numbers for people's credit score.   But in all seriousness..there is obviously something up with your credit.  What that could be..well unfrotunatly only you know that answer.

Have you done anything but look at your score?  Have you actually looked at your Credit Report?   If not this is the first thing you need to do.

Is anything in your Credit Report incorrect?  If so, you have the legal right to have it corrected.

If it is correct then what negatives do you have on your credit?

If you have any active collection accounts those are probably doing you the most damage(next to the BK).  You could pay off every "good" card and loan, but if you leave even one collection account with a balance you could easily loose 100-150 points in your score.  Even a collection account with zero balance could lower your score.

Do you have late payments(30+days), if so those can be a negative and if they are consistent it could keep your score down.

Those are just two of probably more than a dozen different factors that together could cause your score to be what it is.

Then of course if you still think they are just picking and choosing who to give the "good" scores to.  Then why not ask your friend how he got them to give him his score of 688.  Perhaps he can give you a tip or two..or may even give you his contact who he bribes to give him a better score.