@ldog70 wrote:Hi! I am new here and just wondering my wife and i have a bankruptcy that is just about a year old(discharged in June '13). My regular Transunion score is 640. I reaffirmed my car loan and have had good payments with it. So we did some car shopping. WOW!! I was FLOORED when i was told my Transunion FICO was only 543. WHY?? I was also told that my car i kept in the bankruptcy was considered existing dept not new dept. So i wasted almost a year thinking that keeping payments made on my current car would help recover our scores. NOPE!! So i took out a small personal loan for one year. Now i hear taking on a credit card is the best way to improve. But i get different stories from paying off the balance every month to keeping 10-15% on the card at all times and making minimum payments. I have also heard that if i take on a secured card or even an unsecured card with a ridiculous annual fee then cancel it in a year or two once my score has improved will kill my credit again. I need some advice. I would like to try and buy a new car soon, but i refuse to be HUMILIATED like i was a few weeks ago until i can fix this. Please help.
Welcome to MyFICO! 
Sounds like you are getting information from other sources and not here (yet). Some of the information you have been provided is just flat out wrong. You know how the internet can be, sometimes it is difficult to determine which source is accurate and which is telling you info for their own benefit.
For example: credit scoring models. There are all kinds of scores out there today that are NOT the scores lenders use to determine your credit worthiness. TransUnion has a bunch of scores that they sell to consumers under different names. The score that is available here is a FICO score, but many scores sold (or provided free) are not FICO scores. Read the stickies here in this thread so you get a good handle on scores: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Frequently-Requested-Threads/td-p/19320
The score that the auto dealer pulled was probably an auto enhanced score so it would be lower if you have recently come through bankrupty.
Did you reaffirm the auto loan in your BK?
To maximize your credit score you want to have all of your balances on each card report zero except for one cc - and it should report less than 9% of the credit line.
If you have a cc that you keep and pay ontime for a couple of years and then close it in good standing it actually stays in good standing for 10 more years on your report. It helps you. It doesn't hurt your score.
Stay away from Lexington. The fact that they told you they could get the Bk off your report should indicate to you that they will tell you anything to get you into paying a monthly fee to them 
As far as the preditory cards, when they say it takes 4 to 8 days to process it means that if you have a $500 limit card and use $250 and then send in a $250 payment. The payment will show right away on your account but that part of the credit line won't be released to you for use again until 4 to 8 days.
I'm not suggesting using a preditory card. That's why I posted the How to link in my previous response to you. It gives you specifics on how to rebuild.
Stay away from Lexington.