@tufa4311 wrote:I called back and dug a little deeper and I'm told that they use the FICO High Risk score - isn't that just the technical name for the FICO 08?
No such animal to my knowledge; ask them what the score range is, as if it's FICO we should be able within reason to pinpoint it explicitly.
@tufa4311 wrote:You know, first I find out that my mortgage broker won't be using the FICO 08, now I find out that my credit union isn't using it either, and lasty I find out that we indeed can get our FICO 04 from EQ . So, the natural question is, why are we paying for the 08? Sure, it can tell you where you "are" but if the place I'm getting a loan from has my score at 692 but FICO 08 is at 759...well, it seems like it's just making it seem like it's great but really it's only good.
I can't argue your logic; I railed bitterly against the change of score versions here, and with more and more freely available scores, I think we're seeing the beginning of the end of consumers paying for credit scores.
The one exception is if you want a mortgage: kick the yuppie food stamp to Equifax for their Score Power product... unless you are a member of either DCU or PSECU as they offer the commonly used mortgage scores for EQ and EX respectively to their membership.
Beyond that take the usual advice I and others pontificate: focus on the report data, as a pretty report will result in a pretty score regardless of algorithm selected.
@tufa4311 wrote:eh...my report data is spotless at this point, there is nothing wrong with it (mind you, there is some stuff that is very wrong with"out" it...my AAOA, but nothing but time can help that - I would make that worse if I applied for more credit thus bringing the average down even more but I don't plan on doing that).
So, me focusing on my data doesn't do much - I just need to keep it clean. We're talking a 67 point difference, that's like 11% of my entire score! And, yes, it does matter, I'm still stuck in the "good" catergory at my credit union so I can't get a new loan with a better rate to cover my old 13% rate.
Is the only way to get the 08 through EQ Score Power (or Score Watch, whatever it is)? I assume so, it would be too easy for them to allow a one time pull.
FICO 04 = Equifax Score Power (one time pull)
You can get recurring FICO 04 access through Equifax Scorewatch, or through DCU membership.
FICO 8 scores of various flavors are available pretty much everywhere else that offers a FICO score.
Because people have had it explicitly match their Equifax Beacon 5.0 score on a trimerge mortgage pull.
Or you can paypal me $20 I'll pull it, and go compare against my DCU score. 
But realistically I may just spend the 20 bucks anyway for the report and score before I start applying for mortgages on March 1st presumably.