If you got the Equifax score from myfico as stated, then it absolutely is a real score, and incidently the same one you will get on your mortgage application. IMO, it's by far the most worthwhile score you can obtain as an individual consumer from literally the entire Internet currently (though one of the products EQ itself offers is the same if you can figure out which one is not the FAKO out of their two).
As for the credit union, that's not only entirely possible, it's unfortunately likely. There's no legal requirement to report at all, and it's only specified in the contract language between the CRA and the institution requesting the pull that usually they have to report to at least them... if it's mentioned at all. Many CU's and other smaller lenders tend to fall into this category which is admittedly sub-optimal from my perspective: I have an installment loan on my EX report which I'd love to have reporting to all three but that isn't going to happen and I effectively had to open up another installment loan just to get one on my EQ / TU reports.
When you apply for a mortgage you'll get a tri-merge report run which consolidates information from all three bureaus, so your CU card will be seen for the mortgage qualification.
I agree it's something of a racket with the various FAKO scores and the inability to get any sort of real tracking of one's Experian's score (I argue the same is true for TU as well but others disagree) for the overwhelming majority of us and even if EX did offer it, it's probably not even the same one that Amex used which is almost assuredly Credit-Enhanced. Edit: the overwhelming majority comment is regarding the fact there's one or two CU's out there which offer a EX FICO to their members, unfortunately the well-known one is PA residents only, and the other I think was a Cali one which I wasn't qualified for under any circumstances either.
End of the day, there's not much you can do about it so it's not worth worrying about. Just continue to pay down your debt, which is a good thing on any FICO model, regardless of industry option, from any of the three CRA's. You and your wife are making progress, just keep doing the same and party on.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for your thoughtful email and knowledge.
I ran all 3 reports today for free (annual deal I guess) No scores for free though.
Interesting while looking deeper.....
The credit union debt did not show up on TU either. So only one of the three are reporting it.
The most recent payments made on April 22, 25 and 26 respectively are still not being reported. It is May 11th! That info begs the question...... How long does it take for the 3 credit companies to report the information. None of the 3 have recorded these payments.
Also, I see there is a threshold on my Equifax FICO report that reads that 760 is a magic number for getting the best 30 year mortgage rates. Does anyone out there have any experience with that?
The creditors decide what credit bureaus they report to. I have some ten year old accounts that have only ever reported to one bureau. That isn't a problem because when you go to apply for a mortgage they will pull all three, equifax, experian, and transunion and your mortgage rate will usually be based on your middle score. If one has your score at 769, another at 745 and another at 720 then they use the score or 745.
Creditors are sensitive to debt within 80% of your credit limit. American Express soft pulls your credit regularly (many companies do this) to see what's going on with your other accounts. When they saw things close to maxed out, they lowered your limit as low as they could with the balance you currently had. It may be lowered additionally as you pay it down unfortunately. For that reason, I would pay off your other two accounts in full first so that when they look at your account as your paying down the balance they see that you've gotten it all reined back in. Obviously still make above the minimum payment on the Amex in the meantime, but, yeah, work down the other two first probably.
Additionally, credit card companies only report your balance once a month and it's usually the balance as of the statement date. Most of my cards take about 3-5 days after the statement posts to update my balance. Those payments that you made won't show up until about a week after your next statement date.
Additionally, getting the best rate also depends on your lender. My husband has a 730 but was getting rate quotes at the level usually reserved for subprime. 
The mortgage broker we were working with made it out like we were getting a heck of a deal on the interest rate... lol
