I am going to share this as it may help someone else. I never did figure out why the default didn't work per the second reference but I went back to the first one and finally worked out the code to do this.
The following code works!
PHP Code:
$user_values = $vbulletin->db->query_first("
SELECT DEFAULT(vbclassified_credits) AS defaultcredits
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "user
");
echo 'Credits = ' . $user_values[defaultcredits];
exit();
I can finally finish my addition
Edit: sockwater - I cross posted with you as I started to post my fix and was testing before I hit reply so I had the fix before you posted. I am not sure if there is an easier way to get this but this certainly works. I do appreciate the advise and help just the same as this had me stumped for quite a few hours today!