While I agree that the alerts don't yet appear to be reliable, I disagree with many other comments about myfico's claim to timely alerts.
This is not meant to be a monitoring service of your credit card transactions. This is meant to monitor activity on your credit report. There is a HUGE difference between what you do with your creditors and what they report. MyFico and the 3 bureaus work with the info provided to them from your creditors. They don't monitor all activity on your credit cards.
The point of monitoring your credit reports is to know what potential creditors will see so you can set yourself up for success when applying for new credit. This includes reviewing the data provided by your creditors for accuracy (i.e. identity theft) and timely reporting by the creditors. I should note here that I have some credit cards (i.e. Amex) that report every month regardless of activity, others that only do it periodically and yet others that only report updates when I request it. All of them will report an update if I specifically call them and request it.
Don't mix up the message with the messenger. I have had scorewatch for over 3 years which has helped me improve my scores to over 800 on each of the 3 bureau scores. While it isn't yet everything I'd like, I have seen improvements. Customer service has been helpful over the phone with any questions. This forum alone is a beneficial step for myfico to take. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now that they will continue to consider customer feedback and improve their service.
I look forward getting an updated score anytime I want without paying for it. Additionally, I would like to better understand score changes. My scores have decreased when absolutely nothing changes on my report. Very strange, but this is about the scores, not the alerts.