[Yes, I have searched and found other posts on the topic. And I have read Barry's very informative SW Guide in this section. By all accounts, Barry seems like a nice guy and this is not directed at him, but myFICO]
I've noticed that with ScoreWatch, it doesn't necessarily update immediately when good things happening to your score.
For instance, I started to PIF prior to the statement dropping this month on my AmEx. SW had me at 789 prior to doing this. Making this change should show a $4k balance drop to <1% util. Statement date was 9/10. I know the new balance got reported by 9/12 because Credit Karma showed it on that date (as well as an increase in their FAKO score). So I know that it was updated by AmEx promptly.
I just started receiving my first DCU Free FICO this month (which uses the same Beacon 5 scoring algorithm that myFICO SW does). It came out on 9/16 and showed an 801! I was very happy, but curious as to why SW (still showing the 789) wouldn't share the good news with me as well.
Then I went back and looked at the details of the offer:
See your new FICO® score every time you get an alert of a change on your credit report. Find out when your FICO® score changes enough to impact the interest rate you would likely receive on a home mortgage, auto loan or home equity loan.
and,
- Alerts you when unexpected changes to your credit report cause your FICO® score to drop
Combining those two statements logically, they will alert you when something bad happens. And they will tell you how your score changed when they alert you. Thus you will only see a score change when there is potentially negative information. Granted, any positive information will then be factored in when they update the score you see due to potentially neg info. And if the score change bumped you into better rates (say >760) they might update you. However this is certainly not what I thought I was purchasing when I signed up.
Here's the advertising for ScoreWatch on the site:
"Monitors your Equifax credit report™. Sends an alert when your FICO score changes"
Not "Sometimes sends an alert". Not "Sends an alert when negative information changes your score". Based on the statement that prompted me to purchase the service, I should get an alert whenever my score changes. Plain and simple.
That's the service I thought I purchased. If my score changes, I get notified what it changed to and why. While negative information is useful, the positive information can also let you know when you are able to apply for better credit products.
MyFico has to calculate the score whenever new info comes out to see if one of the triggers is met anyway (target score, interest rate band, etc.). Why don't they just send the update all the time? Can it really be saving them any money if they already have the information and new calculated score to not send it to us?
I am not happy with the SW service. I was led to believe that the monitoring service would always show me my present score taking into account all information at the time. I will not be renewing the service. I'm not the litigious type, but there's probably a class action suit in there somewhere.
My credit monitoring is about to get very cheap. 
Between the free monthly FICO's from Walmart (TU) and DCU(EQ), Credit Sesame, and Credit Karma I believe that I can monitor my credit reasonably well for $0. With Credit Karma you can update it every day if you want. And if the score drops (or rises) you then know that there is something bad (or good) in your file and generally what it is. If I see a significant drop, then I'll pay to pull a complete FICO so I can run down the problem. And sure, if I'm going to be getting a new mortgage or buy a car, I'll do a pull and make sure that everything is good to go. But for long-term monitoring, SW is not the way to go for me.
I just don't see spending a couple of hundred dollars a year on monitoring. Between the ($9.95 per month = $120/yr) BoA Privacy Assist (which I'll cancel after Oct's quarterly update comes out - it's just FAKO's anyway) and the $150 for myFICO ScoreWatch I've paid $270 dollars for information I can arguably get better for free.
[end of rant]