How do chaps, this was posted on another forum and didn't get many responses, I was interested if any of you guys could answer?
Cheers all!
Credit Rating Agencies
- Thread starter monkeyfcuker
- Start date
Its wikipedia, so read it with a grain of salt:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agency
Perhaps slightly more reliable reading:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/bonds/09/history-credit-rating-agencies.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agency
Perhaps slightly more reliable reading:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/bonds/09/history-credit-rating-agencies.asp
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Scum of the earth. Answerable to no one, they collect information (usually correct, but not always) on every single American and sell that information to banks, financial firms, car dealers, etc. Then, to top it off they charge YOU to find out what your "score" is, *but* they WILL NOT sell you the exact same product that they sell to banks/car dealers/etc. So you can walk into a car dealer thinking your credit score is one thing, but it could be 25-30pts lower once you actually get there.
SCUM. OF. THE. EARTH.
(We have outstanding credit, but I still hate those bloodsuckers)
SCUM. OF. THE. EARTH.
(We have outstanding credit, but I still hate those bloodsuckers)
While I'm certianly inclined to agree on this, I don't think that's the Credit Ratings Agencies he is referring too. Individual ratings are supplied by something else technically IIRC.
Whoops. Didn't bother clicking the link. 
Ok, commercial credit ratings agencies... Scum of the earth, answerable to no one, and not even held accountable for their (laughable) ratings.
Ok, commercial credit ratings agencies... Scum of the earth, answerable to no one, and not even held accountable for their (laughable) ratings.
You forgot to include the fact that they get paid to rate a product by the company that has typically created the product. No conflict of interest at all.Whoops. Didn't bother clicking the link.
Ok, commercial credit ratings agencies... Scum of the earth, answerable to no one, and not even held accountable for their (laughable) ratings.
They arose organically and innocently enough, like any rating agency. Take LEED for example.
People were willing to pay for independent third party assessments of credit worthiness - it saved them the time and effort when deciding how to allocate their issuing of credit. In principle eliminates the redundant work of thousands of lenders repeating the same research and auditing. Debt seekers are happy to pay for it because it gives them a much faster path to credit.
That source of income is a conflict of interest, but one that could have been managed with proper organizational safeguards, just like separation of advertising from editorial in journalism. However, as we've seen in both media and credit rating, if no one is holding the agencies accountable, the walls start to break down between revenue side and content side... which is exactly what has happened here.
People were willing to pay for independent third party assessments of credit worthiness - it saved them the time and effort when deciding how to allocate their issuing of credit. In principle eliminates the redundant work of thousands of lenders repeating the same research and auditing. Debt seekers are happy to pay for it because it gives them a much faster path to credit.
That source of income is a conflict of interest, but one that could have been managed with proper organizational safeguards, just like separation of advertising from editorial in journalism. However, as we've seen in both media and credit rating, if no one is holding the agencies accountable, the walls start to break down between revenue side and content side... which is exactly what has happened here.
YES!!
LEED is BS
The whole LEED system is based on knowing which LEED accredited consultant or company you must hire or buy from and almost nothing on designing environmentally friendly buildings.
Perhaps the most annoying part of LEED certification, is that the building gets additional points simply by having a LEED AP involved in the project.
You could make the most environmentally friendly building on earth, but if it isn't constructed of some pre-manufactured products that paid for LEED's seal of approval, and you didn't pay for a LEED AP to sign some papers, you likely won't end up with a building that is LEED certified. Which would be true, but it in no way means that your building is any less friendly toward the environment than one in which someone paid to get the LEED cert.
Also, sometimes buildings will have completely unnecessary features added to them because they get additional points for LEED. Case in point would be some of the newer buildings at my school that have showers and locker rooms with indoor bike storage. Everywhere else on campus the bike racks are outside, but they were able to get additional LEED points by building an additional room to store bikes inside.
When it comes to rating govt bonds, the agencies have historically been very good. Reason being they are not paid by the originator to rate them. It wasn't until recently when S&P threatened to downgrade the US, who then threatened to sue them into oblivion over the housing mkt collapse, that the agencies lost the one system of ratings which were actually independent.
As for corp bonds, one will notice that there are a lot more fixed income analysts in existence now.
As for corp bonds, one will notice that there are a lot more fixed income analysts in existence now.
JD Power rated #1 post in this thread*.
*Check made payable to JD Power and Associates.
Yeah, as was pointed out, that is a credit REPORTING agency... I work form arguably the biggest one in the world. Glad to know how you feel about us.
Hey, when you guys start sending me a free copy of the credit report/score you send to banks/car dealers/credit card companies anytime you sell them my information, I'll change my view on credit reporting agencies.Yeah, as was pointed out, that is a credit REPORTING agency... I work form arguably the biggest one in the world. Glad to know how you feel about us.
And yes I'm still pissed that 7+ years ago when we went to buy a car our credit score magically dropped 25-30 points from what we'd checked beforehand, just because the dealer was getting a "car-loan-specific credit score" as opposed to the general one (and for us that was lower since we'd previously purchased all cars with cash), meaning one of our 700+ scores went to 698 causing the dealership to jack our loan quote... We'd been preapproved for a loan with another lender through lendingtree for far better than they were offering, but it's still annoying.
All 3 of my US credit report are 100% accurate and helped me get a good rate on my last mortgage.Glad to know how you feel about us.
Consumer credit ratings... lol.
My rating is off the charts (good) right now because I've been spending and paying off huge amounts of money on "my" Amex. However, the reality of my situation is I've spent the last 2 years paying for business operations of a biz with zero revenues so I had to sign for the corporate card personally, and I'm spending large amounts of my own savings and other people's money without replenishing it. I was was a far safer credit bet 2 years ago, but that's not what the numbers say.
My rating is off the charts (good) right now because I've been spending and paying off huge amounts of money on "my" Amex. However, the reality of my situation is I've spent the last 2 years paying for business operations of a biz with zero revenues so I had to sign for the corporate card personally, and I'm spending large amounts of my own savings and other people's money without replenishing it. I was was a far safer credit bet 2 years ago, but that's not what the numbers say.
You should buy a few homes in tahoe right now.
Thanks for the replies. The question interested me as these things are always bandied around by the media but my understanding about them is very limited!