Bloomberg asked:

Moody’s cut Berkshire’s top credit rating to AA-2. (Taking Stock)

Cindy

debtruth1 asked:

www.reuters.com www.bloomberg.com www.reuters.com (A CLIP BELOW) NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuters) – American International Group Inc (AIG.N) disclosed on Sunday that US and European banks have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the up to $180 billion US taxpayer bailout of the insurer. The following lists the payments made to AIG’s securities lending counterparties between Sept. 16 — the date of the initial government rescue — and the end of the year: Institution Amount (in blns) ——————————————- Barclays (BARC.L) $7.0 Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) $6.4 BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) $4.9 Goldman Sachs (GS.N) $4.8 Bank of America (BAC.N) $4.5 HSBC (HSBA.L) $3.3 Citigroup (CN) $2.3 Dresdner Kleinwort $2.2 Merrill Lynch $1.9 UBS (UBSN.VX) $1.7 ING (ING.AS) $1.5 Morgan Stanley (MS.N) $1.0 Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) $0.9 AIG International Inc $0.6 Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) $0.4 Paloma Securities $0.2 Citadel $0.2 ——————————————- Total $43.7 bln Source: AIG Song of the day #1 Verdi “La Traviata Prelude to Act 1″ www.youtube.com Song of the day #2 Bach “Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F Minor” www.youtube.com

Jay

ehowfinance asked:

Repair a credit rating by repairing any inaccurate information on a credit report, lowering the debt-to-income ratio and avoiding over-extending finances. Pay debts on time and in the correct amounts to boost credit scores with tips from acertified financial consultant in this free video on credit counseling. Expert: William Rae Contact: www.hbwfl.com Bio: William Rae has been licensed in the insurance and financial fields for more than 30 years. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

Doris

ndtvprofit asked:

SME Forum: Voices from the industry discuss the benefits of credit rating for SMEs.

Julio

Stephen Chua asked:




Many people with bad credit are looking for ways to improve their credit fast. Frankly, there isn’t any quick fix if you have bad credit. Improving your credit takes time. However, here are three things you can do to speed up the process.

1. Pay down your debt

If you are currently doing only minimum payment for you credit card debt, you will wan to consider paying another ten percent more. If your debt is spread across a few cards and you can only afford to increase the minimum payment for only one card, pick the card with the lowest outstanding balance. This idea here is to eliminate the lowest outstanding balance fast so you are motivated to continue with the idea of increasing your minimum payment.

2. Keep credit accounts open

The longer you have credit, the better your credit rating. If you have a credit card that is ten years old, do not close it yet. Long credit history tends to have a more favorable impact on your score. Even if you no longer need that card, just put it away in a safe place for the time being.

The other reason for not closing credit accounts is to keep your debt to credit ratio as low as possible. If you continue to pay down you debt while keeping the credit amount constant, you will have a low debt to credit ratio, which will affect your credit score in a positive way.

3. Co-signing for a loan

If you know of a friend or relative who has a good credit record and is looking to get a loan, you can consider co-signing for the loan with her. However, this is a double edge sword. In the event that the co-signer did not make payment regularly, your credit score will take a nose dive as well. On the other hand, if you co-singer always make payment on time, you will get a boost to your credit score.

Although applying these tips can boost your score, it cannot happen overnight. You have to monitor the progress by reviewing your credit report regularly, preferably once every 30 days for the first three months. You will also have to fine-tune your efforts if you are not seeing improvements along the way. The important thing is not to give up. As you continue to work on improving your credit score on a daily basis, the only direction your credit score will go is up.

Jason

David Kamau asked:




How do you show lenders, landlords and yes, even employers know that that you’re trustworthy and reliable? Your credit score also known as credit rating. Improve your credit rating and other important aspects of your life will improve as well.

This is your financial report card on how well you keep promises and better yet, it’s indicator of your responsibilities and how well you handle them.

Your credit score will have many effects on your life. This can be positive or negative. From being approved for a mortgage to an auto loan. The higher your credit score gets, the easier it will be to obtain any material item at the best possible rates.

When you have a high score banks will throw money at you and are willing to stand your ground on flexible repayment terms because you’ve shown you are worthy of it.

Not everyone shares this luck. Many have a below average or poor credit score. However, there are steps you can take to improve your credit worthiness.

The credit score is determined by the all positive and negative information or trade lines that appear on your report. Some of the information will weigh more than other data, so when working to raise your credit score you want to start with those negative areas having the most impact.

The first obvious thing that you can do to improve your credit score is make payments on time. Creditors report payments to the credit agencies either every 30 days or every quarter. Therefore, you can pretty much guarantee if your bills are paid on time, your score will rise within 3 to 6 months.

Next, you want to review your report to see if there is not false information on there. Perhaps, your creditor has placed a negative trademark saying you paid late when you didn’t. You want to write to the credit agency denying this and asking that it be corrected.

Now, if you have proof, this can happen much quicker and they’ll have no other choice but to update favorably.

What if you have no proof? There are two ways to go about it here. One is to dispute anyway and hope that at least some of your creditors don’t keep good records. A long shot, but sometimes it works.

The other is to look for mistakes in dates, account numbers, types of account as well as signs of debt re-aging. Re-aging of debt is illegal, but debt collectors count on you not knowing this. Don’t disappoint them; show them that you do know.

The good thing about finding mistakes in reports is that it legitimizes the dispute and is likely to get a negative item removed.

Miguel

Laura Evert asked:




Have you wanted to buy a house or a car but you have a low credit score? You can fix that by checking your annual credit report to see if all information is accurate. However, if you have been missing bill payments or have been going over your credit limit then you can consider counseling. Remember, the interest rate you will pay for the money that you borrow will be determined largely by the three-digit number generated from your report.

You are lucky if you have a good report and score from credit report companies but if you have a poor one, you will have big problems. Most lenders have rules that are carved in stones about handling out the best terms. These rules always place a major emphasis on your score. For instance, if their best rates are offered to borrowers with a score of 700 or higher and you have a score of 698, those two points could cost you thousands of dollars.

As FICO said, the interest rate difference between those two ratings is bout one-third of a percentage point. FICO or Fair Isaac Corporation created the FICO rating and is the most commonly used rating. You should consider understanding FICO if you want to know how to raise your credit rating. On 30-year fixed rate mortgage of $165,000, that third of a point could cost you more than $11, 172 in interest charges, assuming 629 percent is the lowest rate available. If you fall below 660, the rate goes up another.81 percent.

Of course, the numbers mentioned are averages. Today, most lenders practice tiered pricing with interest rates rising as ratings go down. You annual report should be monitored if you want your level not to go down. However, each ender chooses its own “break points” between tiers. While one lender may increase the interest if the level falls below 700, another lender might not charge higher rates until the level is 690 or lower. The picture being painted here is that if you stick with one lender whose break point is 700, raising your level from 698 to 701 can be vital.

This underscores the importance of not only doing means on how to improve credit level but also shopping thoroughly when looking for a mortgage. From a mortgage broker’s point of view, who can choose among a sea of many lenders, no sharp break points exist. As a consumer, you should do what a good broker does and look for a lender that offers the best rate to a specific level.

Melissa

ehowfinance asked:

Getting a credit card with a bad credit rating is still possible by obtaining a prepaid card, which can be reloaded with cash and used like a regular credit card. Build up a better line of credit using a prepaid credit card withinformation from a registered financial consultant in this free video on personal finance. Expert: Patrick Munro Contact: www.northstarnavigator.com Bio: Patrick Munro is a registered financial consultant (RFC) with outstanding sales volume of progressive financial products and solutions to the senior and boomer marketplace. Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC

Nathan

moneycontrol asked:

According to New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, There are two superpowers in the world today; theres the United States and theres Moodys Bond Rating Service.

Susan

GOPFinancialServices asked:

Congressman Scott Garrett remarks during Financial Services Committee hearing on credit rating agencies

Bobby