Rating Agencies: Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch (REVISED VERSION) | The Big Picture

Rating Agencies: Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch (REVISED VERSION) | The Big Picture

“Helping spur the boom was a less-recognized role of the rating companies: their collaboration, behind the scenes, with the underwriters that were putting those securities together. Underwriters don’t just assemble a security out of home loans and ship it off to the credit raters to see what grade it gets. Instead, they work with rating companies while designing a mortgage bond or other security, making sure it gets high-enough ratings to be marketable.”

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