What is a strong investment grade credit rating?
Higher rated companies are considered investment grade, suggesting strong underlying fundamentals and a good capacity to pay a bond's principal and interest. Issues that are investment grade are rated as "BBB" or "Baa" or higher by ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor's and Moody's.
Bonds with a rating of BBB- (on the Standard & Poor's and Fitch scale) or Baa3 (on Moody's) or better are considered "investment-grade." Bonds with lower ratings are considered "speculative" and often referred to as "high-yield" or "junk" bonds.
B1/B+ are one of several non-investment grade credit ratings (also known as "junk") that may be assigned to a company, fixed-income security, or floating-rate loan (FRN). These ratings signify that the issuer is relatively risky, with a higher-than-average chance of default.
Credit ratings are an estimate of the level of risk involved in lending money to a business or other entity, including national and state governments and government agencies. A high credit rating indicates that, in the rating agency's opinion, a bond issuer is likely to repay its debts to investors without difficulty.
In S&P Global Ratings long-term rating scale, issuers and debt issues that receive a rating of 'BBB-' or above are generally considered by regulators and market participants to be “investment-grade,” while those that receive a rating lower than 'BBB-' are generally considered to be “speculative-grade.”
Below investment grade securities are securities that are not rated in one of the four highest rating categories of a nationally recognized rating agency such as Moody's or S&P. Specifically, securities rated lower than Baa3 by Moody's or BBB- by S&P are below investment grade.
'bbb' ratings denote good prospects for ongoing viability. The financial institution's fundamentals are adequate, such that there is a low risk that it would have to rely on extraordinary support to avoid default. However, adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair this capacity.
Qantas joins only six other airlines in the world currently with an investment grade rating from S&P – Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Ryanair, and WestJet.
BBB: An obligor rated 'BBB' has adequate capacity to meet its financial commitments. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circ*mstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitments.
The minimum credit score needed for most mortgages is typically around 620. However, government-backed mortgages like Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans typically have lower credit requirements than conventional fixed-rate loans and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs).
What is the strongest credit rating?
Highest credit quality
'AAA' ratings denote the lowest expectation of default risk. They are assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments.
A 620 credit score is typically what you'll need to get a mortgage for a home purchase. Although you can buy a house with a credit score as low as 500, you'll pay a higher rate and make a larger down payment.
'AAA' is the highest issuer credit rating assigned by S&P Global Ratings. An obligor rated 'AA' has very strong capacity to meet its financial commitments. It differs from the highest-rated obligors only to a small degree.
S&P financial strength ratings
Standard & Poor's long-term issuer credit ratings are represented as letter grades, with AAA being the highest and D the lowest.
B1/B+ is the highest quality credit rating for non-investment grade bonds. Ba1/BB+ is a rating designation by Moody's Investor Service and S&P Global Ratings that signifies higher degrees of default risk. A bond rating is a grade given to bonds that indicates their credit quality.
It is widely accepted that bonds classified as investment grade tend to be less risky than those designated as high yield and usually deliver a lower return. High yield bonds typically offer higher returns, but with more risk, because the issuers are considered to have a greater chance of default.
In Moody's Ratings system, securities are assigned a rating from Aaa to C, with Aaa being the highest quality and C the lowest quality. Moody's was founded by John Moody in 1909, to produce manuals of statistics related to stocks and bonds and bond ratings.
Historically, investment-grade bonds witness a low default rate compared to non-investment grade bonds. For example, S&P Global reported that the highest one-year default rate for AAA, AA, A, and BBB-rated bonds (investment-grade bonds) were 0%, 0.38%, 0.39%, and 1.02%, respectively.
Age Bracket | 2022 |
---|---|
18–25 | 679 (Good) |
26–41 | 687 (Good) |
42–57 | 706 (Good) |
58–76 | 742 (Very Good) |
Research by IABBB in 2021 determined that consumers prefer BBB Accredited Businesses. Dynamic Seal: The BBB Seal is strong on its own, no doubt. But for Accredited Businesses, the Dynamic Seal wields an even mightier power online.
Is it possible to have a credit score of 900?
While older models of credit scores used to go as high as 900, you can no longer achieve a 900 credit score. The highest score you can receive today is 850. Anything above 800 is considered an excellent credit score.
What is the average credit score? The average FICO credit score in the US is 718, according to the latest FICO data from April 2023. The average VantageScore is 701 as of January 2024. Credit scores, which are like a grade for your borrowing history, fall in the range of 300 to 850.
Most used auto loans go to borrowers with minimum credit scores of at least 675. For new auto loans, most borrowers have scores of around 730. The minimum credit score needed for a new car may be around 600, but those with excellent credit often get lower rates and lower monthly payments.
Investing in high quality investment grade and BB-rated credits allows for more diversification across issuers. For example in our Global Credits – Short Maturity strategy we invest in more than 130 different companies across the global investment grade credit market.
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