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As banks shy away from making risky consumer loans, a mediocre credit history just won't cut it anymore. To get the best rates on mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, you need a killer score. Your FICO score is a numerical measure of your creditworthiness that ranges from 300 to 850. While there are a few different credit scoring systems available, it's the FICO score, created by the Fair Isaac Corporation, that most lenders look at when they check your credit. Lenders have already raised their standards by about 20 to 40 points this year, according to Barry Paperno, consumer...

The United States and other top world economies need to make potentially painful government spending cuts or risk losing the high-grade credit ratings that have kept borrowing affordable, the Moody's rating agency said Monday. Outlining the dilemma faced by policymakers in the United States, Great Britain, Germany and France, Moody's said that debt levels in the four large credit-worthy economies had reached the point at which they are at risk of being downgraded -- a step that would drive up interest rates, increase borrowing costs and mark a turn in perceptions about the world economy. Economic recovery might ease the...

It's bad enough that Greece's debt problems have rattled global financial markets. In the world's largest economic and military power, there's a far more serious debt dilemma. For the U.S., the crushing weight of its debt threatens to overwhelm everything the federal government does, even in the short-term, best-case financial scenario -- a full recovery and a return to prerecession employment levels. The government already has made so many promises to so many expanding "mandatory" programs. Just keeping these commitments, without major changes in taxing and spending, will lead to deficits that cannot be sustained. Take Social Security, Medicare and...

S&P warns it may downgrade Japan By MarketWatch LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Tuesday that it may downgrade Japan's sovereign credit ratings if data don't improve or if the government doesn't get its fiscal and economic house in order. The ratings agency said it's placed a negative outlook on Japan's AA sovereign long-term credit rating, saying it could issue a downgrade to AA- "if economic data remain weak and measures to boost medium-term growth are not forthcoming, given the country's high government debt burden and its weak demographic profile." The announcement, which came after the...

Dec. 9, 2009, 11:20 a.m. EST Spanish stocks drop as S&P cuts country outlook to negative By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Shares in Spain fell sharply on Wednesday after Standard & Poor's revised down its outlook on the country to negative from stable, saying it now expects a longer and deeper downturn here, just two days after warning Greece and Portugal over their own fiscal woes. S&P affirmed 'AA+' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings, but said the situation in Spain appears to be worse than they thought in January when long-term debt lost its AAA rating....

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Credit-rating agency Moody's Investor Services on Tuesday warned that the United States and Great Britain may test the limits of their Aaa sovereign ratings due to deteriorating public finances. "These are the Aaa countries whose public finances are deteriorating considerably and may therefore test the Aaa boundaries, but which display, in our opinion, an adequate reaction capacity to rise to the challenge and rebound," wrote Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of Moody's sovereign risk group, in the report. Cailleteau divided the Aaa countries into three categories -- resistant, resilient and vulnerable. The United States and Great Britain both...

Moody's decision to place California's general obligation debt on alert for a possible "multi-notch" downgrade stunned state officials.

California's chances of borrowing in capital markets grew slimmer Friday as Moody's Investors Service warned that it could downgrade the economically and fiscally beleaguered state's bond ratings.

Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, warned on Thursday the US was “going the way of the UK” and will eventually lose its top AAA credit rating - a fear that had already spooked financial markets on Thursday and could keep the dollar, stocks and bonds under heavy selling pressure, reports Reuters. The US will face a downgrade in “at least three to four years, if that, but the market will recognise the problems before the rating services — just like it did today,” said Gross, co-chief investment officer of Pimco and manager of the Pimco Total...

Why U.S. Treasuries look increasingly unattractive. BY TIERNAN RAY OOOF! It's a tough day for sovereign credit. Rating agency Standard and Poor's this morning lowered its outlook on the U.K.'s debt from Stable to Negative on concerns that the Kingdom's borrowing could reach 100% of its gross domestic product by 2013. This is a potential prelude to an eventual cut in the U.K.'s triple-A rating. The U.S. may not be as close to the U.K. at getting its credit spanked, but the U.S.'s ballooning deficits and heavy borrowing make U.S. Treasuries increasingly look unappealing.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's shocked investors Thursday with a formal warning that the U.K. must get its finances in order or lose its coveted triple-A credit rating, underscoring the monumental challenges the country faces as it seeks to dig its economy out from under the wreckage of the financial crisis. U.K. stocks plunged and the pound slid against the dollar after S&P announced that it had changed its outlook for the U.K.'s credit rating to negative -- meaning that a downgrade, while not imminent, could come sometime in the next few years. S&P said it will revisit the U.K.'s...

Rated F for Failure By JEROME S. FONS and FRANK PARTNOY WHEN Standard & Poor’s, the bond-rating agency, lowered General Electric’s rating to AA+, from AAA, last week, many were shocked at the tarnishing of one of America’s most revered corporations. But the real scandal is how long it took S.&P. to make that minor change — and that the other major ratings firm, Moody’s, still hasn’t — even though G.E.’s dividend has been slashed by two-thirds and its stock price had fallen below $7, from nearly $40 a year ago. Why, more than a year into the crisis, do...

California today was branded the worst credit risk of all 50 states, after Standard & Poor’s cut its rating on the state’s debt because of the budget impasse. S&P lowered its rating on the state’s $46 billion in general obligation bonds to "A" from "A-plus," citing "the state's inability to reach an agreement on a mid-year budget revision and its rapidly eroding cash position." Until now, California and Louisiana had been tied for last place, at "A-plus," on S&P’s state ratings list. Most states are rated either "AA" or "AAA." "At its current level, the rating generally recognizes our view...

California's credit rating was dinged Thursday by Standard & Poor's, which cited the state's worsening budget crisis. The firm's rating on $5 billion of short-term notes the state sold in October was cut one notch, from SP-1 to SP-2. S&P also warned that its A-plus rating on $46.6 billion of California general obligation bonds, which are long-term debt, might be lowered. With the state already tied with Louisiana for the lowest credit rating of all the states, a downgrade would leave California alone at the bottom. (Most states are rated AA or AAA.) S&P said its actions "reflect our opinion...

Government plans new credit, mortgage programs By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 19 mins ago WASHINGTON – The government introduced a pair of new programs Tuesday that will provide $800 billion to help unfreeze the market for consumer debt and to make mortgage loans cheaper and more available.

Washington--The government is working on a new loan facility to help companies that issue credit cards, make student loans and finance car purchases. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will unveil the program Tuesday, according to people familar with the plan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has yet to be made. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he plans to use a "relatively modest share" of the $700 billion financial bailout money to pay for the new program. It's the latest effort by the government to break through a dangerous credit clog that has...

Credit crunch for consumers As card issuers hike rates, consumers forced to work harder to protect credit By Andrea Coombes, MarketWatch Last update: 1:36 p.m. EST Nov. 23, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- As credit-card issuers raise rates and fees and lower credit limits, consumers face higher-cost debt -- and more work maintaining their credit score. In some cases, banks' former darlings -- consumers who paid consistently and on time but let their balances ride -- now are being hit hardest, asked to stomach higher interest rates and fees or try their luck with different card issuers. For instance, some...

March 22, 2008 Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers face downgrading Tom Bawden in New York Profits at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers could deteriorate significantly this year if the turmoil sweeping the capital markets persists, a leading research agency said yesterday. Standard & Poor's (S&P) gave warning that it might cut the credit ratings on both investment banks, lowering the outlook on Goldman and Lehman from “stable” to “negative”. That comment, which coincided with reports of looming job losses at Goldman, could result in higher borrowing costs and a fall in the banks' shares. S&P praised Goldman Sachs for producing...

THEY don’t come much more blue-chip than General Electric of the US. The company – valued at nearly $350 billion (£178 billion) – is almost like a nation state. It’s seen as the ultimate safe bet – powerful, genuinely global, diversified. And when the company produced its 2007 results last month, GE was able to boast record earnings. From jet engines to windpower turbines, from refrigerators to railway locomotives, GE has its finger in every industrial pie. And while other companies have been buffeted by the turbulence of the credit crunch, GE has apparently remained above it all. At the...

I've said it before and I feel it ought to be said again and again: - Don't let anyone tell you Sweden is a Socialist paradise and an example of how socialism can be "successful". We've been moving towards Conservatism and Capitalism since the mid 1980's. Still much left to do, though. In any case, I feel optimistic. To begin with, we have a Conservative government that, obviously, know what it is doing. By the way, it ought to be noticed that many other parts of Europe are beginning to wake up out of their socialist slumber as well. Not...