BUSINESS
June 3, 2007 | David Colker, Times Staff Writer
We'll repair your credit, guaranteed! Correct negative information on your reports! Excellent for late payments! -- Credit repair companies, which are rampant on the Internet, appear to be providing a wonderful service. Just imagine -- negative items on your credit report could be wiped out with only a few easy payments. Keep imagining.
SPORTS
December 5, 2011 | By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
Standard & Poor's said its long-term ratings for nearly all countries in the Eurozone, including economic powerhouse Germany, were at risk of downgrade because of the ongoing debt crisis. The ratings company said Monday that it put the sovereign debt of 15 nations on a negative credit watch because "systemic stresses" have risen to the point that they are putting "downward pressure" on the region as a whole. Among the reasons were tightening credit, continued disagreements among policymakers about how to handle the crisis, a "rising risk" of a recession in the region in 2012 and high levels of government and household debt.
BUSINESS
June 22, 2012 | By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times
Moody's Investors Service slashed the credit ratings of more than a dozen giant global banks amid worries that Europe's economic turmoil could slow both profit and growth. The downgrades, announced after the close of U.S. financial markets Thursday, included Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. The move came as the 15 banks singled out by Moody's try to navigate through the European debt crisis, which could have a major effect on their trading businesses.
BUSINESS
November 16, 2012 | By Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times
Credit-rating companies in the United States are beset by shortcomings, failing to act quickly enough to issue downgrades and not properly documenting ratings decisions, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a report. The SEC said Thursday that the country's largest credit-rating firms — Standard & Poor's Corp., Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings — did not follow their own policies in issuing ratings and failed to accurately document their decisions. This was the second report the SEC has issued about ratings firms, a responsibility the agency inherited under the Dodd-Frank financial reform act. The report evaluated the performance of rating companies from August 2010 through September 2011.
BUSINESS
June 17, 2009 | Tom Petruno
California's credit rating, already the lowest of the 50 states, may be cut again, Standard & Poor's warned Tuesday. As the debate over budget cuts drags on in Sacramento, S&P put its "A" grade on the state's $59 billion in general obligation bonds on "negative credit watch," meaning the rating is at risk of a downgrade.
BUSINESS
January 13, 2012 | By W.J. Hennigan
Standard & Poor's is set to downgrade the credit ratings of France and other Eurozone countries, France's finance minister confirmed Friday. France, which is Europe's second-largest economy behind Germany, will be lowered one notch to AA-plus from its previous stellar AAA rating. France will then have the same credit rating as the U.S., which was downgraded by S&P in August . Standard & Poor's plan, announced late Friday afternoon on French television by the nation's finance minister, Francois Baroin, was somewhat expected since S&P warned in December that it might cut the ratings.