Credit Rating, credit repair, ratings credit report, credit upgrade, buyback schedule, Credit Rating Agency

How to Restore your Credit Rating

By Mary Rowland

Tens of thousands of Americans have damaged their credit ratings. They've misused or abused their credit cards. They've been thrown into financial distress by long periods of illness or unemployment. Whatever the reason, they suffer from bad credit, and must find a way to repair it to return to a normal life.

If you're among this group, don't despair. It's hard work to rebuild your credit rating, but it can be done.

"First you need to understand how credit works and then you need a plan," says Gerri Detweiler, a credit expert and author of "The Ultimate Credit Handbook."

What do the credit agencies say? You also need to know what the credit reporting agencies are saying about you. There are three principal credit-reporting agencies: Experian (formerly TRW), TransUnion and Equifax. For a fee, typically about $8 to $10, they'll send you a report of your credit history, as their records show it. You should review each of the three once a year to look for errors and to find out what creditors are saying about you.

Stay away from 'repair' clinics What you don't need is a credit repair clinic. These so-called clinics offer to help you clean up your credit by using loopholes in the law that only they know about. They may also promise to remove negative information from your file or to get you a major credit card. These are false promises, according to attorney John Ventura, author of "The Credit Repair Kit."

Some repair clinics may even get you into legal trouble by encouraging you to distort the information in your credit file, or by helping you to initiate a new file with a new address and federal identification number.

"There are no special tricks that these credit repair clinics know," says Ruth Susswein, executive director of Bankcard Holders of America. "You can clean up your credit report yourself."

Here are five steps to credit repair:

1. Lock your cards away. Don't close your accounts yet. If your credit rating has been damaged, you may have trouble getting new cards. But stop using them. Your immediate goal is to repair your credit rating and to get out of debt.

2. Figure out where you stand. No one likes to focus on budgets and net worth statements. It's particularly painful if you suspect your income is less than your debt and that your net worth is in minus territory. Still, finding out the truth is a necessary first step, just like stepping on the scale before you begin to diet. It helps you measure your success.

You have a great deal of control over your budget and net worth. But much of your credit record is actually controlled by others -- your creditors and the reporting bureaus. Between 30% and 40% of these reports contain errors, Ventura says. Clear those up first.

Ventura suggests that you write to the credit bureau detailing the errors in your report and that you send your correspondence by certified mail with a return receipt requested as you work to clean up your credit report. That will provide you with a paper trail and help you remember when to follow up.

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Credit Rating for Mozambique

September 9, 2005

The world's largest credit rating agency, Standard and Poor's (S&P;), has rated the Mozambican government for the first time, under an arrangement funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

S&P; is a private American company, owned by the publishing concern McGraw-Hill. It has tens of thousands of clients, mostly companies, who pay to be credit-rated.

Since 2003, S&P; has been working with the UNDP to bring credit ratings to governments in sub-Saharan Africa: the UNDP provides technical and financial assistance to the governments being rated. However, the governments concerned must request rating.

To date, S&P; has given credit ratings to 13 African governments. Three of these are in the north of the continent, and ten are in sub-Saharan Africa. Of the latter, seven have been rated under the cooperation between S&P; and UNDP.

Speaking at a joint S&P;/UNDP seminar on Friday morning in Maputo, the S&P; managing director for sovereign and international public finance ratings, David Beers, said that S&P; has given Mozambique a rating of "B" (identical to that of Burkina Faso and Madagascar).

The ratings range from "AAA", which denotes "extremely strong capacity to meet financial commitments", down to "D" for those countries or companies which have defaulted on one or more commitments.

Mozambique's B means that it is "more vulnerable to adverse business, financial and economic conditions, but currently has the capacity to meet financial commitments".

Perhaps more significant is the S&P; outlook for Mozambique.

Such outlooks indicate the direction in which S&P; believes the credit rating may move over the next two or three years. For most governments, the S&P; outlook is "stable" - meaning S&P; does not expect the credit rating to change.

But in Mozambique's case, the outlook is "positive", which means that, over the next couple of years, the credit rating may be increased.

Beers said that Mozambique's strengths included the rapid growth in its exports, increased foreign direct investment in the country, and the government's "commitment to deepening reform".

In addition, Mozambique enjoyed a "consistently high level of donor financial support".

But the rating also had to take into account the country's well-known weaknesses - notably its large fiscal deficit, its narrow domestic tax base, and the government's high debt burden (although this has fallen sharply thanks to international debt relief initiatives). Beers also pointed to Mozambique's "high vulnerability to external shocks".

An S&P; credit rating is essentially a forecast: it is the agency's opinion as to the creditworthiness or a government or a company, and thus an estimate of its risk of defaulting on financial commitments.

Governments want to be rated, Beers said, because such ratings demonstrate their financial transparency, and help attract foreign investment. They may also improve access to international bond markets (though this is unlikely to be a consideration in Mozambique's case), and encourage the development of domestic capital markets.

Beers stressed that S&P; is taken seriously because it is not affiliated to any government or international institution. He dismissed concerns that governments paying for ratings might buy favourable ones - for S&P; has a client base running to the tens of thousands and so is not beholden to any one of them.

He said that the agency's ratings are public. Which means that its predictions can be checked against reality. Beers believed that S&P; comes out of this exercise rather well.

Although nobody could claim knowledge of future events, he thought the accuracy of S&P; forecasts is "as good as you can get".

The UNDP resident representative, Marylene Spezzati, told the meeting that credit ratings "can play a role in strengthening investor confidence in Mozambique", and "enhance access to foreign capital".

She argued that the very fact that 13 African countries have requested credit ratings showed "increased financial transparency" in the continent.

But the countries covered do not include those most notorious for corruption (such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo), or those, such as Zimbabwe, where the economy is collapsing.

More info about : all africa

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Alea may put up 'for sale' sign after credit rating downgrade UPDATE

09.09.2005,

LONDON (AFX) - Troubled insurer Alea Group Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd on Friday said it may put itself up for sale after Standard & Poor's cut its credit rating, citing the group's weak operating performance.

Alea said it was 'exploring strategic alternatives including a sale of the group' in response to the downgrade, which is likely to deter brokers from recommending the insurer to clients, slashing its revenues.

The insurer also said it was reconsidering a planned 210 mln usd rights issue aimed at averting another ratings downgrade, this time from the AM Best agency.

AM Best, a specialist insurance sector ratings agency, placed Alea's rating under review in June, citing concerns over the company's capital strength.

Alea shares closed 2.5 pct lower at 136-1/2 pence, valuing the company at about 243 mln stg.

Analysts said the most likely outcome was a break-up and sale of the company, with some parts of its operations being placed in run-off, where no new clients are taken on and the business simply pays claims from existing customers.

'This is probably the end of the road for Alea as an operating unit, although that doesn't mean that it doesn't have value,' said Neil Manser, insurance analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton.

Manser said Alea's UK insurance business and its US reinsurance unit are the most likely candidates for run-off, while its US insurance business stands a good chance of being sold as a going concern.

He also said a UK-based insurer may be interested in doing a deal which would allow it to inherit Alea's tax-friendly Bermudan structure. Another option is that the company could be bought by US private equity group KKR, Alea's biggest shareholder with a 41 pct stake.

Alea's finances have been hit over the past year by higher than expected claims, which have forced it to set aside more cash than originally planned. Last month, the company unveiled a 47 pct drop in interim profits, weighed down by a surprise 34.7 mln usd addition to its claims reserves.

Separately, Alea estimated its exposure to Hurricane Katrina, which is thought to have caused total insurance losses of up to 50 bln usd when it swept through the southern US last month, at 20-30 mln usd.

Article Source: forbes

Credit rating agency sees hope for city

By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
February 20, 2004

A New York City credit rating agency left Pittsburgh at junk bond status yesterday, but said the rating could get better in coming months due to state oversight initiatives.

Standard & Poor's left the city's credit rating at BB, which is below investment grade and the worst rating for any major American city. But it removed Pittsburgh from its "watch" list, meaning it was poised for another downgrade, changing the outlook to positive, meaning the rating could be raised in the next one to three years, or possibly sooner, analyst Jeffrey Panger said.

Panger said the change to the positive outlook was due to dual efforts by recovery coordinators under state Act 47 and a new state-appointed oversight board to write new plans for saving the city budget, possibly including new tax revenue sources.

S&P; and other ratings agencies dropped the city to junk bond status last year after auditors questioned whether the city could pay its bills in 2004 and Mayor Tom Murphy applied to the state for Act 47 distressed status

The city got another measure of good news yesterday in a report on its pension fund, which grew by 24 percent in 2003, largely due to a good fourth quarter in the stock market.

The pension fund ended the year with $342.7 million and has grown to $356 million by this month.

That leaves the fund about 50 percent funded, missing half the money necessary to pay out pensions to all its current workers as well as retirees.

The fund's value is growing, just as the city's pension payments from its yearly operating budget also are due to grow.

The city's roughly 4,000 retirees are due about $57 million per year, according to Finance Director Ellen McLean. The pension fund pays out $34 million and the rest is covered by an $18 million state payment and $5 million from the city budget.

But the state's funding is tied to the number of current workers on the city payroll, not retirees, so when the city lays off workers as it did last year, it means its state funding will go down. Police and firefighters are given twice as much weight as municipal employees, so with the city taking 200 police off the payroll the last two years, it means its state payments will be especially impacted.

The Murphy administration is hoping the Legislature -- possibly at the recommendation of state overseers -- will change those rules, to help cities that are trying to pare down their workforces.

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NGOs as champions of causes

Grading of NGOs: The Context

NGOs play an increasingly active role in today's political and social arenas. Civil society organizations are sprouting up all over the world. According to the 2002 UNDP Human Development Report, nearly one-fifth of the world's 37,000 NGOs were formed in the 90s

Sometimes, local and international NGOs act irresponsibly and undermine the credibility of civil society in general. Organizations must be as accountable as the governments they criticise. This poses a great challenge to the NGO movement and to global democracy more generally.

NGOs as champions of causes

NGOs have long been a part of Indian life championing a slew of social issues and delivering a wide variety of services their number now touching a whopping number of 70,000. Huge funds began flowing in during the 1990s when NGO involvement was made mandatory by various international bodies including UN agencies as pre-condition for governments receiving funds for socio-economic programmes.

Few figures are available for how much money Indian NGOs raise within the country. But foreign funding for their activities has risen sharply from Rs 1412 crore in 1991-92 to Rs 4535 crore in 2000-01, growing at a compounded annual rate of 14 per cent every year. This mirrors the overall sharp increase in spending on community services in the country.

The strength of NGOs

particularly those operating at the field level, is their ability to form close linkages to local communities, and to engender community ownership and participation in development efforts. NGOs often can respond quickly to new circumstances and can experiment with innovative approaches

NGOs can identify emerging issues, and through their consultative and participatory approaches can identify and express beneficiary views that otherwise might not be heard.

NGOs - successful intermediaries

NGOs often are successful intermediaries between actors in the development arena, building bridges between people and communities on one side, and governments, development institutions, and donors and development agencies on the other. In an advocacy role, NGOs frequently represent issues and views important in the dynamics of the development process.

Grading of NGOs

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) who came forward to shoulder several social responsibilities, are facing a credibility crisis with a number of cases of embezzlement and scandals involving some of them coming to the fore. About 400 such NGOs have been blacklisted by the Council for the Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) while the Central Social and Welfare Board (CSWB) has blacklisted 3,000 NGOs.

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Companies With Credit Rating Upgrades

Jody Yen,
04.30.03

NEW YORK - Of all the metrics for evaluating corporate finances, none is more important to management than a firm's credit rating. The higher the credit score, the cheaper it is to borrow money. A good credit rating also makes it easier for a company to attract suppliers and talented individuals.

One big problem: The sluggish economy is taking its toll on corporate credit scores. For example, in the first quarter of this year Standard and Poor's lowered 4.7 credit ratings for every one that it increased. During this period S&P; raised its ratings for just 46 companies.

One company that eked out a higher score from S&P; is Idex (nyse: IDEX - news - people ), which was raised from a BBB- to BBB at the end of March. The Northbrook, Ill.-based capital goods manufacturer produces pumps, metering devices and other industrial equipment. S&P; analysts pointed to disciplined growth and solid cash flow generation as reasons for the ratings hike.

Idex finished the first quarter with sales of $196 million, 12% higher than the same period in the previous year, while net income was up 10%, to $13 million. Although spending on capital goods has been depressed, Idex was aided by acquisitions as well as overseas growth, which benefited from the weak dollar.

Idex' long-term debt to total capitalization currently stands at 31%, down from a five-year average of 39%. Analysts reporting to Thomson First Call expect Idex to post a 12% increase in per-share earnings this year and an 18% gain in 2004. Idex trades for 16 times its 2003 earnings estimate and 13 times its 2004 forecast.

The following table lists seven companies that received credit rating upgrades by either S&P;, FitchRatings or Moody's Investor Service during the first three months of the year. With the exception of Weight Watchers International (nyse: WTW - news - people ), they trade for no more than 17 times estimated 2003 earnings. All are expected to see profit increases of at least 10% annually over the next three to five years.

Weight Watchers International also earned a credit upgrade from S&P; and Moody's. The Woodbury, N.Y.-based company has been buying up some of its domestic and international franchises. Salomon Smith Barney analyst Catherine Imm expects that this spate of acquisitions will add approximately 6 cents per share to earnings this year.

Imm now expects Weight Watchers to finish 2003 with profits of $1.66 per share versus profits of $1.31 per share last year. Weight Watchers trades for 28 times Imm's 2003 forecast.

In February, FitchRatings hiked the senior secured debt of U.S. Industries (nyse: USI - news - people ), which makes bath and plumbing supplies. FitchRatings raised these bonds from B- to B. In the latest 12 months, U.S. Industries' revenue rose 7%, to $1.2 billion, and it posted a profit of $62 million versus a loss of $527 million during the same four quarters of the prior year.

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Buybacks at Diageo prompt credit rating cut

By Christine Seib
September 02, 2005

DIAGEO'S credit rating came under pressure yesterday after the world's biggest drinks company announced a billion-pound share buyback schedule.

Standard & Poor's, the ratings agency, cut Diageo's long-term rating by one notch to A minus. The move puts the company's rating at four notches above non-investment grade, and came after Diageo announced plans to double its share buybacks to £1.4 billion next year followed by a similar amount in 2007

S&P; said that the re-rating was due to the increased debt Diageo would need to take on to fund the buybacks. Moody's, another ratings agency, said that it would reduce Diageo's A2 rating by up to two notches. Shares rose 13p to 792p on news of the buyback.

Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo, remained upbeat as he announced preliminary results for the year to June 30. He reported a 2 per cent increase in turnover to £9 billion, compared with £8.8 billion in the previous year, but operating profit after exceptionals fell 7.5 per cent to £1.7 billion.

Despite a slowdown in top-line growth in the second half of the year, Mr Walsh said that Diageo had a strong balance sheet and was highly cashgenerative. It could therefore afford the buybacks without putting itself in a position where it could not make acquisitions. "We've got the financial flexibility we need," he said. "We'll continue to be alert to acquisition opportunities."

But Mr Walsh said that it was unlikely that it would strike a big beer deal, or any further purchase of spirits companies, because of competition rules. "But when we see brands we want and are allowed to buy, we'll play and we'll play very agressively," he said.

He pointed to the purchase of Bushmills from Pernod Ricard for £200 million this year.

He said that growth would begin to improve more substantially in Europe in 2007, mainly through established brands such as Johnnie Walker and Baileys.

Within the next nine months Diageo will release a new product, although Nick Rose, the finance director, admitted that this was unlikely to match the success of Smirnoff Ice.

Mr Walsh insisted that Diageo was not threatened by the competitor created earlier this year when Pernod Ricard bought Allied Domecq, making it the world's second-largest drinks company.

"We now have a clear number two but it's also a distant number two, and our job is to make sure the relationship stays that way," he said. "We think there will be enough business out there for both of us."

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How to Repair a Bad Credit Rating

By John Mussi

If you have a bad credit rating, then you might find that your ability to get financing, loans, and even some jobs is greatly diminished.

Once you have a bad credit rating, it might seem like there's nothing that you can do about it. but you don't have to believe that. It's not as difficult as you might think to get by with a bad credit rating; with a little work and time you can even repair it! Of course, before you do that it's important to realize exactly what a credit rating is.

What your credit rating says about you

Every time a lender or other creditor makes a report concerning your payment history to them, this report affects your credit score.

Your credit score is a numerical indication of the positive and negative reports that you've received from creditors and lenders; if the number is high then you have a good credit rating, and if it's low then you have a bad credit rating.

Since many creditors and lenders report either monthly or quarterly, the overall score is very fluid and can change over time. a fluidity that allows you to change and improve your bad credit rating as time goes by.

Basic credit repair

If you're looking to repair your bad credit rating, the first thing that you need to do is obtain a copy of your credit report.

Once you have your credit report, you'll be able to see the creditors and lenders that have made the negative reports for late payment and non-payment that caused you to have a bad credit rating.

Contact the lenders who have reported you for non-payment to arrange a repayment schedule, all the while making sure to keep current accounts up to date and not falling behind on your current payments.

As you gradually repay your old debts, they will be reported as being paid satisfactorily. and at the same time your current accounts will continue to report positively as long as you make on time payments.

Within six months to a year a definite change should begin to show in your credit score as the positive reports begin to outnumber and encompass the old negative reports.

It may still take a while longer for your bad credit rating to disappear entirely, but as long as you work to maintain your credit and make your payments on time you'll find that the day will come when having a bad credit rating is nothing more than a memory.

Article Source: Ezine Articles