credit ratings agencies

Mortgage lenders aren’t selling subprime loans much anymore, but apparently the credit rating agencies that certified them as safe and profitable investments are back at it, this time killing a book critical of, well, a ratings agency.
The tale comes from Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture, who had a contract with publisher McGraw Hill, which [...]

At the end of a five-hour excoriation of CEOs at credit-rating agencies, Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) said to the heads of Moody’s, Standard’s & Poor’s and Fitch: “Remember, we’re speaking from an institution, Congress, with lower ratings than yours.”
Congress doesn’t know what its next step will be in regulating Wall Street after the financial meltdown. [...]

The House oversight committee released a smattering of documents today from two big credit-rating agencies– Moody’s and Standard & Poor — on how they evaluated mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps. One letter shows that S&P decided to lower its standard in rating mortgage-backed securities simply to compete with Moody’s.