Find Corporate Bond Ratings

      Corporate bonds are like loans which companies take with a promise to return the money on a particular date -- the date of maturity of the bond. Until the date of maturity, the investor receives interest for the principal amount. Interest received from a corporate bond is usually taxable and it has to be declared when you are filing your tax returns.

       Corporate bonds are different from stocks, wherein the bond holder does not have ownership interest in the company that issued the bond.

       There are three major rating companies that rate whether companies issuing bonds can meet their obligations. These ratings give us an idea about the credit worthiness of companies and you can determine how risky investing in these companies will be for you as a bond holder. The top three corporate bond rating agencies are Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch IBCA.

      These three rating companies give grades to bonds, including corporate bonds, and the grades help us to get an indication of the companies’ credit quality. Corporate bond ratings allow us to determine the bond issuing companies financial strength and its ability to repay the principal amount and the interest in a timely manner.

      Corporate bond ratings are conveyed through letters which range from AAA to C, where AAA is the highest rating and C the lowest. All rating agencies use the same letters to grade companies but can use a combination of upper case and lower case letters to make themselves stand apart from other rating agencies.

Listed below are bond ratings used by the top three rating agencies:

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