Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• CREDIT RATING
  
  Your credit rating is an independent statistical evaluation of your ability to repay debt based on your borrowing and repayment history. Credit grantors use a point system to evaluate your credit history, sometimes on a scale of 0 to 9, or 9 to 0, but in other cases on a scale of 300 to 900. If you always pay your bills on time, you are more likely to have good credit and therefore may receive favorable terms on a loan or credit card, such as relatively low interest rates. If your credit rating is poor because you have paid bills late or have defaulted on a loan, you are likely to get less favorable terms or may be denied credit altogether. A corporation's credit rating is an assessment of whether it will be able to meet its obligations to bond holders and other investors. Credit rating systems for corporations generally range from AAA or Aaa at the high end to D (for default) at the low end.
  
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