From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcredit ratingˈcredit ˌrating noun [countable] BFLLENDa judgment made by a bank or other company about how likely a person or business is to pay their debts
Examples from the Corpus
credit rating• The notes are not backed by any collateral; rather, they rely on the high credit rating of the issuing corporation.• The principles of credit rating are immutable, they insist; their credit opinions are never swayed by the judgments of others.• Stronger societies were taking over smaller and weaker ones, which resulted in a downgrading of the credit rating of the predator.• The percentage loaned is again a function of the credit rating of the borrower and the quality of the accounts receivable.• Lists of customers or sub-contractors and associated information; for example, what services they perform, what their credit rating is.From Longman Business Dictionarycredit ratingˈcredit ˌrating [countable]FINANCE a calculation of a company’s or government’s financial strength and the risk of it not being able to repay loans or pay suppliers when it shouldChrysler’s credit rating dropped to junk-bond levels when the company was virtually bankrupt.Some analysts believe that Mexico’s credit rating will be upgraded (=increased) to investment grade in the near future.Standard & Poor is downgrading (=decreasing) the credit rating for Sun Alliance Group to double-A-plus from triple-A. → rating