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Re: Company financial ratings

Posted by Scott A. Olson, CLTC on April 30, 2001 at 06:01:10:

In Reply to: Company financial ratings posted by David Gannon on April 29, 2001 at 20:39:07:

The best company for determining financial strength is Weiss Research. Do not do business with any company that gets less than a B- from Weiss. He's a very tough grader. A B- from Weiss is better than an A from most other financial ratings companies.

I think the ratings by A.M. Best are a joke. More than 95% of the company's rated by Best get an A- or higher.... Weiss Research grades on a curve, comparing each insurer against each other... With Weiss you know that a company with an A- is slightly stronger than a company with a B+.

Most people don't know it, but the rating agencies, like AM Best and S&P, are paid by the insurers that they rate. It is in the interests of AM Best et al to make the insurers look as good as possible because they are being paid huge sums of money by the insurers.

Weiss Research doesn't take any money from the insurers... he is paid solely by consumers purchasing his ratings and agents like me who purchase his ratings. The fact that he is not in bed with the industry is another reason why I trust his judgment.

Scott A. Olson, CLTC

Follow Ups:

Re: Company financial ratings David Gannon 20:24:32 04/30/01 (1)
- Re: Company financial ratings Scott A. Olson 22:23:20 04/30/01 (0)

Re: Company financial ratings : The best company for determining financial strength is Weiss Research. Do not do business with any company that gets less than a B- from Weiss. He's a very tough grader. A B- from Weiss is better than an A from most other financial ratings companies. : I think the ratings by A.M. Best are a joke. More than 95% of the company's rated by Best get an A- or higher.... Weiss Research grades on a curve, comparing each insurer against each other... With Weiss you know that a company with an A- is slightly stronger than a company with a B+. : Most people don't know it, but the rating agencies, like AM Best and S&P, are paid by the insurers that they rate. It is in the interests of AM Best et al to make the insurers look as good as possible because they are being paid huge sums of money by the insurers. : Weiss Research doesn't take any money from the insurers... he is paid solely by consumers purchasing his ratings and agents like me who purchase his ratings. The fact that he is not in bed with the industry is another reason why I trust his judgment. : Scott A. Olson, CLTC

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