http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/07/phony-accounting-on-fannie-freddie.html

And wow suddenly like by miracle all the banks earnings are not that bad. Bastards ! I have finished believing any bullshit coming out of banks. They make the numbers they want. It’s like the phoney government statistics and the psychopath Bush. “Our banking system is solid.” Bullshit.

Seriously, I just had a conversation with my husband – we’re in the Bay Area too – professional Real Estate Investors – OMG!!!! with some old and new money…and we think the hardest hit will be the worker bees, but here’s the clincher, what happens to the queen bee when the workers die off? How depressing!

I think we’re in a world of hurt. Who is going to buy our high priced houses if only high income people can afford them and they want out? Who is going to be able to pay even rents consistently with a crash? If your house is paid off, good, stay put, plant a victory garden…we don’t have the former, but I’m leaving now to the store to buy some seeds to sow~!

I bet the price of booze goes up as demand increases! LOL

As a service to consumers, the staff of the FDIC Library has compiled a listing of several financial institution rating services.

Disclaimer: This list should not be construed as an endorsement or confirmation by the FDIC of information provided by these companies.

Services

The bank rating services listed alphabetically below offer a variety of online, web-based, paper and CD-ROM based services that cover banks, bank holding companies, savings and loans and savings banks.

These services usually assign each institution a letter grade or numerical ranking which is meant to indicate the safety or soundness of the institution.
These rankings are determined through the use of proprietary formulas that are applied to data collected by the bank and thrift regulatory agencies. These formulas vary from service to service.
Most of the formulas use data based upon some variation of CAMELS rating factors – Capital, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to market risk.
DeNovo institutions have unique characteristics that ratings formulas may not fully recognize.
Most of the rating services offer subscriptions to specific print and online publications. Several offer ratings over the telephone.

Please contact the companies listed to obtain further information about the full range of services and products offered.

A.M. Best Company
Website: http://www3.ambest.com/banks/default.asp
Oldwick, New Jersey 08858-0700
Phone: (908) 439-2200 x5633
Fax: (908) 439-2237
e-mail: banking.analysis@ambest.com
Product:
Best’s Bank Deposit Rating (BDR) is an assessment of the operating bank’s ability to honor its ongoing obligations to depositors

Best’s Issuer Credit Rating (ICR) is an assessment of the bank’s ability to honor its ongoing senior-most obligations.

Best’s Bank Debt Rating is an assessment of the issuer’s ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations to security holders when due.

Ratings on a scale from ‘aaa’ being the strongest to ‘d’ being the weakest, and may be enhanced with a ‘+’ or ‘-‘ to indicate whether credit quality is near the top or bottom of a category.

Institutions rated:
U.S. banks and bank holding companies.
Rating method:
Primary Rating Principles:
Quantitative as well as qualitative assessments of banking operations incorporating management meetings and discussions with the rated institution.

Industry peer comparison.

Long-term focus through industry cycles.

Rating profile determined by both current and stressed conditions.

Consideration of impacts of affiliates and parent companies within the group.

Key Rating Considerations: Long-term core earnings capability:
Historical earnings from core operations.
Development of additional viable business lines for future earnings generation.

Business profile:
Franchise strength (brand recognition, defensible market leadership, niche stronghold, long-term client base).
Competitive dynamics within pertinent markets.
Profitability, stability and growth potential of primary lines of business.
Diversified mix of assets and revenue sources (interest vs. fee income).

Balance sheet strength:
Liquidity profile (adequacy of funding to support existing business/future growth as well as diversification of short-/long-term sources of funding).
Core capitalization (quality/adequacy in providing protection and capital requirements for existing business/future growth).
Capital structure and financial flexibility (degree of leverage and short-/long-term access to various sources of financing).
Asset quality (reviewed against de facto measures of credit loss statistics/risk concentration, as well as on credit risk management and administration).

Risk management:
Measurement and management of risk factors: interest rate, market, liquidity, currency, operational and other risks.
Organization and control systems.
Integrity of data and modeling techniques.
Back-end validation testing.

Other factors:
Regulatory structure.
Management and corporate governance.
Parent company and affiliated operations.

Cost:
Bank Credit Reports are available to the public at a cost of $75.00 for each company report. (Separately, banks that are rated by A.M. Best are charged a rating fee, based on asset size and other criteria.)

For further information regarding A.M. Best Ratings, visit A.M. Best’s website at: http://www.ambest.com.

Some others are as follows:

Bankrate Inc
BauerFinancial Inc
Creative Investment Research Inc
Financial Information Systems LLC
Highline Data LLC
IDC Financial PublishingInstitutional Risk AnalyticsLACE Financial Corp
Veribanc
Weiss Ratings Inc