The Role of Credit Agencies in the Financial Crisis

We had a good question regarding the role credit agencies have played in creating this financial mess. By "credit agency" we don't mean Experian, Equifax or Transunion which I wrote about earlier this week. While those focus on consumer credit profiles and scores, there are a few more "agencies" that had a direct impact in fueling this crisis and they are household names: Moody's and Standard & Poor's.