The leading rating agencies give a rating when a bond is first issued, and that rating determines how high the interest rate on that bond is. A higher rating means the bond will have a lower interest rate.

Dominion Bond Rating Service was created in 1976.

It stands for unrated. That rating agency does not rate that bond.

Bond credit rating is used to assess the credit worthiness of a corporation or government's debt issues. A bond credit rating is similar to a credit rating that an individual person receives.

A bond issuer's probability of defaulting