Hey, Schweethart, get me bond ratings.

An interesting new entrant into the bond ratings business is Kroll Bond Ratings, whose startup is reported by Integrity Research in A Shake Up is Comming [sic] in the Credit Rating Space. Yes, it's the same Kroll that started the high-end detective agency in 1972, Kroll Associates.

Kroll claims it will do less predictive modeling to assign ratings, and will actually send people to see if mortgage-backed houses are being lived in. Good luck staffing that!