Lendings to stable financial entities such as ample companies or governments are often termed "risk free" or "low risk" and ersatz at a so-called "risk-free game rate". This is because the commitment and interest are highly unlikely to be defaulted. A good example of such risk-free curiosity is a US Treasury security - it yields the minimum return derivable from in economics, but investors have the comfort of the (almost) certain expectation that the US Treasury will not default on its IOU instruments.
Specific bond debts owed by both governments and private corporations is rated by rating agencies, such Debt Consolidation as Moody's, Fitch Ratings Inc., A. M. Best and Standard & Poor's. These agencies assess the ability of the debtor to honor his obligations and accordingly give him a credit rating. Moody's uses the letters Aaa Aa A Baa Ba B Caa Ca C, where ratings Aa-Caa are qualified by numbers 1-3. Munich Re, for example, currently is rated Aa3 (as of 2004). S&P and other rating agencies have slightly at odds systems using capital letters and +/- qualifiers.