If the contract with the agency is maintained (and scoring made public), the agency may revise the rating at any time, whether as a result of the occurrence of a particular event or as a result of regular visits to the client (usually at least once a year). The review may result in a change in scoring (increase or downgrade).
It is not uncommon to find in the trade press echoes of customers not satisfied with the credit ratings given to them, or changes thereof, which is somehow a sign of the independence thereof.
The ratings are public and can be accessed on a variety of sources, such as Bloomberg or agency websites. Rating agencies typically make available, for a fee, additional tools, such as Business Consulting Services, statistical analysis by sector, collection tools ratings by portfolio, study of particular problems relating to corporate finance and historical analysis (corporate defaults, ratings migration matrix).
