The stakeholders that benefited most from Moody's actions were the homebuyers that did not traditionally qualify for a mortgage. Also, investors benefited from the poor credit ratings that Moody's assessed because millions of investors relied on them for an independent and objective assessment. Wall Street benefited greatly because the lender packaged thousands of mortgage-backed loans and sold them to investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. Finally, mortgage brokers benefited because they received commissions for selling the riskiest loans that carried high fees.