Markets seem unable to put a consistent and logical price on credit risk at the present time. This is true of the domestic market, although less so, and of offshore markets. Whether this is something for users and followers of debt markets to worry about is not clear. The reasons for fretting are fair enough: any sustained inability to price risk leads to markets freezing up.To illustrate the point, this newsletter last week commented on the pricing of three bond issues in the domestic market the week before last. The standout issue was the 7.5-year bond issue by SPI Australia Electricity & Gas Holdings, rated 'A-', which was priced at a margin of just 160 basis points over swap.Similarly rated Transurban Finance had to pay 180 bps over to raise debt for four years and 'BBB' rated Mirvac had to pay 265 bps over, to get funding for five years. Admittedly, these were the first true corporate issues for the year and, given the dearth of such issuance in recent years, the market is lacking in pricing benchmarks. However, last week we had National Australia Bank issue three-year bonds at a spread of just 77 bps, two days after the bank's subsidiary, National Wealth Management Holdings, issued three-year bonds at a spread of 195 bps. NWMH is rated only one notch lower than the bank, at 'AA-'. Another 'A-' rated issuer, Volkswagen Financial Services Australia priced four-year bonds at 225 bps over. Where is the relativity?Last week also saw Brambles (rated BBB+) issue bonds in the US s144A market. Brambles was able to raise five- and ten-year debt at spreads of only 137.5 bps and 150 bps respectively, over US Treasury bonds. Even if the ten-year funds were swapped back into Australian dollars, Brambles would achieve pricing considerably below what Mirvac had to pay for its five-year debt, say around 200 bps to 210 bps.There is no doubt that the offshore markets are not demanding as much compensation for credit risk as the domestic market and this is how SPIAEG was able to get such a good deal - it could point to the pricing on its recent offshore issues.