In this study, we analyze the ability of support vector machines (SVM) for credit risk modeling from two different aspects: credit classification and estimation of probability of default values. Firstly, we compare the credit classification performance of SVM with the widely used technique of logistic regression. Then we propose a cascaded model based on SVM in order to obtain a better credit classification accuracy. Finally, we propose a methodology for SVM to estimate the probability of default values for borrowers. We furthermore discuss the advantages and disadvantages of SVM for credit risk modeling.