Servicing

New York Mortgage Trust Inc., a New York-based real estate investment trust, has announced the completion of an approximately $228.7 million securitization of adjustable-rate mortgage loans.The notes in the transaction, New York Mortgage Trust 2005-3, are backed by first-lien ARMs and hybrid ARMs, all of which were originated through the company's mortgage banking subsidiary, The New York Mortgage Co. LLC. The weighted average loan-to-value ratio of the loans is about 69.5%, and the weighted average FICO score is about 732, the company said. Credit Suisse First Boston LLC served as underwriter for the transaction.

Three classes of Structured Asset Securities Corp. residential mortgage-backed securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 2002-10H, class B4, from BB to B, and class B5, from B to C; and series 2003-7H, class B5, from B to CCC. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on 47 classes from six SASCO securitizations. The downgrades were attributed to cumulative pool losses and high delinquency levels. The rating agency can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has placed its ratings on 35 classes from 18 U.S. synthetic collateralized debt obligation deals on CreditWatch with negative implications.When pari passu tranches are combined, the 35 ratings represent 25 credit classes, S&P said. "The CreditWatch placements are due to an update of S&P's credit opinion regarding the risks associated with the credit behavior of non-investment-grade entities," the rating agency said. "In addition, our assessment of how that behavior is correlated also has been updated." The updated assumptions have been incorporated into S&P's CDO Evaluator model, the latest version of which (version 3.0) was released Dec. 19 for global synthetic CDOs. The 35 classes represent approximately 4% of S&P's total publicly rated U.S. synthetic CDO tranches, the rating agency reported. S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.

Meanwhile, ForeclosureS.com also reported that new filings of foreclosure cases began to rise in New Jersey at the end of the third quarter.New filings rose from 3,228 in the second quarter to 3,668 in the third quarter, company president Alexis McGee said. Prices supported by severe supply constraints in New Jersey were making it easier for distressed homeowners to sell their way out of foreclosure, Ms. McGee said. She added that median home prices had risen 13% to $352,420 in the state so far in the second half of 2005, but that cutbacks by homebuilders and slowing sales volume suggested that the market would cool in 2006.

Foreclosure activity began to rise in California at the end of the third quarter, according to ForeclosureS.com, Fair Oaks, Calif.Alexis McGee, president of ForeclosureS.com, said many factors are conspiring to put homeowners at risk of possible foreclosure, such as rising interest rates, a flattening price appreciation curve, and growing use of high-risk loans to qualify for more expensive homes. "We saw increases in defaults month to month at the end of the third quarter in eight of the 13 Northern California counties that we cover, and in four of five Southern California counties," she said. ForeclosureS.com expanded its foreclosure list to nationwide coverage in November, and now has over 700,000 listings of distressed property in more than 900 counties across the country, Ms. McGee said. The company can be found online at http://www.foreclosures.com.

Option One Mortgage Corp., Irvine, Calif., has announced that it will extend for an additional 90 days the payment deferral period for borrowers affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.The deferral period now extends to 180 days from the date of the disaster declaration for Hurricane Katrina by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or until the end of February, Option One said. In addition to payment deferral during that period, the company said it will not file negative credit reports, assess late fees, or pursue legal actions in progress, such as foreclosure. "[W]e encourage any borrower who has not been in touch to please contact us so we can help them work out the best solution for their particular circumstances," said Teji Singh, Option One's senior vice president of servicing operations. Option One said it may extend the relief measures past 180 days on a case-by-case basis. The company can be found online at http://www.optiononemortgage.com.

RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, Calif., has reported that the number of new properties in some stage of foreclosure decreased 12% nationwide in November.The company's Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report indicates that 71,606 new foreclosure properties were added to the rolls in November. "After reaching their highest level of the year in October, foreclosures in November retreated to closer to the levels we saw earlier this fall and in the summer," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer. "While fewer foreclosures in most of the Gulf Coast states contributed to this, it also continues the trend of seeing the national foreclosure rate drop the month after a significant spike." The company said Florida was the only Gulf Coast state with increasing foreclosures in November, with 8,872, an increase of 16% and the most foreclosures reported by any state. RealtyTrac can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com.

ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich., has reported that computer tape containing data on approximately 2.0 million residential mortgage customers was lost while being transported by DHL.The company, a subsidiary of Chicago-based LaSalle Bank Corp., said the tape did not contain any data related to LaSalle Bank accounts other than residential mortgages. "We understand that this incident may cause concern for our customers, and we deeply regret that it has occurred," said Thomas M. Goldstein, AAMG's chairman and chief executive officer. "We have begun notifying our customers and are dedicating resources to assist them and to answer any questions they may have. Although we have no reason to believe that this information has been misused, we are also informing them of steps they can take to protect themselves." The company said it has also arranged for its residential mortgage customers to enroll in a credit monitoring service for 90 days at no cost to them. The company can be found online at http://www.lasallebank.com.

Fannie Mae has announced that it will reduce its minimum servicing fee on adjustable-rate mortgages to 25 basis points starting Jan. 1.The secondary-market agency also indicated that it may be willing to cut the minimum ARM servicing fee to 12.5 bps for high-quality servicers. "On a negotiated basis, the minimum servicing fee on certain adjustable rate mortgages may be reduced to a level below 25 bp," according to Fannie announcement 05-08. Fannie currently requires a minimum servicing fee of 37.5 bps on most ARMs. The 12.5 bps minimum servicing fee on uniform hybrid ARMs will remain in effect for 2006.

The Legacy Bank, Harrisburg, Pa., has completed a restructuring of its marketable securities portfolio by selling chiefly mortgage-backed securities, resulting in an after-tax loss of about $400,000 in the fourth quarter, according to George H. Groves, the bank's chairman and chief executive officer.The securities have a total book value of approximately $24 million, a weighted average yield of 3.77%, and an average expected life of 2.8 years. The bank said the proceeds of the restructuring will provide the liquidity to avoid a high-cost refinancing of about $24 million of time deposits maturing in the next 60 days. "The bank does not anticipate a significant impact on stockholders' equity because the securities were sold exclusively from Legacy's available-for-sale security portfolio and, accordingly, were already carried on the balance sheet at current market values," the bank said. Legacy can be found online at http://www.thelegacybank.com.