Servicing

Two classes of Truman Capital Mortgage Loan Trust securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.Class B of series 2002-1 was downgraded from BB to B, and class B of series 2002-2 was downgraded from BBB to BB. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on eight classes in the two deals. The downgrades were attributed to higher-than-expected losses that have reduced overcollateralization. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Class 3B-4 of Structured Asset Mortgage Investments Inc.'s series 1999-2 (group 3) mortgage-backed securities deal has been downgraded from CCC to CC by Fitch Ratings.In addition, Fitch upgraded two classes and affirmed the ratings on nine classes in two SAMI issues. The rating agency attributed the downgrade to a deterioration in the relationship between credit enhancement and loss expectations. Class 3B-4 currently has only 0.91% of credit enhancement, in the form of subordination, Fitch reported. The series is backed by 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loans extended to alternative-A borrowers.

NetBank Inc., Atlanta, has announced a delay in reporting its third-quarter financial results because of apparent "irregularities" in $13 million of conforming mortgage loans the company originated and sold to investors.The company said it intends to issue the third-quarter results after the close of the market on Nov. 14. "These loans appear to have some irregularities stemming from the appraisal and underwriting process," NetBank said. A telephone call with NetBank's management will follow the issuance of the results, and the call will be audiocast on the company's website, NetBank said. The company can be found online at http://www.netbankinc.com.

New foreclosed residential properties rose 8% in October to 21,998, chiefly as a result of relisted federal properties, according to Foreclosure.com, an online foreclosure listing service based in Boca Raton, Fla.The nationwide inventory of foreclosed residential properties totaled 87,794, nearly unchanged from the number in September, the company reported. The increase in new foreclosures was attributed to the relisting in 11 mostly Southeastern states of properties owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Brad Geisen, president and chief executive officer of Foreclosure.com, said the U.S. foreclosure level remains low compared with where it stood at the start of the year. "While there are still pockets of increasing inventory in the Midwest and Northwest, foreclosure levels in most of the country have remained flat during the past six months," he said. The company can be found online at http://www.foreclosure.com.

Safeguard Properties Inc., Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, has initiated a series of "industry awareness" conference calls on issues facing servicers, mortgage companies, governmental agencies, and the entire real estate industry in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.Safeguard said the first of six such calls occurred days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. They included more than 200 participants from all sectors of the industry, including servicers, field service providers, insurance carriers, and representatives of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and city code enforcement offices from across the nation, the company reported. "These calls aligned everyone in the industry to formulate a consensus on how to handle a crisis of this magnitude and develop an effective recovery plan," said Robert Klein, Safeguard's founder and chief executive officer. Safeguard, which offers field services to the mortgage servicing industry, can be found online at http://www.safeguardproperties.com.

Three classes of home equity loan pass-through certificates issued by GE Capital in 1996 and 1997 have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 1996-HE4, class M, from A to BBB; series 1997-HE1, class M, from A to BBB; and series 1997-HE4, class B1, from CCC to CC. Fitch also upgraded two classes and affirmed the ratings on 26 other classes in 11 GE Capital deals. Fitch attributed the downgrades to the deterioration of credit enhancement relative to monthly losses that have risen or held steady.

Five classes in two issues of Salomon Brothers Mortgage Securities VII Inc. mortgage pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 2000-UP1, class B-4, from B to CCC; series 2001-UP2 (group 1 pool 1), class BF-4, from BB-minus to B; and series 2001-UP2 (group 2), class BV-3, from BBB-minus to BB, class BV-4, from CCC to CC, and class BV-5, from CC to C. In addition, Fitch upgraded two classes and affirmed the ratings on 26 classes in five SBMS issues. The downgrades were attributed to poor collateral performance and the deterioration of asset quality beyond original expectations. The series 2000-UP1 transaction is collateralized by 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loans, and the series 2001-UP2 deal consists of 30-year fixed-rate and 15-year adjustable-rate loans. The group 1 pool is further subdivided into subgroups IA and IB, which are not fully cross-collateralized but do provide limited cross-support in certain cases, Fitch said. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

The Federal Home Loan Banks' Mortgage Partnership Finance program funded $2.6 billion of loans in the third quarter, up 41% from the total of the previous quarter.The FHLBank of Chicago, which coordinates the MPF program, also reported that 939 FHLBank member financial institutions are approved to fund such loans, a gain of 20 for the quarter. MPF assets funded since the program's inception totaled $158.5 billion in the third quarter, the bank reported. Under the MPF program, the risks of long-term, fixed-rate mortgage lending are shared between mortgage lenders and their regional FHLBank, with the former handling the credit risk and the customer relationship and the latter bearing the interest rate risk. The program can be found on the Web at http://www.fhlbmpf.com.

MacKenzie Patterson Fuller Inc., San Francisco, has announced that the company and its affiliates have offered to buy up to 85,000 shares of common stock of Palmetto Real Estate Trust.The offered price is $3 per share. The company said the acquisition of the shares would result in the ownership of approximately 4.8% of the outstanding shares of Palmetto by MPF. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.mpfi.com.

First Advantage Corp., St. Petersburg, Fla., has announced the acquisition of the mortgage credit reporting assets of Credit Data Services, Maitland, Fla., from Experian for an undisclosed amount.First Advantage said the transaction provides added Southeastern market share to its mortgage credit company, First American Credco. CDS was acquired by Experian earlier this year. First Advantage said its acquisition of CDS is connected to Experian's joint venture agreement with The First American Corp., which is the majority owner of First Advantage. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fadv.com and http://www.firstam.com.