Servicing

Class BV of IndyMac ABS Inc. series SPMD 2000-B group 2 has been downgraded from BBB to BB and removed from Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.In addition, the ratings on three other classes in the same home equity deal were affirmed. Fitch attributed the downgrade to "poor collateral performance and the deterioration of asset quality beyond original expectations." The deal originally contained 6.7% of manufactured housing collateral, but the percentage had increased to 19.1% as of July, the rating agency said. "To date, MH loans have exhibited very high historical loss severities, causing Fitch to have concerns regarding the adequacy of enhancement in this deal, especially with regard to class BV," Fitch said. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Hibernia, a bank headquarted in New Orleans, is selling its $10 billion third party mortgage servicing portfolio to CitiMortgage, Stamford, Conn.Matrix Bancorp Trading Inc., Denver, is the sales advisor for Hibernia. "Fluctuating interest rates over the past two years have impacted the value of mortgage servicing rights and resulted in volatility in the mortgage servicing income stream for Hibernia and many other banks," said Paul Peters, mortgage banking president for Hibernia. "Based on our ongoing analysis of the mortgage servicing asset and our desire to limit earnings volatility in this area, we decided to exit the third-party mortgage servicing business. We will now direct most of our mortgage banking efforts toward retail residential origination and release the servicing rights to others in the industry." Hibernia will retain a $2 billion adjustable-rate mortgage portfolio and a $650 billion portfolio owned by Hibernia that is serviced by others.

LNR Property Corp. subsidiary Lennar Partners Europe Ltd. has acquired commercial real estate loan servicer Hatfield Philips International.Jeffrey P. Krasnoff, president and chief executive officer of LNR Property Corp., said he and Mark Griffith, managing director of LNR's European operations, have worked closely with Hatfield Philips International chairman John Hatfield for "almost a dozen years." He added that, over the past seven years, he has watched closely "as the HPI team built a first rate operation in Europe." Mr. Hatfield said that his company "already had a wonderful working relationship with the LNR team" and that he is "thrilled to formally join forces with LNR in Europe." LNR can be found on the Web at http://www.lnrproperty.com.

C-BASS, New York, has completed a real estate mortgage investment conduit deal backed by approximately $448 million of residential mortgages.The company said the REMIC -- C-BASS Mortgage Loan Asset-Backed Certificates, Series 2004-CB5 -- consists of about $434 million investment grade certificates underwritten by Banc of America Securities and WaMu Capital Corp. The servicer on the deal is Litton Loan Servicing LP, a C-BASS subsidiary. C-BASS specializes in acquiring, servicing and securitizing "credit sensitive" residential mortgages. C-BASS can be found online at http://www.c-bass.com.

Moody's Investors Service has developed Australian methodology for servicer quality ratings."Moody's intends to roll out SQ Ratings for all mortgage servicers that service loan portfolios backing Australian RMBS," said Moody's analyst Kim Ly. "The publication of SQ Ratings will be subject to the servicer's approval." Moody's said that among the catalysts for the decision to rate Australian servicers have been "concerns that weakening house prices may lead to higher delinquencies and defaults." Moody's can be found on the Web at http://www.moodys.com.

Cendant Corp., New York, late Tuesday confirmed that it has ended talks with a potential buyer of its mortgage company.Mortgage officials told MortgageWire that the buyer was Countrywide Home Loans, Calabasas, Calif. In a statement Cendant Corp. said it has "terminated discussions with the party referred to" in a late July press release. Both Cendant and Countrywide never commented publicly that Countrywide was the potential buyer. The parent company said it, "will continue the process of receiving proposals and holding preliminary discussions with other parties regarding the sale of such business and, as previously stated, is also considering other strategic alternatives for the business." Cendant Mortgage is the 10th largest residential servicer and 11th largest lender in the U.S., according to the Quarterly Data Report.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are providing mortgage relief for Florida borrowers facing hardships as a result of the widespread flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Charley.Fannie Mae is giving lenders the discretion to help victims of the hurricane in several ways, including suspending mortgage payments for up to three months, reducing the payments for up to 18 months, or in more special cases, creating longer loan payback plans. Mortgage lenders doing business with Fannie will determine appropriate relief steps by considering any uninsured losses, extended unemployment and extraordinary expenses related to the storms that affect mortgage payments. Freddie Mac is encouraging servicers to reduce or suspend mortgage payments for up to 12 months for borrowers whose mortgages are owned by Freddie Mac. Freddie is also advising servicers to waive the assessment of penalties or late fees against borrowers with disaster-damaged homes, not report forbearance or delinquencies caused by the disaster to the nation's credit bureaus, and expedite the release of insurance proceeds.

Loan purchases by Fannie Mae fell to $55.57 billion in July, the mortgage giant's worst showing since February, according to figures released by the company.Compared to the same month a year ago loan purchases fell by 61%. However, Fannie's portfolio grew 2.1% (annualized) in July to $893 billion as rising rates slowed prepayment speeds. Fannie, like most participants in the mortgage market, is suffering from a slowdown in production -- in particular refinancings -- which limits the amount of mortgages it can purchase in the secondary market. However, the production slowdown is allowing the company to continue growth in its balance sheet. July marks the second month in a row that Fannie grew its portfolio. The previous eight months the GSE suffered portfolio declines.

Countrywide Home Loans, Calabasas, Calif., is now the largest subprime residential servicer in the nation, according to new rankings compiled by National Mortgage News.At the end of June Countrywide serviced $58.07 billion in subprime home mortgages, a 104% increase from the same period last year, according to exclusive rankings compiled for NMN's Quarterly Data Report. For several quarters Countrywide has been creeping up on Household Finance, Prospect Heights, Ill., and CitiFinancial, Baltimore, which have dominated the subprime servicing landscape for several years. At the end of June Household (which is owned by HSBC) ranked second among subprime servicers with $56 billion, followed by CitiFinancial ($54 billion). Countrywide, at the end of June, was the nation's largest overall servicer with $726 billion.

Deutsche Bank, whose U.S. headquarters are in New York, has agreed to acquire the mortgage origination and servicing assets of commercial lender Berkshire Mortgage Finance Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of The Berkshire Group, Boston.Berkshire Mortgage specializes in providing funding for multi-family properties using government-sponsored enterprise and government-insured products. It did $3.5 million in loan volume in 2003 and has a servicing portfolio of over $18 billion. Upon closing Berkshire Mortgage will become part of Deutsche Bank's global Real Estate Debt Markets group. Douglas Krupp, chairman of The Berkshire Group, said "our divestiture of Berkshire Mortgage is consistent with our long-term strategy of creating new businesses, growing those businesses to be market leaders and creating significant value for our equity holders." Berkshire Mortgage was formed in 1987. Its headquarters are, and will remain in, Boston. It also has platform offices in Bethesda, Md., and Irvine, Calif. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.