Servicing

Twenty classes from seven UCFC manufactured housing transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.Fitch also affirmed the ratings on 11 classes in seven deals. The downgrades reflect the poor performance of the loans, Fitch said. The rating agency noted that United Companies Financial Corp. exited the manufactured housing business in 1998 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1999. EMC Mortgage Corp. acquired the servicing rights for UCFC's manufactured housing portfolio in 2000. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Fannie Mae has made changes to its website that it says makes its mortgage-backed security pool-level data easier for users to obtain.Users can now download monthly data of this type in a data file from part of the website labeled "Pool Data Direct," the government-sponsored enterprise said. This information "had previously been available to audiences in other formats and sources," including the portable document format in a section of the site labeled "PoolTalk," according to the GSE.

There is roughly a one-in-six chance of a general decline in home prices over the next two years, according to the PMI Risk Index, which rose 12 points in the fourth quarter.The average value of the index for the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas stood at 174 at the end of the fourth quarter, said PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., the Walnut Creek, Calif.-based mortgage insurer that created the index. The index value means that these cities have on average a 17.4% probability of experiencing a home price decline in the next two years. PMI noted that San Jose, Calif., which topped the index with a 468, as well as Portland, Ore., with 353, and Charlotte, N.C., with 346, are higher-risk MSAs that experienced increases in their risk index average. They have suffered from higher-than-average unemployment rates and low or negative job creation rates, PMI said.

Catherine M. Dondzila has been named senior vice president of investments and capital markets accounting at Freddie Mac.The company said its Debt, Derivative & Fair Value Accounting, and Investment Accounting departments will report to Ms. Dondzila, who will report to Freddie Mac's chief financial officer, Martin F. Baumann. "[Ms. Dondzila's] experience in driving the application of appropriate accounting and related controls to mortgage securities and derivatives makes her ideal for this position," Mr. Baumann said. Ms. Dondzila was formerly assistant controller and senior managing director for the fixed-income and derivative proprietary sales and trading activities of Bear, Stearns & Co.

In the fourth quarter, 45% of the homeowners who refinanced their homes got a mortgage at least 5% larger than the original loan, up from 34% in the previous quarter, according to Freddie Mac.The percentage was also higher than the 40% level recorded a year earlier, the government-sponsored enterprise said in its quarterly refinance review. "The atmosphere around refinancing changed in the fourth quarter as mortgage rates started rising from the 45-year lows of the summer," said Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist. "Since most of those who could refinance for lower rates have already done so, the later-year market became more attractive primarily to those who want or need to take equity out of their homes."

Nine classes of Deutsche Financial Capital manufactured housing transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 1997-I, class M, from AA to A-minus, and class B-1, from CCC to CC; and series 1998-I, classes A-2 through A-7, from AAA to AA-minus, and class M, from A-plus to BB-minus. In addition, the ratings on four classes of series 1997-I were affirmed. DFC was a joint venture of Deutsche Financial Services Corp. and Oakwood Acceptance Corp. Contracts included in the deals are serviced by OAC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oakwood Homes Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002, Fitch said. The rating agency said Oakwood announced late last year that "substantially all" its assets would be acquired by Clayton Homes Inc.

Fannie Mae and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are bringing to market a five-year, $500 million inflation-linked debt security with coupons linked to the changes in the Consumer Price Index, Fannie Mae has reported."While Fannie Mae has no current plans to issue inflation-linked debt on a programmatic basis, the company would consider future issuances on a case-by-case basis in context of the market's demand and our funding needs," said Linda Knight, Fannie Mae senior vice president and treasurer.

Three classes of Lehman Manufactured Housing 1998-1 have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.Class I-A-1 of series 1998-1 group I was downgraded from AA-plus to AA, and classes II-A-1 and II-A-2 of series 1998-1 group II was downgraded from A to BBB-minus. The transaction is collateralized with classes from 10 Green Tree manufactured housing transactions, the rating agency said. "Due to the lack of additional credit enhancement, the credit risk of the transaction is directly tied to the credit risk of the underlying Green Tree classes," Fitch said. "The credit risk on some of the underlying classes has recently increased...."

Thirteen classes of IndyMac Manufactured Housing Contract pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 1997-1, classes A-2 to A-6, from AAA to AA, and class M, from B to CCC; series 1998-1, classes A-3 to A-5, from AAA to A, and class M, from B to CCC; and series 1998-2, classes A-2 to A-4, from AAA to AA. In addition, the ratings on two classes from series 1998-2 were affirmed. Fitch attributed the downgrades to higher-than-expected losses that have led to "the complete depletion of overcollateralization" on all three transactions. The rating agency noted that IndyMac exited the manufactured housing lending business in mid-1999, although it still services its loans. "In 2001, the servicing was centralized in Pasadena in an effort to leverage the mortgage platform and improve performance," Fitch said. "However, performance has remained poor since the centralization. Additionally, the lack of dealer relationships (as a result of exiting the origination business) coupled with the oversupply of repossessed homes in the marketplace, continues to put significant pressure on recovery rates."

Twenty-six classes from six Bombardier Capital Mortgage Inc. manufactured housing transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.In addition, the ratings on five classes were affirmed. Bombardier exited the manufactured housing retail lending industry in September 2001, but continues to service the loans from a center in Jacksonville, Fla., Fitch said. "A combination of underwriting and servicing problems have resulted in the highest cumulative losses of any MH issuer," the rating agency said. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.