Servicing

American Business Financial Services Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa., has announced a joint agreement with the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia that ends a civil inquiry by the U.S. attorney and will result in modifications to the company's forbearance policy.ABFS said the inquiry had focused on its policy of requiring a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" as part of its forbearance arrangements with seriously delinquent customers. Under the joint agreement, it will no longer require such deeds in cases where the real estate securing the loan is the borrower's primary residence. It will also return unrecorded deeds in lieu of foreclosure to consumers who provided them under forbearance arrangements, ABFS said. In addition, the company said it will -- under the agreement, and as a demonstration of its "commitment to fair lending practices" -- contribute $80,000 over 13 months to one or more housing counseling groups that are approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and that assist consumers in states where ABFS makes loans. The company's website address is http://www.abfsonline.com.

Meanwhile, Freddie Mac's loan purchases totaled $44.5 billion in November, down 42% from the October total and 50% from September's.Purchase commitments rebounded from $3.7 billion in October to $7.6 billion in November, but this barometer of future activity is way off the $18.4 billion in commitments made in September. The slowdown in mortgage financing and secondary-market activity has also slowed portfolio growth at the giant mortgage company. "Given current market conditions, the company expects retained portfolio growth for the fourth quarter to be relatively flat," Freddie said. Freddie also issued a correction in its monthly volume summary stating that it had previously misclassified $303 million in securities backed by Ginnie Mae collateral as Freddie Mac securities rather than as non-Freddie Mac mortgage-related securities. The impact of the correction on "related annualized growth rates and liquidation rates were no more than 0.1 percentage point and 0.3 percentage points," Freddie Mac reported.

Two classes of Countrywide asset-backed securities issues have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.Class BV of CWABS series 2000-2, group 2, and class BV3 of CWABS series 2000-2, group 3, were placed on Rating Watch Negative. In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on seven other classes in the two securitizations and on eight classes from two other deals. Fitch attributed the negative rating actions to high delinquencies and the deterioration of credit enhancement.

C-BASS, New York, has completed a real estate mortgage investment conduit deal backed by approximately $435 million of residential mortgages.The REMIC -- C-BASS Mortgage Loan Asset-Backed Certificates, Series 2003-CB6 -- consists of about $414.6 million of publicly offered certificates underwritten by RBS Greenwich Capital, GMAC RFC Securities, and Blaylock & Partners, the company said. 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. The company can be found online at http://www.c-bass.com.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has filed a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to permit the sale of up to $500 million of securities to the public.The shelf registration, which has not become effective, provides for the issuance of debt, stock, and depositary shares, the company said. FNF, a provider of title insurance and real-estate-related products and services, can be found online at http://www.fnf.com.

Class BF-1 of Saxon Asset Securities Trust series 2000-3, group 1, has been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.Fitch also affirmed the ratings on four other classes in the deal and three in series 2000-3, group 2. The action on class BF-1 was attributed to loss levels and high delinquencies in relation to the applicable credit support.

Two classes from Salomon Brothers Mortgage Securities VII Inc.mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1997-HUD1 and 1997-HUD2, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.Class B-4 of series 1997-HUD1 was downgraded from B to CCC, and class B-3 of series 1997-HUD2 was downgraded from BBB-minus to BB. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on seven other classes in the two deals. The downgrades reflect credit enhancement levels relative to future loss expectations, the rating agency said. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Eight classes from three BankAmerica manufactured housing securitizations have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, and two were removed from Rating Watch Negative.The downgrades were as follows: series 1995-BA1, class B-1, from BBB to B, and class B-2, from CCC to C; series 1998-1, class M, from AA-minus to BBB (and removed from Rating Watch Negative), class B-1, from BBB to B (and removed from Rating Watch Negative), and class B-2, from B to C; and series 1998-2, class B-1, from B to CCC, and class B-2, from CCC to C. In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on five other classes in the transactions and on nine classes in three other BankAmerica manufactured housing deals. The rating agency noted that BankAmerica Housing Services was purchased by Greenpoint Credit in 1998, and that despite Greenpoint's later exit from the MH lending business, the company continues to service its manufactured housing portfolio. "Higher-than-expected losses have caused significant interest shortfalls to various subordinate bonds in all of the transactions," Fitch said. The deals allow interest to accrue on the shortfall amount and to be recovered if there is sufficient available cash flow, but Fitch said classes rated CCC, CC, and C are "unlikely to recover interest due at any point in the future."

The American Stock Exchange has suspended trading indefinitely in the preferred stock of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., Spokane, Wash., according to Metropolitan.The company said Amex had expressed concerns about the closure of Metropolitan Investment Securities Inc. and about issues raised by the National Association of Securities Dealers (in a waiver-and-consent agreement between NASD and MIS) regarding the sales practices of MIS. "Additionally, Amex expressed a desire to review the company's annual report on Form 10-K, which has not yet been filed," Metropolitan reported. "The Amex has not indicated when, or if, trading would resume." The company can be found online at http://www.metmtg.com.

Luminent Mortgage Capital Inc., a San Francisco-based real estate investment trust, has announced the pricing of an initial public offering of 11.4 million shares of common stock at $13 per share.Luminent was formed in April to invest primarily in U.S. agency and other highly rated mortgage-backed securities. The underwriters have been granted an option to buy up to 1.71 million additional shares to cover any overallotments. The managing underwriter of the offering is Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. The REIT can be found online at http://www.luminentcapital.com.