Servicing

Class II-B5 of Wells Fargo Asset Securities Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2000-2 pool 2, has been downgraded from C to D by Fitch Ratings.The rating agency attributed the downgrade to loss levels and the level of delinquencies in relation to the applicable credit support.

Eleven certificates from four transactions issued by Conseco Finance Home Equity Loan Trust in 2000 have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service.The affected classes were as follows: series 2000-B, classes MF-1, MF-2, BF-1, and BF-2; series 2000-D, classes B-1 and B-2; series 2000-E, classes B-1 and B-2; and series 2000-F, classes MF-2, BF-1, and BF-2. Moody's also placed under review for possible upgrade eight certificates from two Conseco transactions. The certificates are secured by 30-year fixed- and adjustable-rate home equity loans. The subordinate fixed-rate certificates were placed on review for possible downgrade because credit enhancement levels "may be low given the current projected losses on the underlying pools," Moody's said. One contributing factor is that many of the loans are second liens, which "generally experience very high loss severities," the rating agency said. Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.

Fifty-six classes from 20 Oakwood Homes manufactured housing transactions have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.Fitch also affirmed the ratings on 40 other classes in the deals. The rating agency attributed the downgrades to the "deteriorating performance" of the manufactured housing pools. Oakwood Homes, a major manufacturer and lender in the manufactured housing industry, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 15, 2002. Oakwood received approval from the bankruptcy court to continue servicing its portfolio. "During this time the company has made changes to servicing practices which have caused volatility in performance," the rating agency said. "Losses have been high due to an increase in loss severities and default rates. Loss severities have been affected by Oakwood's sole reliance on the wholesale channel for liquidation of its repossessed homes." The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

The board of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., Washington, has declared a dividend of $0.80 per share on the corporation's 6.40% cumulative preferred stock, series A.The fourth-quarter dividend will be payable Dec. 31 to stockholders of record as of Dec. 20, Farmer Mac said. The government-sponsored enterprise can be found on the Web at http://www.farmermac.com.

The Bond Market Association has reported that a managing director at Lehman Brothers will head its mortgage- and asset-backed securities division in 2004.David N. Sherr, head of Lehman's global mortgage business, will serve as chairman of the division and Thomas Marano, senior managing director and global head of the mortgage and asset-backed securities departments at Bear, Stearns & Co., will serve as vice chairman. The association can be found on the Web at http://www.bondmarkets.com.

Freddie Mac, which has been besieged by an accounting scandal since midyear, has named the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Richard F. Syron, as it new chairman and chief executive.Mr. Syron, who also headed the American Stock Exchange for five years, is the board's pick to lead the secondary-market giant out of the dark days of a scandal that has hammered its reputation, employee morale, and investor confidence. "Freddie Mac is a great company with an important public mission to help make homeownership more affordable for American families," Mr. Syron said in a statement. "I am a strong believer in that mission." Mr. Syron joins the company from the publicly traded Thermo Electron Corp., Waltham, Mass., a manufacturer of high-tech equipment. But Mr. Syron is best known in the mortgage and financial services industries for the years he spent at the Boston Fed (1989 to 1994). It was during this period that banks -- and the New England economy in particular -- were in bad financial shape. In its Dec. 8 issue, National Mortgage News reported that there were two final candidates for CEO: Roger Haughton, CEO of the PMI Group, and an unknown. NMN went to press last Thursday. Freddie made its announcement concerning Mr. Syron Sunday afternoon.

The B classes of Impac Secured Assets Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates series 2000-4 and 2000-5 have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on six other classes in the two deals. The Rating Watch placements reflect concerns based on available credit enhancement relative to future loss expectations, the rating agency said. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Richard Karl Goeltz, a former vice chairman and chief financial officer of American Express Corp., has been elected to the board of directors of Freddie Mac.Before joining American Express, Mr. Goeltz was group CFO and a member of the board of National Westminster Bank and executive vice president for finance and CFO at The Seagram Co. Ltd., Freddie Mac said. He is a former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Advisory Council and of the United Kingdom's Accounting Standards Board.

Prepayment rates of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities slowed an average of 20% across the board in the November reporting period, according to the Bear Stearns Prepayment CommentaryAnalysts Dale Westhoff and Bruce Kramer took special note of big declines in the speeds of coupons above 6%. "Given that this sector is still theoretically refinanceable, there has been considerable uncertainty surrounding the timing and magnitude of the slowdown in this sector," the analysts said. "However, 16 months of continuous, heavy refinancing activity has finally produced a classic burnout response from the remaining borrowers in these pools." The analysts also pointed to the fact that the speeds of Fannie and Freddie MBS have "fully converged across the coupon stack" after an extended period in which Freddie Mac speeds were markedly faster than those of Fannie Mae MBS. In the Ginnie Mae sector, the speed declines were not as steep, in part because of servicer buyouts. Mr. Westhoff and Mr. Kramer said another likely reason is the longer processing time for Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs loans with smaller balances. Bear Stearns can be found online at http://www.bearstearns.com.

Mortgage lenders reduced their payrolls in October for the second consecutive month -- this time by 4,700 full-time employees -- as demand for refinancings fell dramatically.The Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday show that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector fell from 421,400 in September to 416,700 in October. The interest rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stayed below 6% in October. However, origination volume was off by 30%-50% during some weeks in October (compared with that of the same weeks a year earlier). Meanwhile, the November job report for the economy as a whole disappointed many who expected to see a real boost in hiring. Only 57,000 new jobs were created in November, compared with 126,000 in October. (There is a one-month lag in mortgage employment data due to changes the Labor Department made to its employment report earlier this year.) The BLS can be found online at http://stats.bls.gov.