Servicing

Fitch Ratings has announced the withdrawal of all its ratings on two bond insurers, MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc., and their related entities. Fitch said it will also withdraw all ratings based on insurance policies from the companies' insurance subsidiaries, MBIA Insurance Corp. and Ambac Assurance Corp. The announcement followed decisions by MBIA and Ambac "to cease providing substantive nonpublic portfolio information used in Fitch's capital analysis model, to discontinue previous full interactive dialogue with Fitch analysts, and to request withdrawal of Fitch's ratings," the rating agency said. Fitch said the timing was also prompted by many "key credit issues," negative rating actions by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Moody's Investors Service that affect the companies' business prospects, and the companies' "reactive strategic and capital management planning." Fitch said it will consider reinstating coverage and assigning new ratings based only on public information if there is sufficient investor interest.

Lend America, a privately owned, direct-to-consumer lender based in Melville, N.Y., says it has received approvals to issue Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities. Lend America chief operating officer Helene Decillis said the approval will allow the lender to obtain "better prices for our mortgages in the secondary market, thereby funding our ability to create additional loans to qualified, potential homeowners with more competitive terms." Lend America has specialized in Federal Housing Administration lending for several years. When the market turned in the FHA's favor, its business increased dramatically. Lend America can be found on the Web at http://www.lendamerica.com, and Ginnie Mae can be found at http://www.ginniemae.gov.

ForeclosurePoint, Bellevue, Wash., has announced the nationwide launch of ForeclosurePoint.com, which it calls the only national foreclosure marketplace offering free access to full street addresses of more than 1.2 million foreclosure properties in the United States. Other foreclosure websites make users pay to see data that ForeclosurePoint.com provides free, the company said. "Below-market deals are virtually everywhere, but consumers still have a difficult time accessing the market," said Prakash Kondepudi, the company's president and chief executive officer. "Until today, investors, homebuyers, and real estate professionals had to pay to see even basic information about potential foreclosure opportunities." The company, based in the Seattle area, can be found on the Web at http://www.foreclosurepoint.com.

Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., will be replaced by AK Steel in the S&P 500 Index after the close of trading on June 30, Standard & Poor's has announced. S&P said the reason for the change is Countrywide's pending acquisition by Bank of America, a constituent of the S&P 500, in a deal expected to close on or about that date. S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.

As senators go home for the Fourth of July recess, supporters of a housing reform and foreclosure rescue bill remain optimistic that the Senate will pass the measure shortly after they return and that a final bill will land on the president's desk before August. "All signs indicate that they will finish the housing legislation before the August recess," said Mike House, executive director of FM Policy Focus. Republicans succeeded in blocking a final vote on the housing bill before the recess, which starts June 28. But test votes show that at least 80 of the 100 senators support the landmark housing bill that would authorize the Federal Housing Administration to refinance 400,000 at-risk homeowners to prevent foreclosures and strengthen regulation of the housing government-sponsored enterprises. The House has passed a similar bill, and observers expect that the House and Senate banking committee leaders will be able to resolve any differences relatively quickly. Meanwhile, President Bush is moving away from previous veto threats. Now he is calling on lawmakers to complete their work on the housing bill when they return to Washington on July 7. "The Congress needs to come together and pass responsible housing legislation to help more Americans keep their homes," Mr. Bush said.

Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., says it anticipates cutting 7,500 jobs as part of the acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif. Final decisions on what groups and locations will be affected have not been made, but the bank said the reductions will take place over the next two years and will affect positions throughout the country. The companies can be found online at http://www.bankofamerica.com and http://www.countrywide.com.

Nine classes of mezzanine/subordinate bonds from two alternative-A Chase Flex Trust mortgage-backed securities deals have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were based on expected defaults and losses from delinquent loans and projected losses from the currently performing pool, the rating agency said. Fitch said the first phase of its review of 2005-2007 alt-A transactions, focused on mezzanine and subordinate bonds, is nearing completion. "The second phase, which will begin shortly, will be a review of all the senior bonds that, in many instances, require additional cash flow analysis to evaluate the risk of the various individual classes within the senior tranche," Fitch said. The rating agency can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Nineteen tranches from four "scratch-and-dent" transactions issued by GSRPM Mortgage Loan Trust have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. The actions are part of a wider review of all residential mortgage-backed securities in light of the deteriorating housing market and rising delinquencies and foreclosures, the rating agency said. Moody's said many scratch-and-dent pools originated since 2004 are exhibiting higher-than-expected rates of delinquency, foreclosure, and real estate owned. Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.

TierOne Corp., Lincoln, Neb., has announced the sale by TierOne Bank of a $63.8 million portfolio consisting primarily of delinquent residential construction loans in Florida. The more than 300 loans in the portfolio were originated primarily by TransLand Financial Services, a Florida-based mortgage brokerage, and chiefly involve single-family properties in the Cape Coral area of southwest Florida. TierOne said it does not expect to take "any material additional charge" as a result of the sale. The bank can be found on the Web at https://www.tieronebank.com.

The sales of existing single-family detached homes in California were up 18.1% in May from the level recorded a year earlier, surpassing 400,000 for the first time since early 2007, according to the California Association of Realtors. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of closed-escrow resales totaled 423,700 in May, up from the revised 358,640-unit rate recorded in May 2007, CAR reported. The median price of an existing single-family detached home in California totaled $384,840 in May, down 35.3% from a revised $594,530 a year earlier, the association said. The statewide price decline was "a record for year-to-year percentage decreases in the median, reflecting the effect of large numbers of short sales and foreclosures in the market," said CAR vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young. CAR can be found online at http://www.car.org.