Servicing

Alliance Bankshares Corp., Chantilly, Va., has announced that its mortgage banking unit, Alliance Home Funding, will cease operations as a stand-alone subsidiary.Thomas A. Young Jr., president and chief executive officer of Alliance Bankshares, said the mortgage banking unit's business results over the past several years have "fallen short" of the parent company's objectives. "As we enter 2007, with a continued modest outlook in the housing sector, we felt a radical change was necessary," Mr. Young said. The new plan calls for about 10 employees to join the bank as part of a mortgage banking division that will offer mortgages to customers, prospects, and homebuilder clients, he said. "The focused approach of this division should lead to better performance metrics," Mr. Young said. The company estimated that it will take a fourth-quarter pretax charge of $540,000 to $675,000 to wind down the operations of Alliance Home Funding. The parent company can be found on the Web at http://www.alliancebankva.com.

Three classes from two Aegis Asset Backed Securities Trust securitizations have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 2003-1, class M2, from A to BBB-plus, and class B1, from BB to CC (and assigned a Distressed Recovery rating of DR3); and series 2003-2, class B, from BBB to BB-plus (and removed from Rating Watch Negative). Fitch also upgraded one class in series 2003-2 and affirmed the ratings on three other classes in the two transactions. The downgrades were attributed to deterioration in the relationship between credit enhancement and loss expectations, the rating agency said. The collateral pools for both deals consist of subprime residential mortgage loans.

Seven classes from five Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors Inc. subprime securitizations have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 2002-AFC1 group 1, class BF-1, from BB to B-plus, and group 2, class BV-1, to BB (and removed from Rating Watch Negative); series 2003-HE1, class B2, from BBB-plus to BB-plus, and class B3, from BBB-minus to BB-minus; series 2003-WMC1, class B2, from BBB-minus to BB-plus; series 2003-WMC2, class B2, from BBB to BB-plus; and series 2005-SL1, class B5, from BBB-minus to BB-plus. The rating agency also placed classes B1 and B2 of series 2002-NC1 and classes B4 and B5 of series 2005-HE1 on Rating Watch Negative. In addition, four classes from four of the transactions were upgraded and the ratings on 39 other classes from eight MLMI subprime deals were affirmed. The negative rating actions were attributed to a deterioration in the relationship between credit enhancement and loss expectations.

Fitch Ratings has assigned Branch Banking and Trust an RPS3-plus residential primary servicer rating for prime loans.Fitch said the rating is based on the company's "experienced and tenured management team, capable loan administration processes, and effective use of technology." Branch Banking and Trust is based in Winston-Salem, N.C., and its largest subsidiary is Branch Banking and Trust Co. BB&T's mortgage loan servicing center is located in Greenville, S.C.

Fitch Ratings has upgraded GMAC Mortgage LLC's special servicer rating from RSS1-minus to RSS1 and removed it from Rating Watch Evolving.The rating agency also assigned the company an RPS1 residential primary subservicer rating. In addition, Fitch affirmed and removed from Rating Watch Evolving the company's RPS1 residential primary servicer ratings for prime, alternative-A, subprime, high loan-to-value, and home equity/home equity line of credit loan products. "The primary, special, and subservicer ratings are based on the company's solid loan administration practices, experienced management team, comprehensive internal controls, robust technology platform, effective management and liquidation of delinquent and nonperforming residential mortgage loans and real-estate-owned assets, and demonstrated ability to provide effective subservicing for third-party portfolios," Fitch said. Fitch rates residential servicers on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Fitch Ratings has assigned HSBC Mortgage Corp. (USA) an RPS2-plus residential primary servicer rating for prime, alternative-A, and home equity/home equity line of credit products.Fitch said the rating is based on HSBC Mortgage's "experienced management team, solid internal controls, and integrated technology." Fitch said the rating also reflects the financial strength of parent company HSBC Holdings PLC, which has an issuer default rating of AA from Fitch. HSBC Mortgage, based in Depew, N.Y., is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Bank USA NA, which is a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. Fitch rates residential servicers on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Fieldstone Investment Corp., Columbia, Md., has announced the securitization by an affiliate, Fieldstone Mortgage Investment Corp., of approximately $178 million of notes.The assets of the trust -- Fieldstone Mortgage Investment Trust, series 2006-S1 -- consist of fixed-rate mortgage loans secured by second liens on residential properties that were originated by Fieldstone Mortgage Co., the origination subsidiary of Fieldstone Investment. The transaction, structured as an on-balance-sheet financing, involved the issuance of one class of senior notes and nine classes of subordinated notes, the company said. Fieldstone can be found online at http://www.fieldstoneinvestment.com.

Moody's Investors Service is introducing a new framework for analyzing the "noncore activities" of highly rated financial guarantors.The rating agency said that, at current levels, the diversification activities of the guarantors "do not generate undue risk or present a threat to their ratings." However, Moody's also said that noncore operations have become a notable part of the business of financial guarantors, and therefore warrant more scrutiny of the financial, operational, and reputation risk these activities pose to the parent companies. "Any significant change to the guarantors' inherently narrow business model of assuming high-quality credit risk would likely alter our view of the key rating drivers," said Moody's managing director Jack Dorer. The rating agency can be found on the Web at http://www.moodys.com.

Countrywide Financial Corp., Calabasas, Calif., has announced that it plans to withdraw the listing of its common stock from NYSE Arca Inc., formerly the Pacific Exchange.Countrywide's common stock will continue to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Countrywide said the decision was intended to eliminate duplicative administrative requirements that come with dual listings as a result of the NYSE Group's recent merger with Archipelago Holdings, the parent company of NYSE Arca. The company can be found online at http://www.countrywide.com.

Franklin Credit Management Corp., a New York-based finance company that specializes in acquiring, originating, servicing, and resolving residential mortgage loans, has announced modifications to its borrowing agreements, including the elimination of all success fee liabilities.The success fee liability of $6.7 million, which would have increased, has been eliminated in consideration for $4.5 million paid to its lead bank, the company reported. A corresponding debt discount of $2.9 million was reduced to approximately $725,000 and will be amortized to expense over the remaining terms of the applicable debt, Franklin said. The company also reported that the lead lending bank has agreed to reduce, from 250 basis points to 235 bps, the interest rate margin on new term debt incurred after Nov. 14 to fund the purchase of one- to four-family residential loans secured by second mortgages. The company can be found online at http://www.franklincredit.com.