Servicing

The Prestwick Mortgage Group, Alexandria, Va., is brokering the sale of servicing rights on two bulk portfolios totaling $99 million of Fannie Mae loans.The first portfolio involves $59 million of home loans, mostly from Massachusetts, with a weighted average note rate of 5.888%, a weighted average servicing fee of 0.2634%, and an average loan balance of $148,058. All the loans are fixed-rate, and the portfolio has 38 months of weighted average seasoning. Bids are due Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 5 p.m. EST. The second portfolio totals $40 million of loans from Georgia, Florida, California, and 30 other states. The weighted average note rate is 6.597%, the weighted average servicing fee is 0.3710%, and the average loan balance is $90,784, with 55 months of weighted average seasoning. Twenty-seven loans are in foreclosure or bankruptcy, and the overall delinquency percentage is 16.82%. Bids are due Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m. EST.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the acquisition of Watterson Prime LLC, a Bellevue, Wash.-based provider of due diligence services to financial institutions that invest in and securitize mortgage loans.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Fidelity said the due diligence services will be integrated with service offerings such as the FIS Hansen Quality HQ Score, a collateral risk score designed to protect clients against property valuation fraud and overvaluation risk. "This acquisition expands our product breadth and our ability to assess risk and certify the quality of mortgage portfolios," said Eric Swenson, president of the FIS Mortgage Information Services Division. "It also enables us to develop innovative products and provides us with a competitive advantage in the marketplace." The companies can be found online at http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com and http://www.wprime.com.

Mortgage lenders added 2,600 full-time employees to their payrolls in September, according to a government report, despite a slowdown in lending in the third quarter.The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector increased from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 501,900 in August to 504,500 in September. Preliminary results from a National Mortgage News survey show that some top lenders experienced loan production declines of 30% or more, compared with loan volumes of a year earlier. Refinancing activity has remained fairly strong, at 40% of mortgage applications, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association survey. But home sales have been declining, and Friday's jobs report shows a sharp drop in construction jobs. While the homebuilders have been holding on to their core employees, the BLS reported that concrete contractors, plumbers, and other specialty trades cut 17,300 employees in September and another 30,700 employees in October. The BLS can be found online at http://stats.bls.gov.

Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV is entertaining offers for its U.S. mortgage division, industry sources have told MortgageWire.A spokesman for ABN Amro Mortgage, Ann Arbor, Mich. -- the nation's eighth-largest servicer, with $220 billion in receivables -- declined to discuss the matter, citing a company policy not to comment on "rumors and speculation." One investment banker told MW that, "I don't know how formal the process is, but it's definitely out there." (For full details, see the Nov. 6 issue of National Mortgage News.)

Five classes of Structured Asset Securities Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: SASCO 2001-8A pools 1-3, class B4-I, from BB-minus to B; SASCO 2002-22H group 1, class B4-I, from BB to B, and class B5-I, from CCC/DR2 to C/DR6; and SASCO 2002-22H group 2, class B4-II, from BB to B, and class B5-II, from CCC/DR2 to C/DR6. In addition, the ratings on 15 other classes in the transactions were affirmed. Fitch attributed the downgrades to cumulative pool losses and high delinquency levels.

Fannie Mae has announced that its recent tender offers for up to $21.04 billion of callable debt securities resulted in a repurchase of $4.16 billion of the securities.The securities were originally issued with European-style one-time call options that have since expired. The government-sponsored enterprise said the offers were part of its effort to maintain a liquid and transparent market for its debt products. Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, has been approved for membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, the first life insurance company to become a member, according to the FHLBank.Tony Williamson, senior vice president and treasurer of MetLife, said the membership "is an important element in our strategic plan to secure multiple sources of reliable funding." The FHLBank-NY declared a 6.25% dividend for the third quarter. MetLife can be found on the Web at http://www.metlife.com, and the FHLBank can be found at http://www.fhlbny.com.

NexCen Brands Inc., New York, has announced that it plans to sell its mortgage-backed securities portfolio and exit the MBS business.One security was sold and settled on Oct. 31, and the remainder will be sold pursuant to forward-sale arrangements that are slated to settle on Nov. 21, according to the company. "Total proceeds from these MBS sales, exclusive of accrued interest and prepayments already received in October, and including any prepayments to be received in November 2006, will be approximately $78 million," NexCen said.

Class M-3 of Ace Securities Corp. mortgage-backed securities, series 2003-HE3, has been downgraded from BBB to BB by Fitch Ratings, and three classes from two Ace subprime transactions have been placed on Rating Watch Negative.The securities placed on rating watch were class M-2 of series 2003-HE3 and classes M-5 and M-6 of series 2003-FM1. In addition, the rating agency affirmed the ratings on six other classes from the two transactions. Fitch said the negative rating actions were taken because monthly losses exceeded the available excess spread in recent months, causing a deterioration in the amount of overcollateralization. The rating agency can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

The long-term issuer rating of Doral Financial Corp., a mortgage lender based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has been lowered from BB-minus to B-plus by Fitch Ratings.Among other rating changes, Fitch also downgraded Doral's senior debt from BB-minus to B and its preferred stock from B to CCC-plus, and lowered the long-term issuer rating of Doral Bank, a subsidiary, from BB to BB-minus. The ratings remain on Rating Watch Negative. Fitch said the actions stemmed from "a combination of near-term and long-term challenges." The former include the refinancing of $625 million of unsecured debt coming due July 20, 2007, and low capital levels, although Fitch added that Doral is still well capitalized by regulatory standards. The long-term challenges include regulatory restrictions on Doral Bank, capitalization levels, poor operational performance in 2006, the potential financial impact of lawsuits, and the change of Doral's business model from that of a mortgage company to that of a full-service bank.