Servicing

Four classes of Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities Inc., series 1999-1, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: class MF-1, from AA-plus to AA-minus; class MF-2, from A-plus to BBB-plus; class BF, from BB-minus to CCC; and class BV, from BB to B-plus. Fitch attributed the downgrades to high delinquencies and deteriorating credit support. The securitization is backed by fixed-rate and adjustable-rate subprime mortgage loans.

Amherst Funding Group LP, an Austin, Texas-based company that buys and trades newly originated residential mortgage loans, has announced an agreement with Denver-based SN Capital Markets LLC to market Amherst's alternative-A correspondent conduit.SNCM (formerly known as Matrix Bancorp Trading) provides whole loan and servicing trading and analytics for financial institutions and mortgage bankers. Touting Amherst's "income and asset verification combinations, ease of delivery, and flexible forward delivery program" for correspondents, Amherst president Phillip Daskevich said SNCM is "the perfect business partner to bring AFG's correspondent conduit and capital markets experience to mortgage bankers across the country." Jonas Roth, SNCM's national sales director, said the arrangement with Amherst to source newly originated residential loans "goes a long way towards offering a more complete menu of services to our client relationships nationwide." The companies can be found online at http://www.amherstfunding.com and http://www.snsc.com.

Residential Capital Corp., Minneapolis, has priced senior and subordinated bond offerings totaling $3.5 billion in principal.The senior offering consists of $1.75 billion of 6.5% fixed-rate notes due in 2013 and $750 million of floating-rate notes due in 2009, ResCap said. The subordinated offering consists of $1.0 billion of floating-rate notes due in 2009. ResCap said it plans to use the proceeds of the offerings, along with cash from other funding sources, to repay all domestic borrowings from General Motors Acceptance Corp., its parent.

Zacks.com, the online unit of Zacks Investment Research Inc., Chicago, has reported a recent posting on its Analyst Blog noting that the company is maintaining its Hold recommendation on Saxon Capital but cautioning about its risks.In the Zacks weblog commentary on Saxon, the analyst said the company had a weak fourth quarter and noted that competition is driving down margins. "We feel that the company will have a difficult time making money in 2006; margins will remain low and production volumes will be stagnant," the analyst said. "On the other hand, the dividend yield is extremely attractive and the company now trades at a significant discount to book value. However, this is a risky stock, and large dividend cuts could come if the mortgage business does not improve in the next year." Saxon, a residential mortgage lender and servicer based in Glen Allen, Va., is a real estate investment trust. Zacks can be found online at http://www.zacks.com.

Fixed Income Clearing Corp., New York, has announced plans to develop services to support a central counterparty for mortgage-backed securities that it hopes to establish within two years.In phase I of a three-phase process, FICC said it will allow for the matching of specified pool trades via its real-time trade matching service. Phase II will focus on simplifying and automating routines for substituting the mortgages allocated to a pool, and phase III will allow for central counterparty netting and guaranteed settlement of specified pool trades, the company said. "When we get the central counterparty fully operational, we expect to lower clearing costs, reduce operational and counterparty risk, decrease our customers' capital charges, and bring down the fail and financing expenses of our clearing members," said Tom Costa, head of FICC and managing director of clearance and settlement for The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., FICC's parent company. DTCC can be found online at http://www.dtcc.com.

Mortgage industry veteran John Gibbons has been named head of capital markets for the residential lending businesses of Wells Fargo & Co.'s Home and Consumer Finance Group.Mr. Gibbons' responsibilities will include all loan sale, securitization, and hedging activities, Wells Fargo said. He will support Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, Iowa; Wells Fargo Financial, a Des Moines-based provider of consumer and commercial credit products; and Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Group, a San Francisco-based provider of home equity and personal credit accounts. Mr. Gibbons was most recently a senior consultant with Hollister LLC and vice chairman of Overture Corp. During his 20-plus years in the mortgage industry, he has been employed by Federal Home Loan Banks, insurance companies, banks, and investment management firms, and he was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Freddie Mac from 1996 to 2000, Wells Fargo said. The company can be found online at http://www.wellsfargo.com.

Twelve major mortgage lenders have allied with the NeighborWorks Center for Foreclosure Solutions, Washington, D.C., to launch a campaign to avert foreclosures in demographic and geographic hot spots.The national partnership aims to minimize foreclosures by providing better research and early alert systems, improving counseling capacity, and expanding partnerships among cities, lenders, and servicers. The lenders will provide more than $1 million to the NeighborWorks Center for the campaign, along with trade insights and information, NeighborWorks said. "This show of support from the lending community demonstrates the enormous stake we share with lenders in the effort to stop foreclosures," said Ken Wade, chief executive officer of NeighborWorks America. The participating lenders are Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide Home Loans, HSBC-North America, Chase, National City Mortgage Co., New Century Financial Corp., Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, Option One Mortgage, Residential Capital Corp., Washington Mutual, and Wells Fargo.

Classes M-2 and M-3 of RFC's RFSC series 2003-RP1 securitization have been placed on review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service.The negative rating actions were attributed to weaker-than-expected performance by the underlying pool of mortgage loans and the resulting decline in credit enhancement. The underlying collateral is composed of subprime and re-performing residential mortgage loans. Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.

Class B5 of Structured Asset Securities Corp. residential mortgage-backed certificates, series 2001-16H, has been downgraded from B to CCC by Fitch Ratings.In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on 18 classes from three SASCO issues. The downgrade was attributed to cumulative pool losses and high delinquency levels. All the loans have a weighted average original loan-to-value ratio of greater than 101%, Fitch reported.

Three classes from First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust, series 2002-FF2, have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service.The actions were taken on classes M-1, M-2, and M-3 because credit enhancement is low given the projected losses on the underlying pools, the rating agency said. The pools were "below the 25 bps overcollateralization floor as of the March reporting date because loss severities on liquidated loans were on the rise," Moody's said. The transaction consists of subprime mortgage loans originated by First Franklin Financial Corp. Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.