Servicing

Three subordinate certificates from two Access Financial manufactured housing securitizations have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Services.The downgrades were as follows: Access Financial Manufactured Housing Contract Trust, series 1995-1, class B-1, from Ba2 to B2; and Access Financial Manufactured Housing Contract Trust, series 1996-1, class A-6, from Aa3 to A1, and class B-1, from Caa2 to Ca. Moody's attributed the downgrades to the continued weaker-than-expected performance of Access Financial's manufactured housing pools. Moody's can be found on the Web at http://www.moodys.com.

Fidelity National Financial, Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the addition of online bidding capabilities to BuyBankHomes.com, FNF's Web portal dedicated to marketing properties that have completed the foreclosure process.The new feature offers interested parties a convenient way to place online bids on foreclosed properties that will be presented at live onsite auctions, the company said. "BuyBankHomes.com's online bidding capabilities enable buyers and investors to be represented at the live auction by proxy, which will result in a one-time bid being submitted on their behalf at the appropriate point in the live auction process," FNF said. The company can be found online at http://www.buybankhomes.com and http://www.fnf.com.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors and Bob Dowell, formerly of Phoenix Analytic Services, have joined forces to form Interactive Mortgage Analytics LLC, Denver.The new entity is offering analytic services to the mortgage industry with an emphasis on the servicing asset. Its services include mark-to-market evaluations, FAS 140 advisory services, purchase or sale analysis, and customized analytic reports, the company said. Mr. Dowell joined Phoenix Capital in 1999 and became involved in the development of its specialized valuation entity, Phoenix Analytic Services. Interactive Mortgage Advisors is a specialized capital markets group that acts as principal in the purchase of whole loans and as an adviser to the mortgage banking industry. It can be found online at http://www.interactivemortgageadvisors.com.

The ratio of upgrades to downgrades on residential mortgage-backed securities was nearly 12 to 1 in 2004, according to Fitch Ratings.The ratio was actually down for the year, owing to a "notable slowdown" in refinancing activity in the second half, but it still contributed strongly to the overall positive upgrade/downgrade ratio of 2.36 to 1 for all structured finance transactions, the rating agency reported in a new study of structured deal ratings for last year and since 1991. The ratio stood at 1.95 to 1 in 2003. In contrast to the somewhat lower ratio of upgrades to downgrades for RMBS last year, upgrades were "up significantly across all the other major structured finance sectors, including asset-backed securities (upgrades doubled relative to 2003), commercial mortgage-backed securities (up 26%), and collateralized debt obligations (up 70%)," Fitch reported. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Citigroup has announced an agreement to sell its $1.4 billion manufactured housing loan portfolio to 21st Mortgage Corp., a manufactured housing lender based in Knoxville, Tenn.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Citigroup said the cumulative effect of the sale would be an after-tax loss of approximately $120 million in the first quarter. The companies can be found online at http://www.citigroup.com and https://www.21stmortgage.com.

Under pressure from its regulator to raise capital, Fannie Mae saw its loan purchases fall to a four year-low in February as the company continued to shrink its portfolio.The government-sponsored enterprise acquired just $40.2 billion in loans during the month, its lowest acquisition volume since February of 2001. So far this year, Fannie has purchased $88 billion in loans, giving it an estimated market share of 22% (according to National Mortgage News), compared with a 27% market share for all of last year. Its portfolio shrank at an annualized rate of 19% during the month, to $875 billion. In an analyst note, Smith Barney attributed half the portfolio decline to asset sales. The investment banker said it expects negative portfolio growth to continue at Fannie "until it reaches its capital target level, though rising rates (which could boost its capital position) could temper that pace if sustained." The company is expected to restate prior years' earnings by $9 billion to $11 billion.

Four classes of securities issued by Independence II CDO Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: class A notes, from AA-plus to AA-minus; class B notes, from BBB-plus to BB-minus; class C notes, from BB to CCC; and $16.7 million of preference shares, from CCC to C. Classes B and C were removed from Rating Watch Negative. Independence II is composed of approximately 40.4% residential mortgage-backed securities, 37.1% commercial MBS, 16.7% asset-backed securities, 5.4% CDOs, and 0.5% real estate investment trusts. Fitch attributed the downgrades to a deterioration of collateral quality, citing principal writedowns to various tranches from underperforming manufactured housing deals.

Three classes of notes issued by Independence I CDO Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation partly composed of residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: class A, from AA-plus to AA; class B, from A-minus to BB; and class C, from BB to CC. Fitch attributed the downgrades to deteriorating collateral. "Mezzanine and subordinate tranches from underperforming manufactured housing securitizations have taken principal writedowns and, in Fitch's opinion, over $14 million in collateral that was considered performing from its previous review is now considered distressed," the rating agency said. The CDO consists of approximately 23.1% RMBS, 26.1% CMBS, 43.3% asset-backed securities, and 7.6% CDOs, the rating agency said. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Fifteen classes from three issues of IndyMac Manufactured Housing contract pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 1997-1, classes A-2 to A-6, from AA to A, and class M, from CCC to C; series 1998-1, classes A-3 to A-5, from A to BBB-plus, and class M, from CCC to C; and series 1998-2, classes A-2 to A-4, from AA to A, class M-1, from B to CC, and class M-2, from CCC to C. The downgrades were due to continued poor performance of the underlying collateral, as well as diminishing credit enhancement, Fitch said. As of the February distribution date, the cumulative loss percentages on series 1997-1, 1998-1, and 1998-2 were 22.63%, 22.10%, and 20.01%, respectively, the rating agency said.

Six classes of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp. commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2002-TFL1, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: class E, from A-minus to BBB-minus; class F-ABP, from BBB-plus to BBB-minus; class G-ABP, from BBB-minus to BB-plus; class H-ABP, from BBB-plus to B-plus; class F-WBC, from BB-plus to B-plus; and class G-WBC, from BB-minus to B-minus. Classes E, F-WBC, and G-WBC were removed from Rating Watch Negative. In addition, Fitch placed three classes on Rating Watch Evolving and affirmed the ratings on eight other classes in the transaction. The downgrades were attributed to the pool's declining performance since issuance.