Servicing

Four classes of Impac Secured Assets Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates, issued by Impac Funding Corp., have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 2000-1, class B-1, from B to CCC, and class B-2, from CC to C; series 2000-3, class M-3, from CCC to C; and series 2001-6 pool 1, class B, from BBB to BB. In addition, Fitch upgraded 28 classes from 15 Impac securitizations and affirmed the ratings on 66 classes from 24 Impac deals. The rating agency attributed the downgrades to poor collateral performance and the deterioration of asset quality beyond original expectations. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Employment in the mortgage industry reached all-time highs in October as lenders added 6,200 full-time employees to their payrolls, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.The BLS November employment report indicates that jobs in the mortgage banking/broker sector rose from 459,300 in September to 465,500 in October. (There is a one-month lag in BLS reporting of mortgage-sector employment data. The November data will not be released until Jan. 7.) The additional hiring comes at a time when originations are falling. Loan volume dropped 19% from the second quarter to $663.0 billion in the third quarter, according to the Quarterly Data Report, which is published by National Mortgage News. Meanwhile, BLS economists said job growth "continued in the mortgage-related industries" in November.

Class B-4 of Salomon Brothers Mortgage Securities VII Inc. mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1997-HUD1, has been downgraded from CCC to CC by Fitch Ratings.In addition, Fitch upgraded 26 classes from 12 Salomon deals and affirmed the ratings on 43 classes in 17 securitizations. The downgrade was attributed to decreased credit enhancement available to offset "potential losses from the increasing delinquency pipeline." As of the October distribution, nearly 19% of the remaining mortgage loans were nonperforming, the rating agency said. Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

NoteWorld Servicing Center, a servicer of seller-financed mortgages based in Tacoma, Wash., has announced a partnership with First American Title, Santa Ana, Calif., to provide specialized account servicing to First American's seller-carryback customers.Under the arrangement, NoteWorld said it will act as First American's exclusive accounting servicing division for buyers and sellers using seller-carrybacks to fund their property purchases. (A seller-carryback transaction, also known as seller financing, is one in which the seller acts as a full or partial lender and carries a loan on the property. If there is no third-party servicer, the buyer makes payments directly to the seller.) NoteWorld said the partnership will enable First American to offer online account information, pay-by-phone and pay-by-Web options, tax and insurance impounding, and "superior" customer service. The companies can be found online at http://www.noteworld.com and http://www.firstam.com.

Ocwen Federal Bank FSB, West Palm Beach, Fla., has filed an application with its regulator to turn in its federal thrift charter, a move that would prevent it from taking deposits in the U.S.Ocwen Federal, a subsidiary of Ocwen Financial, is the nation's ninth-largest servicer of subprime loans, but is currently operating under a supervisory agreement that, among other things, has the effect of limiting its growth. Even though the parent is headquartered in Florida, the thrift has but one bank branch -- located in Ft. Lee, N.J. The branch issues retail certificates of deposit that "currently serve as a source of financing for us," according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A few months back Ocwen said it was considering "debanking," and it finally filed an application to do so during the week of Nov. 22. At MortgageWire's deadline, OTS officials and Ocwen chief executive Bill Erby could not be reached for comment. In the third quarter Ocwen Financial earned $39.3 million, but most of the profit was due to what the company called a "partial reversal of the deferred tax asset valuation allowance."

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a real estate investment trust based in Melville, N.Y., has announced a public offering of 2 million shares of series B cumulative redeemable preferred stock.The underwriters have been granted an option to buy up to 300,000 additional shares to cover any overallotments, the mortgage REIT said. The lead manager of the offering is Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. American Home can be found on the Web at http://www.americanhm.com.

Twenty-four classes from 34 Conseco/Green Tree home equity and home improvement securitizations have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, and 54 classes have been removed from Rating Watch Negative.In addition, Fitch upgraded 36 classes and affirmed the ratings on 55 classes from the deals. The downgrades were attributed to "concerns regarding adequacy of remaining credit enhancement in light of nonperforming assets and expected losses." Fitch said a majority of the downgrades involve the assignment of a C rating to the most subordinate class of outstanding certificates in the series because limited guarantees by Conseco Finance Corp. no longer secure the classes. "As a result, losses are now having a direct impact on the downgraded certificates," the rating agency said. Fitch noted that it had previously placed a number of classes on Rating Watch Negative due to concerns about Conseco's financial strength (the company filed for bankruptcy about two years ago) and a lack of information on servicing practices. Their removal from the watchlist followed Fitch's review of modification servicing techniques and its observation of collateral performance, the rating agency said. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Four classes of GE Capital home equity loan pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: series 1997-HE3, class B1, from BB-minus to CCC; series 1997-HE4, class B1, from B to CCC; series 1999-HE1, class B2, from CCC to C; and series 1999-HE3, class B3, from CCC to C. In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on 15 certificates from the same four GE Capital HEL transactions. The downgrades were attributed to poor collateral performance and greater-than-expected deterioration in asset quality.

Four classes of Structured Asset Securities Corp. residential mortgage pass-through certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: SASCO series 1998-11 group 1, class 1-B3, from BBB to BBB-minus, and class 1-B4, from B to CC; SASCO series 2001-8A, class B5-I, from B to CCC; and SASCO series 2001-10A, class B5, from B to CC. In addition, Fitch affirmed the ratings on 21 SASCO classes. The downgrades were attributed to loss levels and "Fitch's analysis of potential future loss expectations relative to credit support levels." Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Delta Financial Corp., Woodbury, N.Y., has announced the pricing of a securitization backed by $600 million of mortgage loans through its subsidiary Renaissance Mortgage Acceptance Corp.The lead manager of the deal, Renaissance Home Equity Loan Trust 2004-4, was RBS Greenwich Capital Markets Inc., and the co-managers were Citicorp Global Markets and Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. Delta can be found online at http://www.deltafinancial.com.