Servicing

Five classes of notes issued by E*Trade ABS CDO I Ltd., as issuer, and E*Trade ABS CDO I LLC, as co-issuer, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings and removed from Rating Watch Negative.The downgrades were as follows: class B third-priority senior secured floating-rate notes, from AA-plus to A-minus; class C-1 mezzanine secured floating-rate notes, from BBB to B-plus; class C-2 mezzanine secured fixed-rate notes, from BBB to B-plus; preference shares, from BBB-minus to CCC-minus; and composite securities, from BBB-minus to CCC-minus. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on two classes. The transaction, a static cash flow collateralized debt obligation, is supported by a diversified portfolio of asset-backed securities, residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial MBS, and CDOs. Fitch attributed the downgrades to a "deterioration in the credit quality of E*Trade I's collateral pool and the negative impact of its interest rate hedge." If expected recovery estimates on the securities are not realized, Fitch said it may take further action on the notes. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Two classes of CWMBS (Countrywide Home Loans Inc.) mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1999-13 (Alt 1999-2), have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings and two others have been placed on Rating Watch Negative.The downgrades were as follows: class B3, from BB to CCC, and class B4, from B to C. The B4 classes of series 2001-21 (Alt 2001-10) and series 2002-13 (Alt 2002-8) were placed on Rating Watch Negative. The rating agency also upgraded 21 classes and affirmed the ratings on 11 other classes in six transactions. Fitch attributed the negative rating actions to loss levels and loss expectations relative to the applicable credit support.

Continued high issuance in the home equity sector in April caused a drop in the weighted average seasoning of Moody's Home Equity Index Composite, which tracks the aggregate performance of home equity loans backing securities rated by Moody's.The WAS dropped to 15.98 months, more than two months lower than the level in April 2003, according to the rating agency. The rate of serious delinquencies and chargeoffs as measured by the index also declined as a result of the addition of new pools, since these unseasoned pools have low delinquencies and no losses, Moody's said. Delinquencies and chargeoffs both decreased relative to those of March and on a year-over-year basis. The 60-day-plus delinquency rate for April fell to 6.66%, a 17% decrease from that of April 2003. The most dramatic decrease came in the foreclosure category, which fell 24% from that of a year earlier, the rating agency reported. After increasing in February and March, the chargeoff rate decreased to 1.22% in April, a nearly 14% decline from the level of a year earlier.

The Bond Market Association has reported that mortgage-related securities issuance made a comeback in the second quarter of this year, rising 33% to $536 billion."Second-quarter mortgage market volume probably benefited from lower interest rates through March, which led to another round of home purchases and refinancing transactions which actually closed during the second quarter," the association said. The association can be found online at http://www.bondmarkets.com.

MERS has reported the registration of the first electronic promissory note on the MERS eRegistry.The MERS registration, by 1st Advantage Mortgage LLC on July 23, makes the eNote "the first truly uniform electronic note that can be bought and sold on the secondary mortgage market," MERS said. It ensures that only 1st Advantage is recognized as the owner, and offers investors confidence that they can gain the benefits of buying the eNote while maintaining "holder in due course" status. "This technological advancement will dramatically change the way we do business," said Paul Lueken, president of 1st Advantage. ".... Electronic closing packages will allow us to be more efficient in getting closing documents to the title companies, and the cost of copying and shipping loan documents will be eliminated." The eNote and the closing documents were electronically signed at a standard settlement conference in the offices of Chicago Title, and the electronic closing was accomplished using patent-pending technology developed by Document Processing Systems of Novi, Mich., MERS said.

The First American Corp., a Santa Ana, Calif.-based provider of economic information, including title insurance and mortgage data, has announced the signing of a $500 million syndicated credit facility.The administrative agent for the credit agreement was JPMorgan Chase Bank, and the syndication agents were Comerica Bank; Union Bank of California NA; US Bank; and Wells Fargo Bank NA. First American can be found on the Web at http://www.firstam.com.

The M-2 classes from OMI Trust 2000-A and OMI Trust 2000-C, two securitizations of manufactured housing contracts, have been lowered by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.Class M-2 of OMI Trust 2000-A was downgraded from CCC-minus to CC, and class M-2 of OMI Trust 2000-C was downgraded from CC to D. The downgrades "reflect the unlikelihood that investors will receive timely interest and the ultimate repayment of their original principal investments," S&P said. The rating agency said it believes that interest shortfalls for the deals will continue, "given the adverse performance trends displayed by the underlying pools of manufactured housing retail installment contracts originated by Oakwood Homes Corp., and the location of M-2 writedown interest at the bottom of the transactions' payment priorities." Losses have reduced the overcollateralization ratios for both transactions to zero, resulting in the complete principal writedown of the B-2 and B-1 classes, and the partial principal writedown of the M-2 classes, S&P said. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com,

DebtX, a Boston-based loan sale adviser, has announced that former Freddie Mac chief executive officer Greg Parseghian has joined the company's advisory board.DebtX helps commercial banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment banks, credit card companies, and consumer finance firms analyze, price, and market single loans or pools of loans -- including residential mortgages -- to more than 2,800 accredited buyers in the United States and abroad, according to the company. Mr. Parseghian said the company is bringing "much-needed liquidity to a broad range of loan portfolios across the entire financial services industry." Mr. Parseghian joined Freddie Mac in 1996 as senior vice president and chief investment officer, rose to CEO and president, and was forced to resign by regulators in the wake of the government-sponsored enterprise's accounting scandal. DebtX can be found online at http://www.debtx.com.

The chairman of the Western States Loan Servicing Conference says mortgage lenders and servicers expect to see growth in the market for reverse mortgage loans.In an interview with MortgageWire, Scott Lehrer, chairman of the California Mortgage Bankers Association servicing conference in Las Vegas, said senior citizens with untapped equity in their homes represent a significant growth opportunity. The mortgage industry's understanding of how to underwrite and administer the loans is increasing as well, said Mr. Lehrer, who is senior vice president at First Mortgage Corp., Diamond Bar, Calif. "I think reverse mortgages are going to become easier and easier to service," he said.

Radian Guaranty Inc., Philadelphia, has announced the completion of a structured transaction that it describes as "an innovative, new reinsurance solution" to manage its subprime mortgage risk.The transaction was completed on an $882 million portfolio of first-lien, subprime residential mortgage loans insured by Radian. "The company will reduce its exposure on this portfolio by transferring a significant portion of the risk to a Bermuda reinsurance company, Smart Home Reinsurance 2204-1 Ltd.," Radian said. Smart Home, which was formed solely to enter into the reinsurance arrangement, was funded in the global capital markets through the sale of credit-linked notes. The company said the transaction will help it boost capacity and take advantage of revenue growth opportunities. Radian can be found online at http://www.radianmi.com.