Fairbanks Responds to Lowering of Servicer Ratings

Fairbanks Capital Corp., Salt Lake City, has responded to the lowering of its servicer ratings by Standard & Poor's, disagreeing with the extent of the rating change and calling attention to S&P's statement that the company has made "significant progress" in handling customer complaints.S&P lowered the company's residential subprime and residential special servicer ratings from Strong to Below Average, citing "insufficient management oversight and controls, inadequate technology and training, and ineffective vendor oversight." S&P also assigned an outlook of Stable, saying Fairbanks had significantly improved its handling of customer complaints over the last three quarters. "We recognize that S&P has raised a number of important issues, including a number of issues related to customer service, and the company is focused on addressing them," Fairbanks said. It went on to say that it is being "fully responsive" to increased regulatory scrutiny and expects to take further steps to improve its management, training, oversight, and technology. "Despite these issues, it is important to note that Fairbanks continues to meet or exceed industry performance standards traditionally used to evaluate mortgage servicers by the mortgage security market," Fairbanks said.