Fitch Downgrades 200+ B&C Securities

More than 200 classes of mortgage- and asset-backed securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings as a result of changes to its subprime loss forecasting assumptions.In addition to the 224 downgrades, Fitch placed 95 classes on Rating Watch Negative and affirmed the ratings on classes with outstanding balances of approximately $14 billion. Among the securities affected by the latest downgrades were: 36 classes from three Structured Asset Securities Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates; 30 classes from three Credit Based Asset Servicing & Securitization transactions; 29 classes from three Securitized Asset Backed Receivables transactions; 26 classes from two issues of Soundview asset-backed certificates; and 20 classes from two issues of HASCO mortgage pass-through certificates. The rating actions were attributed to changes to Fitch's subprime loss forecasting assumptions that "better capture the deteriorating performance of pools from 2006 and late 2005 with regard to continued poor loan performance and home price weakness."