IndyMac, Financial Freedom Are Off Fitch's Watch List

Fitch Ratings has removed IndyMac and reverse mortgage lender Financial Freedom from its "rating watch evolving" list and upgraded its servicer ratings on IndyMac. Fitch raised IndyMac's servicer ratings for alt-A, subprime, prime and special servicing to a "2" level from a previous rating of "3." Fitch also affirmed Financial Freedom's "3" rating as a primary servicer of reverse mortgages. IndyMac Mac serviced 725,000 loans with an outstanding principal balance of $179 billion as of Sept. 30, 2008. Financial Freedom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IndyMac, serviced 161,375 loans with an unpaid principal balance of $22.3 billion as of November 30, 2008. Over 90% of the Financial Freedom portfolio consists of reverse mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration. IndyMac was seized by the FDIC last summer. At the end of last year, the FDIC signed a letter of intent to sell IndyMac to a consortium of private equity investors controlled by IMB Management Holdings.