IndyMac Servicer Ratings Downgraded

Fitch Ratings has downgraded IndyMac Bank FSB's residential servicer ratings from RPS2-plus to RPS2 in the wake of the issuer default rating downgrades of the bank and IndyMac Bancorp, its parent company. Affected were the bank's servicer ratings for prime, alternative-A, and subprime products, as well as its special servicer rating. The ratings remain on Rating Watch Negative. The downgrades reflect the underlying corporate ratings of the bank and its parent, whose long-term IDRs were downgraded from BBB-minus to BB by Fitch on Jan. 24. They also reflect "the continued pressure on IndyMac's financial flexibility in the increasingly challenged residential mortgage market and its potential impact on IndyMac's loan servicing operation," the rating agency said. Fitch added that conversations with the servicer indicated that the company's announced layoffs "did not materially affect the servicing platform." Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.