Moody's Downgrades ResCap

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Residential Capital Corp's senior and short-term debt ratings from Baa2 to Baa3 and from Prime 2 to Prime 3, respectively."Although the residential real estate finance business of ResCap, and auto finance business of GMAC, are separate from an operating perspective, ResCap continues to be substantially dependent on the support of GMAC in regards to its capital structure, though such support should continue to diminish," the rating agency said. Moody's added that the downgrade "is not a result of any change in Moody's views regarding ResCap's intrinsic creditworthiness, which the rating agency deems to be 'high Baa' on a stand-alone basis." The rating agency said about $5 billion in securities are affected by the downgrade and those securities' ratings have a negative outlook. Moody's can be found online at http://www.moodys.com.