Moody's Removes SunTrust Servicer Rating from Watch

Third-party and retail lender SunTrust Mortgage Inc.'s servicer quality rating of SQ2+ as a primary servicer of prime residential mortgages has been removed from watch for a possible downgrade. The move follows improvements in its call center and incentive compensation scorecard that resulted in Moody's upgrading its assessment of the company's loss mitigation abilities to above average from average. "Since the prior review, the company increased outbound collection call volumes and extended collection call center hours," Moody's said. The rating agency also said that it views SunTrust's foreclosure and real estate owned timeline management abilities to be above average. It views the company's servicing stability as average. The senior unsecured debt rating for SunTrust Mortgage's parent company SunTrust Banks Inc. has a negative outlook. Moody's rates servicers somewhere on a scale between SQ1 and SQ5 on which servicers rated SQ1 are considered strong and those rated SQ5 are considered weak, with plus or minus signs indicating interim points along that scale.