S&P Will Rate Deals With Georgia Loans

Standard & Poor's has announced that it will resume rating structured finance transactions that include Georgia loans, based on the recently enacted amendment to the Georgia Fair Lending Act.S&P said it will rate deals including Georgia loans originated on or after March 7, 2003 (the date the amendment was signed into law) "in accordance with its criteria in effect at the time of the transactions, including receipt of appropriate representations and warranties related to compliance with the Amended Act." The revised law imposes no liability on buyers of Georgia loans that are covered by the act but are not defined as "high-cost loans," and S&P said it will rate deals containing such loans. However, the law continues to impose liability on buyers of high-cost loans that violate its provisions, S&P said. "Because such liability is now capped, Standard & Poor's will review transactions that propose to include high-cost loans on a case-by-case basis," the rating agency said. ".... All transactions proposing to include high-cost loans must provide for credit support to cover this liability in full." S&P said it will not, for now, rate transactions that include loans governed by the prior act that were originated between Oct. 1, 2002 and March 7, 2003, but that it is reviewing whether to rate such transactions. S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.