Last week\'s residential mortgage ratings actions
By SAM GARCIA
1/23/2002

C-BASS, an affiliate of MGIC and Radian Group Inc., announced that Fitch has affirmed the residential servicer ratings on its servicing subsidiary, Litton Loan Servicing, L.P. Litton has maintained its residential primary servicer ratings of 'RPS1' for subprime and high loan to value mortgages and 'RSS1' for residential special servicer. The ratings are based on the company's highly experienced management team, sophisticated default management system and lengthy experience in servicing defaulted loans.

Fitch upgraded classes of PNC Mortgage Securities Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1997-8 group III, and Citicorp Mortgage Securities mortgage pass-through certificates, series 1999-6. The actions were taken as a result of low delinquencies and losses, as well as increased credit support.

The 'A' senior debt and 'F1' commercial paper rating of Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. has been affirmed by Fitch, and the Rating Outlook remains Stable. The ratings continue to reflect the consistent financial performance that has been proven over an extended period of time. The ratings also focus on the company's market leadership in the U.S. mortgage banking industry, effective risk management capabilities, and expanded business operations, which complement the core mortgage banking operation. Fitch's primary concern with Countrywide continues to be capital constraints resulting from the company's high concentration of capitalized mortgage servicing rights, which, excluding the impact of deferred taxes, totaled $5.77 billion or 127% of total equity at Nov. 30, 2001. Fitch has been noticing a modest change in the composition of Countrywide's mortgage servicing portfolio during the past several years. As subprime mortgage lending has increased in significance in its portfolio, the company has had a commensurate increase in subprime MSRs compared to the latter-part of the 1990s.

S&P raised ratings on classes of CHL Mortgage Pass-Through Trust mortgage pass-through certificates series 1998-22 and affirmed its ratings on 250 classes of various other series. The raised ratings reflect the strong performance of the collateral as evident by total delinquencies of 0.28%, no realized losses to date, and more than three years of seasoning. The affirmations reflect actual and projected credit enhancement percentages that adequately support the assigned ratings, low total delinquency percentages, and none or minimal cumulative realized losses.

Classes of various series of CWMBS Inc.'s mortgage pass-through certificates from 1993 to 1998 were raised and affirmed by S&P, reflecting actual and projected credit support percentages that adequately support the higher ratings, low delinquency percentages, low cumulative realized losses, and more than five years of seasoning.

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