U.S. Residential Mortgage Servicer Assessment Actions
New York, April 03, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has confirmed the following servicer quality
("SQ") assessments of IndyMac Mortgage Services ("IndyMac"). The
assessments are no longer on review for possible downgrade and are as
follows:
SQ3 as a primary servicer of prime residential mortgage loans
SQ3- as a primary servicer of subprime residential mortgage loans
SQ3- as a special servicer of residential mortgage loans
IndyMac is a division of OneWest Bank, FSB ("OneWest").
ASSESSMENT RATIONALE
Moody's removed the review for downgrade as IndyMac has not been
subject to further significant financial and operational liability related
to alleged irregularities in IndyMac's foreclosure processes.
Moody's review for downgrade was initiated in October 2010 due to
irregularities in IndyMac's foreclosure processes, and continued
in March 2012 due to potential further financial and operational impact
from regulatory action. Since that time, the company was
not named in further action by the State Attorneys General. Additionally,
the company has instituted various operational changes to strengthen their
processes for compliance with servicing standards.
The previous assessment action for IndyMac's SQ assessments occurred
on March 7, 2012. At that time, Moody's affirmed IndyMac's
SQ assessments of SQ3 as a primary servicer of prime residential mortgage
loans, SQ3- as a primary servicer of subprime residential
mortgage loans, and SQ3- as a special servicer of residential
mortgage loans and maintained the review for downgrade.
Moody's SQ assessments represent its view of a servicer's ability to prevent
or mitigate asset pool losses across changing markets. The assessment
scale ranges from SQ1 (strong) to SQ5 (weak). Where appropriate,
a "+" or "-" modifier will be appended to the relevant assessment
to indicate a servicer's relative servicing quality within a particular
category. Moody's servicer assessments are differentiated in the
marketplace by focusing on performance management. SQ assessments
for U.S. residential mortgage servicers incorporate assessments
of delinquency transition rates, foreclosure timeline management,
loan cure rates, recoveries, loan resolution outcomes,
and REO management -- all critical indicators of a servicer's
ability to maximize returns from mortgage portfolios.
Moody's servicer assessments also consider the company's ability to maintain
its focus on high quality servicing in an economic downturn. Servicing
operations can be stressed by increasing the number of delinquent loans
while at the same time increasing the need for liquidity. The SQ
assessment reflects our expectation of the impact that the servicing will
have on the on-going credit performance of the portfolio.
For this reason, Moody's monitors SQ assessments based on periodic
information provided by servicers and conducts a formal re-evaluation
of its servicer assessments annually.
The principal methodology used in this assessment was "Moody's
Approach to Rating Residential Mortgage Servicers" published in
January 2001. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has
issued the rating.
Cecilia Lam
Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
One Front Street
Suite 1900
San Francisco, CA 94111
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
William E Fricke
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's Confirms IndyMac's SQ Assessments