U.S. Residential Mortgage Servicer Rating Action
New York, May 17, 2012 -- Moody's has downgraded GMAC-RFC's Servicer Quality
(SQ) rating to SQ4+ from SQ3+ as a Master Servicer. The
rating continues to be on review for downgrade.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The downgrade is due to a decline in GMAC-RFC's business
strength resulting from its corporate parent's (Residential Capital
Funding, LLC) May 14 filing for Ch.11 bankruptcy protection.
The business strength assessment was reduced to weak from below average.
Residential Capital Funding is pursuing a Section 363 Sale to Fortress
Investment Group LLC. The proposed transaction with Fortress would
include the sale of substantially all of Residential Capital Funding's
assets, including its primary mortgage servicing and master servicing
businesses. We believe there is potential for master servicing
disruptions through the closing of the transaction, as well as challenges
during the eventual integration of GMAC-RFC and Fortress's
other master servicing platform.
During the review period, Moody's will focus on GMAC-RFC's
master servicing performance and staff turnover, as well as the
bankruptcy court proceedings.
GMAC-RFC's master servicing portfolio totaled 303,177
loans for an unpaid principal balance of approximately $52.8
billion as of March 31, 2012. As a master servicer,
the company oversees 39 primary servicers and one special servicer.
The previous rating action for GMAC-RFC's SQ rating occurred
on May 2, 2012. At that time, we placed the company's
SQ3+ rating on review for possible downgrade due to a decline in
GMAC-RFC's business strength.
Moody's SQ ratings represent its view of a servicer's ability to prevent
or mitigate asset pool losses across changing markets. The rating
scale ranges from SQ1 (strong) to SQ5 (weak). Where appropriate,
a "+" or "-" modifier will be appended to the relevant rating
to indicate a servicer's relative servicing quality within a particular
category.
The methodology used in this rating was "Moody's Methodology
for U.S. RMBS Master Servicer Quality Ratings" published
in March 2009. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Other factors used in this rating are described in "Moody's
Approach to Rating Residential Mortgage Servicers" published in
January 2001 and "Updated Moody's Servicer Quality Rating Scale and Definitions"
published in May 2005.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated entity,
obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses
in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not an auditor
and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information
received in the rating process.
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 the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%) and
for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may exist
between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names of
entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported to
the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%. A
member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a member
of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
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.
Gene Berman
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
William 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 downgrades GMAC-RFC's master servicer SQ rating, maintains review for possible downgrade