New York, June 28, 2018 -- Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the ratings of seven tranches and
downgraded the ratings of three tranches from eight transactions,
backed by Subprime RMBS loans, issued by multiple issuers.
Complete rating actions are as follows:
Issuer: MASTR Asset Backed Securities Trust 2006-AM2
Cl. A-3, Downgraded to Ca (sf); previously on
May 5, 2010 Downgraded to Caa3 (sf)
Issuer: Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors Trust 2006-FM1
Cl. A-2B, Downgraded to C (sf); previously on
Jul 11, 2014 Downgraded to Caa3 (sf)
Issuer: Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors Trust Series 2006-HE1
Cl. M-1, Upgraded to Aa3 (sf); previously on
Apr 27, 2017 Upgraded to Baa1 (sf)
Issuer: Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors Trust, Series 2003-HE1
Cl. A-1, Upgraded to Aaa (sf); previously on
Nov 7, 2016 Upgraded to Aa3 (sf)
Cl. A-2B, Upgraded to Aaa (sf); previously on
Nov 7, 2016 Upgraded to Aa3 (sf)
Cl. S, Downgraded to Caa3 (sf); previously on Oct 27,
2017 Confirmed at Caa2 (sf)
Issuer: Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors, Inc. 2004-WMC3
Cl. M-2, Upgraded to A3 (sf); previously on Mar
9, 2017 Upgraded to Baa3 (sf)
Issuer: Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors, Inc. 2004-WMC4
Cl. M-2, Upgraded to Baa3 (sf); previously on
Apr 17, 2013 Upgraded to Ba2 (sf)
Issuer: Renaissance Home Equity Loan Trust 2005-4
Cl. A-3, Upgraded to B1 (sf); previously on Jul
19, 2012 Downgraded to Caa1 (sf)
Issuer: Securitized Asset Backed Receivables LLC Trust 2005-EC1
Cl. M-2, Upgraded to Caa2 (sf); previously on
Jul 8, 2010 Downgraded to Ca (sf)
RATINGS RATIONALE
The rating actions are a result of the recent performance of the underlying
pools and reflect Moody's updated loss expectation on the pools.
The rating upgrades are a result of the improving performance of the related
pools and / or an increase in credit enhancement available to the bonds.
The rating downgrade on the IO bond is a result of the pay down on the
underlying bonds. The rating downgrades on the remaining bonds
are a result of the erosion of enhancement available to the bonds and
the pro rata pay structure after credit support depletion date.
The principal methodology used in rating Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors
Trust, Series 2003-HE1 Cl. A-1 and Cl.
A-2B; Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors, Inc.
2004-WMC3 Cl. M-2; Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors,
Inc. 2004-WMC4 Cl. M-2; MASTR Asset Backed
Securities Trust 2006-AM2 Cl. A-3; Merrill Lynch
Mortgage Investors Trust 2006-FM1 Cl. A-2B;
Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors Trust Series 2006-HE1 Cl.
M-1; Renaissance Home Equity Loan Trust 2005-4 Cl.
A-3; and Securitized Asset Backed Receivables LLC Trust 2005-EC1
Cl. M-2 was "US RMBS Surveillance Methodology"
published in January 2017. The methodologies used in rating Merrill
Lynch Mortgage Investors Trust, Series 2003-HE1 Cl.
S were "US RMBS Surveillance Methodology" published in January
2017 and "Moody's Approach to Rating Structured Finance Interest-Only
(IO) Securities" published in June 2017. Please see the Rating
Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of these
methodologies.
Factors that would lead to an upgrade or downgrade of the ratings:
Ratings in the US RMBS sector remain exposed to the high level of macroeconomic
uncertainty, and in particular the unemployment rate. The
unemployment rate fell to 3.8% in May 2018 from 4.3%
in May 2017. Moody's forecasts an unemployment central range of
3.5% to 4.5% for the 2018 year. Deviations
from this central scenario could lead to rating actions in the sector.
House prices are another key driver of US RMBS performance. Moody's
expects house prices to continue to rise in 2018. Lower increases
than Moody's expects or decreases could lead to negative rating actions.
Finally, performance of RMBS continues to remain highly dependent
on servicer procedures. Any change resulting from servicing transfers
or other policy or regulatory change can impact the performance of these
transactions.
An IO bond may be upgraded or downgraded, within the constraints
and provisions of the IO methodology, based on lower or higher realized
and expected loss due to an overall improvement or decline in the credit
quality of the reference bonds and/or pools.
A list of these actions including CUSIP identifiers and the associated
pool losses and tranche recoveries may be found at:
Excel: http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF472470
For more information please see www.moodys.com.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and sensitivity
analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and Sensitivity
to Assumptions of the disclosure form.
The analysis includes an assessment of collateral characteristics and
performance to determine the expected collateral loss or a range of expected
collateral losses or cash flows to the rated instruments. As a
second step, Moody's estimates expected collateral losses or cash
flows using a quantitative tool that takes into account credit enhancement,
loss allocation and other structural features, to derive the expected
loss for each rated instrument.
Moody's quantitative analysis entails an evaluation of scenarios
that stress factors contributing to sensitivity of ratings and take into
account the likelihood of severe collateral losses or impaired cash flows.
Moody's weights the impact on the rated instruments based on its
assumptions of the likelihood of the events in such scenarios occurring.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the credit rating action on the support provider and in relation to
each particular credit rating action for securities that derive their
credit ratings from the support provider's credit rating.
For provisional ratings, this announcement provides certain regulatory
disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and
in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to
the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction
structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive
rating in a manner that would have affected the rating. For further
information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the
respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit 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.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
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.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Wenzhao Wu
Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Ola Hannoun-Costa
VP - Sr Credit Officer/Manager
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653