New York, August 14, 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the ratings of eight tranches,
downgraded the ratings of two tranches, and reinstated the rating
of one tranche issued by five RMBS transactions. The collateral
backing these deals primarily consists of first lien, fixed and
adjustable rate "scratch and dent" residential mortgages.
Complete rating actions are as follows:
Issuer: Countrywide Home Loan Trust 2003-SD2
Cl. A-1, Downgraded to A1 (sf); previously on
May 19, 2011 Downgraded to Aa3 (sf)
Cl. A-2, Downgraded to A2 (sf); previously on
May 19, 2011 Downgraded to A1 (sf)
Issuer: CS Mortgage-Backed Pass-Through Certificates,
Series 2006-CF2
Cl. M-1, Upgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously on
Mar 30, 2009 Downgraded to Ba1 (sf)
Cl. M-2, Upgraded to Ba2 (sf); previously on
Mar 30, 2009 Downgraded to B2 (sf)
Issuer: RAAC Series 2006-SP4 Trust
Cl. A-3, Upgraded to Ba2 (sf); previously on
Oct 30, 2013 Upgraded to B2 (sf)
Cl. M-1, Upgraded to Caa1 (sf); previously on
Oct 30, 2013 Upgraded to Caa3 (sf)
Cl. M-4, Reinstated to C (sf)
Issuer: RAAC Series 2007-SP1 Trust
Cl. A-3, Upgraded to Ba2 (sf); previously on
Oct 25, 2013 Upgraded to B1 (sf)
Cl. M-1, Upgraded to Caa1 (sf); previously on
Oct 25, 2013 Upgraded to Caa3 (sf)
Issuer: RAAC Series 2007-SP2 Trust
Cl. A-2, Upgraded to B3 (sf); previously on Oct
29, 2013 Upgraded to Caa3 (sf)
Cl. A-3, Upgraded to Caa2 (sf); previously on
May 4, 2009 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 expectations on the pools.
The ratings upgraded are primarily due to the build-up in credit
enhancement due to sequential pay structure, non-amortizing
subordinate bonds, and availability of excess spread. Performance
has remained generally stable from our last review. The ratings
downgraded are due to the weaker performance of Countrywide Home Loan
Trust 2003-SD2.
Moody's has reinstated the rating of Class M-4 issued by
RAAC Series 2006-SP4 Trust following the trustee's partial
reinstatement of the principal balance of this tranche due to the recovery
from the ResCap RMBS Settlement. This tranche was written down
to zero due to realized losses as of October 2010. As a result,
Moody's withdrew the rating on Class M-4 in accordance with
Moody's withdrawal policy. In May 2014, the trustee
partially re-instated the principal balance of Class M-4,
reverting back some of the prior realized losses.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was "US RMBS Surveillance
Methodology" published in November 2013. Please see the Credit
Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
Factors that would lead to an upgrade or downgrade of the rating:
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 6.2% in July 2014 from 7.3%
in July 2013. Moody's forecasts an unemployment central range of
6.5% to 7.5% for the 2014 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 2014. 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.
A list of these actions including CUSIP identifiers may be found at:
Excel: http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF377277
A list of updated estimated pool losses is being posted on an ongoing
basis for the duration of this review period and may be found at:
Excel: http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF247004
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.
Moody's received and took into account one or more third party assessments
on the due diligence performed regarding the underlying assets or financial
instruments in these transactions and the assessments had a neutral impact
on the rating.
The analysis relies on an assessment of collateral characteristics to
determine the collateral loss distribution, that is, the function
that correlates to an assumption about the likelihood of occurrence to
each level of possible losses in the collateral. As a second step,
Moody's evaluates each possible collateral loss scenario using a
model that replicates the relevant structural features to derive payments
and therefore the ultimate potential losses for each rated instrument.
The loss a rated instrument incurs in each collateral loss scenario,
weighted by assumptions about the likelihood of events in that scenario
occurring, results in the expected loss of the rated instrument.
As the section on loss and cash flow analysis describes, 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 rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
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 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.
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.
Max Erick Sauray
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
Bruce D. Fabrikant
Senior Vice President
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 takes action on $220.6 million of US Scratch and Dent RMBS issued by various issuers from 2003 to 2007