New York, June 25, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of 13 tranches and
confirmed the ratings of two tranches from six CWABS transactions issued
in 2002 and 2004. The collateral backing these deals primarily
consists of closed end second lien loans.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's actions result from Moody's downgrading Countrywide Home
Loan's long-term senior unsecured debt to Baa2 from Baa1
on June 21, 2012.
The methodologies used in these ratings were "Moody's Approach to Rating
US Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities" published in December
2008 and "Second Lien RMBS Loss Projection Methodology: April 2010"
published in April 2010. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
The transactions have the benefit of mortgage insurance and Countrywide
Home Loans (CHL) guarantees up to the maximum dollar limits as specified
in the original deal agreements. The ratings take into consideration
the two associated credit provider ratings for each transaction,
and may be higher than Moody's assessment of the individual credit strength
of either. The higher rating is the result of the application of
the joint probability-of-default analysis, described
in detail in Moody's Special Comment, "The Incorporation of Joint-Default
Analysis into Moody's Corporate, Financial and Government Rating
Methodologies," February 2005. That analysis indicates that
the rating on a jointly supported obligation may be higher than that of
either support provider because the likelihood of joint default is typically
less than the probability of default of either support provider individually.
We are also typically assuming an insurance rescission rate of 20-40%
for the transactions mentioned ; any loss protection on the mortgage
pools that are rescinded by the mortgage insurers are subject to any further
available coverage provided by the CHL guarantee agreements. The
junior tranches for CWABS 2004-S1 and CWABS 2002-S4 are
rated lower than CHL long term rating since the remaining CHL corporate
guarantee available is less than the outstanding pool balances.
Bonds insured by financial guarantors
The credit quality of a RMBS that a financial guarantor insures reflect
the higher of the credit quality of the guarantor or the RMBS without
the benefit of the guarantee. As a result, the rating on
the security is the higher of 1) the guarantor's financial strength rating
and 2) the current underlying rating, which is what the rating of
the security would be absent consideration of the guaranty. The
principal methodology Moody's uses in determining the underlying rating
is the same methodology for rating securities that do not have financial
guaranty, as described earlier
The primary source of assumption uncertainty is the uncertainty in our
central macroeconomic forecast and performance volatility due to servicer-related
issues. The unemployment rate fell from 9.0% in April
2011 to 8.1% in April 2012. Moody's forecasts a further
drop to 7.8% for 2013. Moody's expects house prices
to drop another 1% from their 4Q2011 levels before gradually rising
towards the end of 2013. 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.
Complete rating actions are as follows:
Issuer: CWABS, Inc. Asset-Backed Certificates,
Series 2002-S1
Cl. A-4, Downgraded to Baa1 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 A3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. A-5, Downgraded to Baa1 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 A3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. M-1, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. M-2, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: CWABS, Inc. Asset-Backed Certificates,
Series 2002-S2
Cl. A-5, Downgraded to Baa1 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 A3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. M-1, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. M-2, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: CWABS, Inc. Asset-Backed Certificates,
Series 2004-S1
Cl. A-3, Confirmed at Baa3 (sf); previously on
Mar 8, 2012 Baa3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: CWABS, Inc., Asset-Backed Certificates,
Series 2002-SC1
Cl. M-2, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 A3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. B-1, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: CWABS, Inc., Asset-Backed Pass-Through
Certificates, Series 2002-S3
Cl. A-5, Downgraded to Baa1 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 A3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Underlying Rating: Downgraded to Baa1 (sf); previously on Mar
8, 2012 A3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Financial Guarantor: MBIA Insurance Corporation (B3 placed on review
for possible downgrade on Dec 19, 2011)
Cl. M-1, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. M-2, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: CWABS, Inc., Asset-Backed Pass-Through
Certificates, Series 2002-S4
Cl. A-5, Downgraded to Baa2 (sf); previously
on Mar 8, 2012 Baa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Cl. M-1, Confirmed at Baa3 (sf); previously on
Mar 8, 2012 Baa3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Please click on this http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF290096
for the List of Affected Credit Ratings. This list is an integral
part of this Press Release and identifies each affected issuer.
A list of updated estimated pool losses and sensitivity analysis details
is being posted and may be found at:
Excel: http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF256364
For additional information on Structured Finance ratings, please
refer to the webpage containing Moody's related announcements http://www.moodys.com/eusovereign
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued
by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are endorsed by Moody's
Investors Service Ltd., One Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E 14 5FA, UK, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant 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 relevant 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 relevant 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.
Information sources used to prepare each of the ratings are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
public information, confidential and proprietary Moody's Investors
Service information, and confidential and proprietary Moody's Analytics
information.
Moody's received and took into account a third-party assessment
on the due diligence performed regarding the underlying assets or financial
instruments in these transactions and the assessment had a neutral impact
on the rating.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated entities,
obligations or credits satisfactory for the purposes of issuing these
ratings.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses
in assigning the ratings 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.
In addition to the information provided below please find on the ratings
tab of the issuer page at www.moodys.com, for each
of the ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the lead rating analyst
and the Moody's legal entity that has issued each of the ratings.
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.
Edward Hou
Associate 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 $65 million of CWABS second lien RMBS issued in 2002 and 2004