New York, May 31, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has downgraded the ratings of
Classes A-2 and A-4, issued by GSAA 2007-8
securitization.
Complete rating actions are as follows:
Issuer: GSAA Home Equity Trust 2007-8
Cl. A2, Downgraded to Caa3 (sf); previously on Jan 26,
2011 Downgraded to Caa2 (sf)
Cl. A4, Downgraded to C (sf); previously on Jan 26,
2011 Upgraded to Caa3 (sf)
RATINGS RATIONALE
The downgrades are a result of an amendment to the Section 4.01(c)
of the Trust Agreement for this transaction causing a change to the principal
distribution on the senior classes A-1 through A-4 after
the subordinate certificates are depleted. Per the amendment,
principal payments will be first made pro rata to Classes A1, A2
and A3 and then sequentially to Class A4 if a Sequential Trigger Event
is in effect and there is no overcollateralization or subordinate bonds
outstanding. The original Trust Agreement allowed for the principal
payments to made pro-rata amongst Classes A1, A2, A3
and A4. Moody's has adjusted its ratings to reflect this
change. The actions also reflect the recent performance of the
transaction and Moody's updated loss expectations on the underlying pool.
The methodologies used in this rating were "Moody's Approach to Rating
US Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities" published in December
2008, and "2005 -- 2008 US RMBS Surveillance Methodology"
published in July 2011. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
Moody's adjusts the methodologies noted above for its current view
on loan modifications. As a result of an extension of the Home
Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) to 2013 and an increased use of
private modifications, Moody's is extending its previous view
that loan modifications will only occur through the end of 2012.
It is now assuming that the loan modifications will continue at current
levels until the end of 2013.
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.
A list of these actions including CUSIP identifiers may be found at:
Excel: http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF286591
A list of updated estimated pool losses, sensitivity analysis,
and tranche recovery details is being posted on an ongoing basis for the
duration of this review period and may be found at:
Excel: http://v3.moodys.com/page/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF198174
For more information please see www.moodys.com.
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 the rating are the following:
parties 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 one or more third party assessments
on the due diligence performed regarding the underlying assets or financial
instruments in this transaction and the assessments had a neutral impact
on the rating.
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 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.
Soumya?Vasudevan
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
Deepika Kothari
Vice President - Senior Analyst
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 $87 million of Alt-A RMBS issued by GSAA 2007-8