Fitch Affirms Option One's Resi 'RPS1'& 'RSS1' Servicer Ratings.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. affirms Option One Mortgage Corporation's (OOMC OOMC Option One Mortgage Corporation ) 'RPS1' residential primary servicer rating for subprime mortgage loans and its 'RSS1' residential special servicer rating. The primary servicer rating reflects OOMC's experienced management team, accomplished loan administration procedures, robust internal control environment, and continued investment in technology. The special servicer rating is based on the company's competent management and experience in the collection and liquidation The collection of assets belonging to a debtor to be applied to the discharge of his or her outstanding debts. A type of proceeding pursuant to federal Bankruptcy of non-performing residential mortgage assets. The ratings also reflect the financial strength of OOMC's parent Block Financial, rated 'A' by Fitch. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, OOMC is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Block Financial, which is a subsidiary of H&R Block, Inc. The parent announced in early November 2006 that it was examining its strategic options including the possible sale of OOMC. Since Fitch's servicer ratings incorporate the financial strength of OOMC's parent, Fitch will continue to monitor and evaluate this situation as it develops. OOMC sources product through wholesale, national, bulk and retail origination channels and has been servicing subprime loans Subprime Loan A loan that is offered at a rate above prime to individuals who do not qualify for prime rate loans. Notes: Subprime loans tend to have a rate that is 0.1% to 0.6% higher than the prime rate. for over 13 years. As of June 30, 2006 OOMC was servicing a portfolio of over 441,332 loans with an aggregate principal balance of over $74 billion, comprising 83% subprime, 15% Alt-A, and 2% manufactured housing Manufactured housing (also known as prefab housing) is a type of housing unit that is largely assembled in factories and then transported to sites of use. In the United States, the term "manufactured home" specifically refers to a house built entirely in a protected products by loan volume. OOMC operates its servicing platform from two centers located in Irvine, CA and Jacksonville, FL and has extended its overseas outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. arrangement to include a third site in India, as well as opened a call center operation in Mexico. During the course of the year the servicer continued to enhance its technology, adding new processes and procedures, including making several automated enhancements to its default system, which has created a more integrated process from borrower contact through loss mitigation strategies, as well as developed stronger oversight and monitoring of its vendor and overseas relationships. OOMC's strategic initiatives include outsourcing significant portions of its customer contact, including loss mitigation efforts, to its offshore affiliates in India, which, to date, has had limited success with other U.S. residential servicers. OOMC has moved on this initiative with considerable research, planning, and effort. However, Fitch believes that the ultimate determination of its success will be decided only after the servicer has sufficient history indicating that the performance achieved from the overseas operations are sustained at OOMC's current 1 rating level. Therefore, Fitch will continue to monitor the company's ability to maintain its current servicing performance levels. Fitch Ratings rates residential mortgage primary, master, and special servicers on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. Within some of these rating levels, Fitch further differentiates ratings by plus (+) and minus (-) as well as the flat rating. For more information on Fitch's residential servicer rating program, please see Fitch's report 'Rating U.S. Residential Mortgage Servicers,' dated June 21, 2006, which is available on Fitch's web site at www.fitchratings.com. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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