Fitch Downgrades NetBank's Residential Primary Servicer Rating to 'RPS3'.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. downgrades NetBank's (formerly RBMG RBMG Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group, Inc , Inc.) residential primary servicer rating to 'RPS3' from 'RPS3+' for prime product. This rating action is based on NetBank's recent profitability pressure and management's delayed response in correcting repeat audit findings and customer service call center delays. NetBank's recent operating results have been adversely affected by the poor performance of the company's mortgage lending business. As a result, profitability could be further challenged if loan production volume slows and margin compression continues. In addition, Fitch fitch: see polecat. determined during its recent review that some functions within NetBank continue to perform well, such as its highly integrated technology platform, effective employee training programs, cash management, and investor reporting. However, weaknesses in management's ability to promptly address material audit findings relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc claims processing, delays in foreclosure foreclosure Legal proceeding by which a borrower's rights to a mortgaged property may be extinguished if the borrower fails to live up to the obligations agreed to in the loan contract. referral, timeliness of policy and procedural updates, and insufficient outbound out·bound adj. Outward bound; headed away: outbound trains. Adj. 1. outbound - that is going out or leaving; "the departing train"; "an outward journey"; "outward-bound ships" calling campaigns in the default group have caused Fitch significant concern. Furthermore, during the review period, NetBank's customer service hold times and abandonment rates rose significantly above industry averages. It is important to note that the deficiencies noted above have either been corrected by NetBank or an action plan is in place to correct these problems. In addition, Fitch has received written confirmation that as of September 2005 all of the audit findings have been addressed and resolved. Further, the company made a strategic decision to move its customer service call functions back in-house from a third-party vendor as of October 2005, which has already improved hold times and abandonment rates. Fitch believes that NetBank's action plan is well thought out and will address most of the concerns raised during our review. However, since many of these changes have only been recently implemented, Fitch will continue to monitor the company's ability to maintain satisfactory audits and improve customer service performance levels. In addition, as an unrated seller/servicer, Fitch makes an initial financial condition assessment of NetBank and any changes in that assessment could have further implications on Fitch's servicer rating. 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 'Residential Mortgage Servicer Ratings', dated Feb. 21, 2003, 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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