Fitch Upgrades 4, Affirms 2 RMBS Classes & 2 DRs From 3 FirstFed MH Issues.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. has upgraded four classes (representing approximately $20.5 million in outstanding principal) and affirmed two classes (representing approximately $8 million in outstanding principal) of First Federal Corporation 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 (MH) issues listed below. Of the outstanding classes, Fitch has also affirmed two Distressed Recovery (DR) ratings (representing $8 million in outstanding principal). Series 1996-1 --Class A upgraded to 'AA' from 'AA-'; --Class B affirmed at 'CCC/DR1'. Series 1997-1 --Class A upgraded to 'AA' from 'AA-'; --Class B upgraded to 'BBB' from 'BB+'. Series 1997-2 --Class A upgraded to 'AA+' from 'AA'; --Class B affirmed at 'CC/DR1'. The collateral in the aforementioned transactions consists of fixed-rate manufactured housing contracts. As of the April 2006 distribution date, the transactions are seasoned from a range of 108 to 114 months, and the pool factors (current contract principal outstanding as a percentage of the initial pool) range from approximately 21% (series 1996-1) to 30% (series 1997-2). First Federal Savings and Loans savings and loan n. a banking and lending institution, chartered either by a state or the Federal government. Savings and loans only make loans secured by real property from deposits, upon which they pay interest slightly higher than that paid by most banks. Association converted its charter to a national bank charter and changed its name to Signal Bank, N.A. In order to achieve consistency among affiliated companies Affiliated Companies A situation that occurs when one company owns a minority interest (less than 50%) in another company. Also refers to companies that are related to each other in some way. Notes: An affiliated company is sometimes referred to as a subsidiary. , the name of FirstFed Corp. (the special purpose corporation used to facilitate the securitization Securitization The process of creating a financial instrument by combining other financial assets and then marketing them to investors. Notes: Mortgage backed securities are a perfect example of securitization. May also be spelled as "securitisation. of manufactured housing contracts) was changed to Signal Securitization Corp. In December 2003, Clayton Homes Inc. assumed the servicing responsibilities for the FirstFed portfolio. When estimating future collateral losses for the aforementioned transactions, Fitch assumed default rates, prepayment Prepayment 1. The payment of a debt obligation prior to its due date. 2. The excess payment over a scheduled debt repayment amount. Notes: 1. Examples include deferred expenses such as rent and early loan repayments. 2. rates and loss severities to remain relatively consistent with current levels. Based on these assumptions, Fitch expects losses on the remaining pool balance of approximately 14% for series 1996-1 transaction, 16% for series 1997-1 transaction and 25% for series 1997-2 transaction. When included with losses already incurred, total cumulative losses as a percentage of the initial pool balance are expected to be approximately 18% for series 1996-1 transaction, 15% for series 1997-1 transaction and 22% for series 1997-2 transaction. Of particular note, the transactions reviewed pay principal due to senior bonds prior to paying interest due to subordinate bonds. Higher than expected losses have caused significant interest shortfalls to various subordinate bonds in the transactions. While the structures allow for interest shortfalls to be recovered in the future in the event of sufficient excess spread, Fitch assessed the likelihood of the bondholder receiving all interest due when determining the bond's credit rating. Fitch will continue to closely monitor these transactions. Further information regarding current delinquency, loss, and credit enhancement Credit Enhancement A method whereby a company attempts to improve its debt or credit worthiness. Notes: Credit enhancements take many different forms. An example of a credit enhancement would be conversion rights added on to a debt instrument in order to lower the issuing statistics is available on the Fitch Ratings website at www.fitchratings.com, along with Fitch's criteria report 'Structured Finance Distressed Recovery Ratings'. 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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