Fitch Ratings has downgraded and subsequently withdrawn the following ratings on Option One Mortgage Corporation's (Option One) residential servicer ratings:
--Residential primary servicer rating for subprime product to 'RPS3' from 'RPS2+';
--Residential special servicer rating to 'RSS3' from 'RSS2+'.
In addition, both ratings have been removed from Rating Watch Negative, where they were placed on Oct. 22, 2007.
The downgrade and withdrawal reflect the acquisition of Option One by American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc., (AHMSI), previously known as American Home Mortgage Servicing. The rating downgrade also reflects the limited operating history of the new ownership, and the change of ownership from a publicly rated entity (H&R Block, rated 'A' by Fitch) and the change to an unrated entity, Wilbur Ross & Co. LLC.
Fitch 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 Nov. 29, 2006, which is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use 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 are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.
Contacts:
Michael Laidlaw, 212-908-0251
Mary
Kelsch, 212-908-0563
or
Media Relations:
Sandro Scenga,
212-908-0278
