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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lucretius who wrote (335571)	5/22/2007 5:21:32 AM
From: Box-By-The-Riviera™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

get cha some washington mutual dude. Washington Mutual Mortgage Bond Credit Ratings Slashed by S&P 2007-05-17 17:51 (New York) By Mark Pittman May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Standard & Poor's cut the credit ratings on $422 million of bonds backed by second-lien mortgages, saying a unit of Washington Mutual Inc. that services the loans failed to disclose delinquencies on time. Almost $53 million in loans, or about 10 percent of the original amount, will be written off less than a year after the securities were sold, S&P said in a research note today. The losses, from 612 loans that became 180 days delinquent between November 2006 and April 2007, bring the total amount to $68.4 million the past 10 months, a rate of 12.9 percent, S&P said. Washington Mutual's Long Beach Mortgage Trust LP should have written off the mortgages sooner because the payments were late. S&P didn't state a reason for why Long Beach delayed writing off the loans. Three classes of the bonds were cut to D, S&P's lowest grade and a rating that equates to default. Three investment-grade credits were cut to speculative-grade, or junk. ``Generally, the servicer must charge off a mortgage loan no later than the date it becomes 180 days delinquent -- unless it determines that a significant net recovery is possible --, and it may charge off a mortgage loan prior to that date,'' S&P analysts Robert Pollsen and Ernestine Warner said in the report. Pollsen declined to comment. Tim McGarry, a spokesman for Los Angeles-based Washington Mutual, declined to comment. Once a mortgage loan has been written off, the so-called servicer discontinues making payments to bondholders and isn't be entitled to a fee for that loan. S&P this month joined Moody's Investors Service in requiring more protection for investors in bonds backed by second mortgages, as late payments and defaults exceed expectations on such debt to borrowers with poor credit. Second-lien mortgages often have been obtained by homeowners in lieu of down payments when buying a house. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission today includes a table listing unpaid principal balances and the number of loans that became 180 days delinquent for each month from November through April. These losses have depleted the $17.9 million in extra collateral that remained backing the deal as of April.