NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has affirmed the U.S. residential mortgage servicer rating of EverBank, FSA (EverBank) as follows:
--Residential primary servicer rating for Prime product at 'RPS3'; Outlook Stable.
EverBank is a subsidiary of EverBank Financial Corp and is a diversified financial services company, based in Jacksonville, FL, providing banking, mortgages and investment services. EverBank originates prime residential mortgage loans and focuses on jumbo prime mortgages.
The servicer rating affirmation and Stable Rating Outlook take into consideration EverBank satisfying its consent order requirements and subsequent removal from the OCC's agreement on Jan. 5, 2016, the completed strategic platform changes, and its enhanced risk management oversight and corporate governance program. The rating also takes into consideration EverBank's realignment efforts, which focuses on servicing its own originated loans, completing the transfer of the non-performing loans (NPL) and real estate owned (REO) portfolios while maintaining its default management effectiveness.
The servicer continued strengthening its risk management oversight and corporate governance program and instituted senior management oversight to its corporate governance and vendor risk management control processes. EverBank completed its Reg AB report for the period ended Dec. 31, 2015, with no material non-compliance issues.
As of March 31, 2016, EverBank's overall delinquency rate was approximately 2.00%, as compared to 12.00% in the fourth quarter 2014. This is due mostly to the transfer of approximately $15 billion of non-banking NPL and REO serviced loans to Green Tree and Nationstar. The servicer also expects to have an additional 4,400 loans transferred during the third quarter of 2016.
Everbank is focused on customers who have developed banking relationships that include other non-mortgage-related arrangements with the bank. In addition, the company has started growing its private banking-client relationships and has expanded its jumbo prime lending and loan retention programs. EverBank exited the wholesale origination market and expanded its home equity line of credit and jumbo hybrid-ARM and fixed-rate products while also expanding its retail and correspondent lending programs.
Fitch believes the realignment of EverBank's servicing platform coupled with the higher quality of new loan originations will materially improve the servicer's loan performance metrics. Fitch will continue to monitor EverBank's effectiveness in recruiting and retaining experienced personnel needed to perform all servicing functions.
EverBank is headquartered in Jacksonville, FL and has been servicing residential mortgage loans for over 54 years through predecessor name changes and acquired companies. The servicer has its primary operations located in Jacksonville, FL; with back-up capability in Islandia, NY. EverBank indicated that it does not offshore any servicing functions. As of March 31, 2016, EverBank serviced approximately 218,000 residential mortgage loans totaling $41 billion. This included approximately 160,600 agency loans totaling $25.2 billion, 8,800 non-agency RMBS prime loans totaling $2.2 billion, 26,600 owned-portfolio totaling $8.6 billion, and 22,100 third-party servicing loans totaling $5 billion.
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 and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicer Rating Criteria', dated April 23, 2015 which is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at 'www.fitchratings.com'.
Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.
Applicable Criteria
Rating Criteria for Structured Finance Servicers (pub. 23 Apr 2015)
https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=864375
Rating Criteria for U.S. Residential and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicers (pub. 23 Apr 2015)
https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=864368
Additional Disclosures
Solicitation Status
https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1008348
Endorsement Policy
https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31
ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE '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. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.