Fitch Takes Various Rating Actions on Wilshire's U.S. RMBS Servicer Ratings

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has taken the following rating actions on the U.S. residential mortgage servicer ratings for Wilshire Credit Corporation (WCC):

--Primary servicer rating for sub-prime product affirmed at 'RPS1';

--Primary servicer rating for HE/HELOC product affirmed at 'RPS1';

--Special servicer rating affirmed at 'RSS1';

--Primary servicer rating for Alt-A product upgraded to 'RPS1-' from 'RPS2';

--Primary servicer rating for HLTV withdrawn at 'RPS1'.

These rating actions reflect WCC's experienced and tenured management team, integrated technology platform, and continued solid default management and loss mitigation practices. The upgrade of the Alt-A rating reflects WCC's overall servicing expertise, as well as the additional year of servicing a larger amount of Alt-A product. The special servicer rating is also based on the company's experience in managing and liquidating non-performing loans and real estate owned (REO) assets. The ratings also reflect the financial strength of WCC's parent Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital, Inc. an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co. (Merrill Lynch ; rated 'A+' and on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch) . Fitch's withdrawal of WCC's primary servicer rating for HLTV product is based solely on the fact that the company no longer services any HLTV product.

Headquartered in Beaverton, OR, with a redundant call center in Salem, OR, WCC has been servicing for more than 11 years, focused primarily on subprime and non-performing product. As of Feb. 29, 2008, WCC serviced 212,739 loans with an unpaid principal balance of over $29.9 billion, down from 260,633 loans reported at year-end 2006. WCC's servicing portfolio is comprised of 40.8% subprime, 40.03% closed end seconds, 6.7% Alt-A and 10.7% scratch & dent product by loan volume. The remaining 1.5% represents the company's government and FHA/VA products. This servicing includes more than 22,000 special serviced assets.

Since Fitch's prior review, WCC continued to maintain its strong default management practices, focusing on staff growth in its loss mitigation areas to maintain and enhance controls and oversight of the company's loan modification and borrower outreach initiatives. Additionally, WCC formed a special servicing team to address the aggressive resolution strategies required for scratch and dent portfolios, of which they anticipate acquiring more of in the future based on market conditions. WCC continues to invest in technology to support its servicing platform and has made several enhancements and upgrades since Fitch's previous assessment .

Fitch's review confirmed that WCC maintains the appropriate staff, systems, and extensive work out capabilities to manage its primary and special servicing operations. Fitch will continue to monitor WCC's ability to maintain performance in a high delinquency environment.

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.