Fitch Affirms Financial Freedom's U.S. RMBS Servicer Rating; Maintains Negative Outlook

MUMBAI, India & CHENNAI, India & SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fitch Ratings has affirmed the following rating on the U.S. residential primary servicer rating for Financial Freedom, a division of CIT Bank N.A. (Financial Freedom):

--U.S. Residential primary specialty - reverse mortgage servicer rating at 'RPS3', Outlook Negative.

The rating affirmation reflects Financial Freedom's experience and performance in managing the reverse mortgage product. The company's senior management has extensive experience in the servicing of reverse mortgages. Additionally, Fitch believes that Financial Freedom has adequate technology for its servicing platform and an established risk management framework. The Negative Outlook predominantly reflects uncertainties relating to the pending sale of the servicing platform.

The rating also takes into consideration the financial support of the parent company, CIT Bank N.A. In August 2015, CIT Group Inc. closed its purchase of OneWest Bank N.A.'s parent company IMB Holdco LLC. The purchase included OneWest Bank N.A., which services forward mortgages under the name OneWest Bank Mortgage Servicing and reverse mortgages under the name Financial Freedom. The name OneWest Bank N.A. has changed to CIT Bank, N.A.

Financial Freedom maintains its operations in Austin, TX and Kalamazoo, MI. As of March 31, 2015, Financial Freedom's servicing portfolio consisted of 104,050 loans with an unpaid principal balance of approximately $20.6 billion. The reverse portfolio is composed of 68% GSE loans (based on UPB), 18% non-agency RMBS, 8% third-party servicing, and 6% owned loans.

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 Criteria for U.S. Residential and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicers', dated April. 23, 2015 which is available on the Fitch Ratings website at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

--'Rating Criteria for Structured Finance Servicers' (April 23, 2015);

--'Rating Criteria for U.S. Residential and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicers' (April 23, 2015).

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=997182

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151221006232/en/

Fitch Ratings
Primary Analyst
Natasha Aikins
Director
+1-212-908-0272
33 Whitehall Street
New York, NY 10004
or
Secondary Analyst
Thomas Crowe
Senior Director
+1-212-908-0227
or
Committee Chairperson
Roelof Slump
Managing Director
+1-212-908-0705
or
Media Relations
Elizabeth Fogerty, +1-212-908-0526
[email protected]

Source: Fitch Ratings

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