Secondary Valuations

A similar portfolio for $296 million was announced last week by Mission. That offering, with properties in five states, includes 57 loans with an Arizona concentration.

Select Portfolio Servicing Inc. acquired the servicing of Accredited Mortgage Loan Trust 2005-1 and 2005-4 as well as the servicing of Aames Mortgage Investment Trust 2005-4 and 2006-1, Moody’s Investors Service reported earlier this month. Bruce Corwin, a spokesman for Select parent Credit Suisse, declined to provide more details about the transaction. Ed Trissel, spokesman for Accredited Home Lenders parent Loan Star Funds, didn’t respond to a request for more information.

A refinance initiative announced by the U.S. Treasury last week aims to enable conforming borrowers with as-agreed payment histories and loan-to-values as high as 105 percent to refinance at today’s low mortgage rates. A letter to the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America last week from Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s regulator, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James B. Lockhart III, indicated that no additional mortgage insurance will be required under the plan.

Lockhart said borrowers whose loans were originally less than 80 percent LTV will not need to obtain mortgage insurance. But he called on mortgage insurers to continue the policies that are already in place on borrowers with LTVs above 80 percent given that their risk will only decrease as interest rates are lowered and borrowers’ payments decline.

“Our goal is to ensure that the existing mortgage insurance continues at the same dollar amount and price as with the original loan” the letter stated. “For that, the enterprises and the homeowner need the assistance of the mortgage insurer.”

An alliance was struck between Kroll Factual Data and MIAC Analytics to provide whole-loan collateral-risk assessment to mortgage investors and risk managers, a press release last week said. The offering reduces the turnaround on loan valuations and borrower credit information from days or even weeks to just hours. Real-time metrics are intended to help users measure fundamental risks from the current financial crisis.

Response Analytics this month unveiled a new offering that utilizes optimization technology to accurately value distressed mortgage portfolios and mortgage-backed securities. The solution utilizes behavior modeling and optimization technology, operates at the loan level and establishes an optimized individualized workout for each distressed loan in the portfolio.

Another offering, CreditValue, provides values for structured finance credit portfolios, Valuelytics LLC announced on Feb. 5. CreditValue is powered by a technology platform that utilizes “proprietary data quality hygenics, patented valuation methodologies and predictive algorithms.”

Valuelytics founder Gary Field explained in the news release that the technology is based on data analytics and statistics and not markets and applications. He said they recently analyzed more than 10,000 individual mortgage securities from two portfolios for a well-known financial institution in just a few minutes.

A Feb. 5 press release from Integrated Asset Services touted iCDA Credit Due Diligence Analytics as “a revolutionary package of full service, end-to-end due diligence for the mortgage market.” The forensic service provides an analysis of credit worthiness, collateral valuation and compliance for loan buyers.

Among prospects being targeted by Integrated are hedge funds, private investors and mortgage originators.

“iCDA is designed to expose both the risk and merit of an asset beyond the historic origination and compliance guidelines,” an Integrated executive said in the statement.