The nation’s non-bank RMBS servicers are shifting their focus from delinquent borrowers and are concentrating their efforts on Fannie Mae [1], Freddie Mac [2], and Ginnie Mae [3] loans, so reports Fitch Ratings [4] in its latest U.S. RMBS Servicer Handbook [5].
“Mortgage servicers are benefiting from a positive credit environment with clean-paying loans becoming the norm and seriously delinquent loans fading from view,” said Roelof Slump, Managing Director, Fitch. More than 90 percent of the company’s rated servicers managed to curtail delinquencies in the first quarter compared with the Q4 2017, it notes.
Many RMBS servicers are documenting a growth in GSE and government servicing profiles between 25 percent and 50 percent, Fitch says. One notable outlier: Bayview Loan Servicing LLC’s aggregate government and agency portfolio exploded by a whopping 140 percent over the course of the year. The phenomenal growth was mostly propelled by a $2.2 billion uptick in its servicing portfolio of Fannie Mae loans, Fitch reports.
“Special servicers are seeking out new avenues of business as the volume of re-performing loan product available in the market continues to diminish,” Slump said.
For the uninitiated, Fitch Ratings’ U.S. RMBS Servicer Handbook provides a description of all Fitch-rated servicers, their current servicer ratings and key rating drivers, portfolio size and key attributes, important trends, links to the full RMBS servicer reports, and Fitch analyst contact information, the company explains.
The portfolio information covers the profiled servicers’ latest quarterly updates. To keep full tabs on the ever-changing market, Fitch publishes an updated handbook each quarter. The updates include rating changes, any changes to key rating drivers, and portfolio size and attribute data, it notes.