Fitch Assigns Cenlar RMBS Prime Servicer Rating

Fitch Ratings has assigned the following U.S. residential mortgage servicer rating to Central, FSB (Cenlar)

--U.S. residential primary servicer rating for prime product assigned at 'RPS2'; Outlook Stable;

In a release on December 13, Fitch noted that it previously rated Cenlar between March 2004 to May 2008 for its primary prime, Alt-A, and specialty-subservicer products, but in February 2009, the servicer indicated that it would no longer be providing information to maintain the ratings since it was not actively involved in new RMBS transactions at that time and the ratings were subsequently withdrawn effective March 10, 2009. However, since January 2012, Cenlar has become an active participant in the servicing of new prime issuances. Previously, Cenlar was an approved 'RPS2-' primary product servicer.

Fitch does not rate the credit or financial strength of Cenlar FSB or its parent Cenlar Capital Corp. (CCC). Cenlar, an operating subsidiary of Cenlar Capital Corp., is a privately held (employee- owned), federally chartered savings bank. However, Fitch's financial institutions group reviewed Cenlar's financial statements to provide an internal assessment, as a company's financial condition is a component of Fitch's servicer rating analysis.

Cenlar operates from four locations in and has been in existence since 1958 operating under the name of Larson Mortgage Company (Larson) as a traditional mortgage banking company. In 1984, Larson acquired Centennial Savings and Loan Association and changed its name to Cenlar. In early 1997, the servicer exited the retail banking and loan origination business and began performing interim servicing, third-party subservicing and primary servicing for various financial entities.

As of September 30, Cenlar was servicing 964,942 loans totaling $182.6 billion. This is further broken down as 11,998 non-agency prime RMBS loans totaling $6.7 billion, 793,129 GSE loans totaling $143 billion; 159,077 other loans totaling $32.7 billion. (Other - Includes client asset loans, private investors, Housing Authority, Jumbo, HELOC, ALT- A loans & second mortgage). In addition, the servicer maintains a business relationship with an established special servicer that provides loss mitigation solutions for a portion of its severely delinquent loans.

Cenlar maintains a highly integrated servicing platform and has been servicing residential loans for over 50 years and non-agency RMBS loans since 1994. The servicer utilizes LPS's Mortgage Servicing Platform (MSP), as its primary servicing system of record and maintains a dedicated team that utilizes various proprietary tools and enhancements to perform its servicing functions. The servicer has a very experienced senior management team, that is averaging over 32 years industry experience, which is ably supported by its group and functional management teams that averaged nine and 11 years company experience respectively.

The servicer maintains an effective control environment with highly structured internal audit, enterprise risk management, and compliance oversight capabilities. Cenlar indicated that risk rankings are determined annually and quality control functions are completed monthly for all major servicing functions. For the period ended December 31, 2012, the servicer's Regulation AB and USAP annual certifications indicated full compliance with no material findings. Cenlar also indicated that it was not under any consent or regulatory orders.

Additional information is available at 'fitchratings.com'.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

--'Rating U.S. Residential and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicer Rating Criteria', dated January 31, 2011.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

U.S. Residential and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicer Rating Criteria

http://fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/ report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=600065

Additional Disclosure

Solicitation Status

http://fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/ solicitation?pr_id=811844

((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected]))