Fitch Ratings has upgraded American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc.'s (AHMSI) residential primary servicer ratings for prime, Alt-A and subprime products, as well as its specialty servicer rating for closed-end seconds and its special servicer rating. The company's servicer rating for home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) was withdrawn, as AHMSI is not currently servicing any HELOCs.
The rating actions reflect AHMSI's experienced management team, upgraded technology platform, and significant enhancements to both its solid loan administration processes and default management practices, Fitch says.
During the year, AHMSI moved its corporate headquarters from Irving, Texas, to a new facility in Coppell, Texas, that provides the company with ample growth capacity. Additionally, AHMSI maintains offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Irvine, Calif., as well as a captive offshore site in Pune, India.
Approximately 45% of AHMSI's servicing staff is managed offshore. AHMSI remains committed to its offshore strategy and, as of the date of Fitch's review, was in the process of expanding its bilingual call center capabilities to a vendor site in Guadalajara, Mexico, the agency reports.
As of June 30, AHMSI serviced 517,888 loans with an unpaid principal balance of more than $102.8 billion, representing a 34% increase over Dec. 31, 2008, volumes.
Since Fitch's prior review, AHMSI continued to enhance the servicing operation through increased staffing and the functional alignment of many loan administration and default processes to increase efficiencies across the organization.
AHMSI continues to invest in technology and has made several upgrades to support its scalable servicing platform. The company continues to maintain strong default management practices, focusing on enhancing loss mitigation tools and placing an emphasis on automation of loss mitigation processes, Fitch adds.
SOURCE: Fitch Ratings
