MLS Real Estate & Listings Blog

Add Countrywide Financial Corp. to the list of banks and mortgage lenders who have seen their debt ratings lowered by Fitch Ratings over new concerns about the poor performance of home-equity loans.

Fitch announced Wednesday that it was cutting Countrywide Financial’s long-term issuer default rating two notches, to "BBB-" — the lowest investment-grade category. Fitch took the same action for the company’s subsidiaries, Countrywide Bank and Countrywide Home Loans Inc.  more…

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The nation’s five biggest title insurers saw operating revenue from title operations fall 12 percent in 2007 and may experience another 20 percent drop this year, analysts at Fitch Ratings said in issuing their first-ever negative rating outlook for the industry as a whole.

The negative rating outlook — the first since Fitch began covering the industry in the early 1990s — was prompted by expected declines in mortgage originations, and expectations that mounting losses will eat away at capital levels, analysts said.  more…

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