Fitch Ratings has affirmed the following servicer ratings for
The rating Outlook has been revised to Positive from Stable for the primary prime servicer rating, and affirmed at Stable for the special servicer rating.
RATING ACTIONS
Entity / Debt
Rating
Prior
RMBS Primary Prime Servicer
RPS3+
Affirmed
RPS3+
RMBS Special Servicer
RSS3+
Affirmed
RSS3+
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VIEW ADDITIONAL RATING DETAILS
Key Rating Drivers
PLS's affirmed ratings and accompanying Outlooks reflect the company's strong post-pandemic performance, highly effective technology and cybersecurity platform, comprehensive internal control environment and satisfactory loan administration performance metrics. The ratings also reflects PLS's tenured senior management team and staff, strong vendor oversight, solid homeowner retention efforts and management's focus on promoting a continuous improvement culture designed to drive operational and technology enhancements in support of the company's growth strategy.
Call volume escalated during 4Q21 into 1Q22, due mostly to forbearance exits and loan modification activity. Call center performance has largely stabilized in 3Q22. Initially, 90% of the workforce migrated to a work-from-home environment that has been reduced to about 33%. PLS facilitated more than 326,000 forbearance plans for borrowers of which 83% were completed via self-service automation. A total of 1.6 million forbearance check-ins have been completed with 69% done via web automation, and 193,00 streamline and 20,000 full document loan modifications have been completed as of
PLS has effective risk management controls in place that are built upon a three lines of defense strategy, consisting of quality assurance, quality control and internal audit. The risk management framework is well-defined, clearly delineating responsibilities across different teams and within the lines of business. A review of the company's internal audit reports did not reveal any material findings and both the
The company reports loan administration performance metrics that are competitive with, or superior to, peer group and industry averages. The company's cash processing and investor accounting and reporting areas are highly automated with solid performance metrics. Escrow administration is similarly well-automated and risk is minimized by effective oversight of vendor relationships and internal performance metrics. Call center performance metrics are acceptable. Default administration metrics in collections and homeownership retention are comparable to or exceed industry averages, while bankruptcy and foreclosure case handling, tracking and performance monitoring are efficiently managed.
Technology innovation remains a key corporate strategy at PLS. Since Fitch's last review, the company's technology investments have included continued application development and enhancements to its proprietary Servicing Systems Environment (SSE), a cloud-based servicing system that houses borrower account data and is supported by ancillary proprietary applications. Proprietary software applications in use at PLS include workflow management tools, a loss mitigation application, default administration case tracking and electronic storage and rendering.
Network security is addressed via an annual risk assessment, and intrusion testing is performed both internally and through a third-party vendor several times a year. A central access management group administers password administration protocols including periodic user access reviews. Disaster recovery and business continuity is achieved via remote work capabilities and/or load balancing between the company's four servicing sites.
Headquartered in
Fitch rates residential mortgage primary, master and special servicers on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. Within some of these rating levels, Fitch further differentiates ratings by plus (+) and minus (-) as well as the flat rating. For more information on Fitch's residential servicer rating program, please see Fitch's 'Criteria for Rating
Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com
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