Fitch Affirms GreenPoint at 'RPS2-' for Alt-A & Home Equity Loans

Business Wire, June 22, 2004

NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings affirms GreenPoint Mortgage Funding Inc.'s (GreenPoint) residential primary servicer ratings for Alt-A and home equity/home equity lines of credit (HE/HELOC) loans at 'RPS2-'. The affirmation of these ratings reflect GreenPoint's reliable loan administration practices, validated internal controls, capable default management methodology, and creditable training program. In addition, the ratings also reflect the financial strength of GreenPoint's parents, GreenPoint Financial Corp. and GreenPoint Bank, both rated 'BBB' by Fitch.

As of March 31, 2004, GreenPoint's servicing portfolio consisted of approximately 226,600 loans with an unpaid principal balance of $34.4 billion, of which approximately 58,600 loans totaling $2.8 billion were HELOCs and approximately 86,400 loans totaling $14 billion were Alt-A loans. Private residential mortgage-backed securitizations constituted 49,600 loans, or nearly 22% of the total servicing portfolio.

GreenPoint Mortgage Funding, Inc., headquartered in Novato, CA, operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of GreenPoint Bank. GreenPoint's servicing platform has sites in both Columbus, GA and Santa Rosa, CA, performing default management and loan administration functions in Columbus and new loan audit and records management functions in Santa Rosa. GreenPoint has maintained an offshore outsourcing arrangement with a vendor in Bangalore, India for call center and loan administration services since June 2002. The offshore staffing levels currently represent approximately one-third of the total servicing operation staff. Fitch will continue to monitor the effectiveness of GreenPoint's relationship with the offshore vendor as it impacts the platform's performance in customer service and loan administration processes.

In February 2004, GreenPoint Financial Corporation and North Fork Bancorporation (North Fork) announced an agreement with North Fork to merge the two companies for an all stock transaction. At that time, Fitch placed the 'A/F1' long- and short-term ratings of North Fork on Rating Watch Negative and placed the 'BBB/F2' long- and short-term ratings of GreenPoint Financial Corporation on Rating Watch Positive. With over $53 billion in combined assets, $30 billion in deposits, over $13 billion of market capitalization, and over 340 branches on a pro forma basis, the transaction will create the largest regional bank in the New York metro area. The transaction is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2004. GreenPoint anticipates that post-merger, it will continue its business strategy as a lender and servicer of residential mortgages, particularly for Alt-A, home equity and home equity lines of credit, and agency products. Fitch will continue to closely monitor the merger transaction's progress and any impact on GreenPoint's servicing platform in addition to the performance of its loan portfolio.

Fitch rates residential mortgage primary, master, and special servicers on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. Within each of these rating levels, Fitch further differentiates ratings by plus and minus, as well as the flat rating. For more information on the review and rating process for servicers, see Fitch Research 'Residential Mortgage Servicers Ratings,' dated Feb. 21, 2003 and available on the Fitch Ratings web site at 'www.fitchratings.com.'