Fitch Downgrades 1 Class from First Union HEL Trust 1997-1

Business Wire, Oct 21, 2004

NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded the following First Union Home Equity Loan (HEL) issue:

Series 1997-1

-- Class B is downgraded to 'B' from 'BB-'.

The negative rating action taken on $530,333 (30% of total certificates) outstanding of class B reflects the poor performance of the underlying collateral in the transaction.

Series 1997-1 consists of subprime residential mortgages. As of the September 27th distribution, this transaction, with 7.78% of the original collateral remaining, has $557,584 of overcollateralization (OC) compared to the OC target of approximately $1.172 million. Average monthly gross losses for the past six months have been $73,824, and the most current monthly gross loss is $117,262. As a result of monthly losses generally exceeding monthly excess spread, the level of credit enhancement in the transaction represented by OC has been steadily decreasing.

Fitch will continue to closely monitor this deal.

Further information regarding current delinquency, loss, and credit enhancement statistics is available on the Fitch web site at 'www.fitchratings.com'.