Moody's Investors Service said late Wednesday its decision to put the U.S. government's debt on review for possible downgrade could have implications for certain rated residential mortgage products.
While government and agency securitizations generally are not rated, rated resecuritizations of agency RMBS, home equity conversion mortgages securitized in the private market and securitizations of reperforming FHA/VA collateral could be affected, the rating agency said.
As a result of the debt review, Moody's also put on review for possible downgrade the ratings of about $6.4 billion of securities in the first category and roughly $5.5 billion combined in the latter two categories.
These types of securities "are all connected to the U.S. government either through a guarantee or insurance," Moody's senior vice president Debashish Chatterjee told National Mortgage News.
