Consumer ABS

Ford’s Motor Co.’s return to investment grade status is a milestone for the auto industry, even if it has emerged from the credit crisis and recession in much better shape than its peers.

A deal under a new catastrophe bond program called Mythen Ltd. is in the market. Moody's Investors Service has assigned preliminary ratings to three classes of the Series 2012-1 notes.

The potential interest rate increase affecting new student loans originated via the government direct lending program will not affect existing FFELP SLABS deals, according to an emailed note from Standard & Poor's this morning.

When most major banks reach the end of the road in their efforts to collect on defaulted credit card accounts, they often sell rights to the soured loans to debt collectors for pennies on the dollar. Those pennies can add up to tens of millions in dollars in revenue for a large card issuer, but American Express (Amex) and USAA have long left that money on the table.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged credit rating agency Egan-Jones Ratings Co. (EJR) and its owner and president Sean Egan for material misrepresentations and omissions in their July 2008 application to register as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) for ABS and government securities issuers.

Enterprise Fleet Management (EFM) is in the market with a $497 million transaction rated by Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's.

The non-mortgage ABS primary market has seen its strongest start since the 2008 to 2009 credit crisis, according to a Barclays Capital report released this afternoon.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) will be holding ASF 2013 in the same spot that it did this year's conference. The industry gathering will be held at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas on January 27-30, 2013.

Student loan giant Sallie Mae reported a 36% decline in first quarter earnings yesterday, to $112 million, even as it’s growing private loan business rose by 23%, to $1.2 billion.

The bankcard defaults rose slightly, although defaults for other consumer loan categories dropped in March including autos, Standard & Poor's analysts noted this morning in an emailed note.