Moody's Investors Service has lowered the long-term rating of Jacksonville, Fla.-based HomeSide Lending to A2 from A1 due to the company's plans for a large writedown of its assets. The rating action was also caused by the increased possibility that Melbourne-based National Australia Bank, Homeside's parent, will be selling the company. HomeSide is still on review for another possible rating downgrade.
Moody's also placed HomeSide's short-term commercial paper rating of Prime-1 on review for possible downgrade. Approximately $3.1 billion in securities are affected by the rating actions.
