Note 6—Variable Interest Entities

The Company is a variable interest holder in various VIEs that relate to its investing and financing activities as discussed below.

Credit Risk Transfer Arrangements

The Company has previously entered into certain loan sales arrangements pursuant to which it accepted credit risk relating to the loans sold in exchange for a portion of the interest earned on such loans. These arrangements absorb scheduled or realized credit losses on those loans and comprise the Company’s investments in CRT arrangements.

The Company, through PennyMac Corp. ("PMC"), entered into CRT arrangements with Fannie Mae, pursuant to which the Company sold pools of loans into Fannie Mae-guaranteed securitizations while retaining recourse obligations as part of the retention of IO ownership interests in such loans. CRT arrangements include:

The Company placed Deposits securing credit risk transfer arrangements into subsidiary trust entities to secure its recourse obligations. The Deposits securing credit risk transfer arrangements represent the Company’s maximum contractual exposure to claims under its recourse obligations and are the sole source of settlement of losses under the CRT arrangements.

The Company’s exposure to losses under its recourse obligations was initially established at rates ranging from 3.5% to 4.0% of the UPB of the loans sold under the CRT arrangements. As the UPB of the underlying loans subject to each CRT arrangement decreased through repayments, the percentage exposure to losses of each CRT arrangement increased to maximums ranging from 4.5% to 5.0% of outstanding UPB, although the total dollar amount of exposure to losses did not increase.

The Company has concluded that the subsidiary trust entities holding its CRT arrangements are VIEs and the Company is the primary beneficiary of the VIEs as it is the holder of the primary beneficial interests which absorb the variability of the trusts’ income.

Gains and losses on the derivatives, strips and the IO ownership interest sold to a nonaffiliate included in the CRT arrangements are included in Net (losses) gains on investments and financings in the consolidated statements of operations.

Subordinate and Senior Non-Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities

The Company retains or purchases subordinate and senior non-agency MBS in transactions sponsored by PMC or a nonaffiliate. Cash inflows from the loans underlying these securities are distributed to investors and service providers in accordance with the respective securities' contractual priorities of payments and, as such, most of these inflows must be directed first to service and repay the senior securities.

The rights of holders of subordinate securities to receive distributions of principal and/or interest, as applicable, are subordinate to the rights of holders of senior securities. After the senior securities are repaid, substantially all cash inflows will be directed to the subordinate securities, including those held by the Company, until they are fully repaid.

The Company’s retention or purchase of subordinate MBS exposes PMT to the credit risk in the underlying loans because the Company’s subordinate MBS investments are among the first beneficial interests to absorb credit losses on those assets. The Company’s exposure to losses from its investments in subordinate MBS is limited to its recorded investment in such securities.

The Company has concluded that the trusts holding the assets underlying these transactions are VIEs. The Company also has concluded that it is the primary beneficiary of certain of the VIEs as it has the power, through PLS, in its role as the servicer or sub-servicer of the underlying loans, to direct the activities of the trusts that most significantly impact the trusts’ economic performance and, as a holder of subordinate securities, that PMT is exposed to losses that could potentially be significant to the VIEs. Therefore, PMT consolidates those VIEs.

The Company recognizes the interest earned on the loans owned by the VIEs as Interest income and the interest attributable to the asset-backed securities issued to nonaffiliates by the VIEs as Interest expense on its consolidated statements of operations.

Financing of Mortgage Servicing Assets

The Company entered into financing transactions in which it pledged participation interests in its Fannie Mae MSRs to VIEs which issued variable funding notes, term notes and term loans backed by the participation interests. The Company holds the variable funding notes and acts as guarantor of the variable funding notes, term notes and term loans. The Company determined that it is the primary beneficiary of the VIEs because, as the holder of the variable funding notes and issuer of performance guarantees, it holds the variable interests in the VIEs. Therefore, the Company consolidates the VIEs.

For financial reporting purposes, the MSRs financed by the consolidated VIEs are included in Mortgage servicing rights at fair value, the variable funding notes sold under agreements to repurchase are included in Assets sold under agreements to repurchase and the term notes and term loans are included in Notes payable secured by credit risk transfer and mortgage servicing assets on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. These financings are described in Note 15— Long-Term Debt.