The following table shows the percentage of our direct primary mortgage insurance RIF and the associated percentage of  our mortgage insurance reserve for losses (by location of property) for the top 15 metropolitan statistical areas (“MSAs”) in the  U.S. (measured by primary mortgage insurance RIF as of  December 31, 2012) as of December 31, 2012 and 2011: Although geographic dispersion is an important component of our overall risk diversification, we believe that other  factors also contribute significantly to the quality of the RIF , including product distribution and our risk management and  underwriting practices. LTV . An important indicator of claim incidence in our mortgage insurance business is the relative amount of a borrower ’s  equity that exists in a home. Generally , absent other mitigating factors such as high FICO scores and other credit factors, loans  with higher LTVs at inception (i.e., smaller down payments) are more likely to result in a claim than lower L TV loans. For  example, absent other mitigating factors, claim incidence on mortgages with L TVs between 90.01% and 95% is generally  higher than the claim incidence on mortgages with L TVs between 85.01% and 90%. We have insured a significant number of  loans with LTVs between 95.01% and 100% and a small number of loans having an L TV over 100%. In 2010, after having  discontinued writing insurance on mortgages with L TVs higher than 95% for a period of time, we resumed writing business on  loans with LTV ratios between 95.01% and 97% on a limited basis, subject to high credit standards. (See the “Percentage of  primary NIW” table in “Part II. Item 7. Management’ s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of  Operations—Results of Operations—Mortgage Insurance— NIW, Insurance in Force, RIF ” for a breakdown of the composition  of our NIW by LTV.) The average LTV of our primary NIW in 2012 was 90.64%, compared to 90.45% and 89.83% in 2011 and  2010, respectively. Loan Grade . The risk of claim on non-prime loans is significantly higher than that on prime loans.  We generally define  prime loans as loans where the borrower’s FICO score is 620 or higher and the loan file meets “fully documented” standards of  our credit guidelines (as compared to Alt-A loans discussed below) and/or the GSE guidelines for fully documented loans.  Substantially all of our primary NIW  since 2009 has consisted of prime loans. Prime loans comprised  88.3% of our primary  RIF at December 31, 2012, compared to 84.8% at December 31, 2011. We expect that prime loans will continue to constitute  substantially all of our primary NIW  for the foreseeable future. 3.  Mortgage Characteristics December 31, 2012 2011 Top Fifteen MSAs RIF Reserve for Losses RIF Reserve for Losses Chicago, IL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4% 5.6% 4.2% 5.0% Atlanta, GA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 3.0 3.5 3.4 Los Angeles - Long Beach, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 2.0 2.3 2.2 Washington, DC-MD-VA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 1.7 2.3 1.6 Phoenix/Mesa, AZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 2.1 2.1 2.8 New York, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 3.5 2.3 3.2 Houston, TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0 1.0 2.0 1.1 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7 1.2 1.5 1.4 Denver, CO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7 0.6 1.4 0.8 Dallas, TX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 0.7 1.4 0.8 Philadelphia, PA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 1.0 1.4 0.9 Riverside-San Bernardino, CA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 2.0 1.6 2.2 Seattle, WA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 1.5 1.3 1.4 Portland, OR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 0.9 1.2 0.9 San Diego, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 0.7 1.0 0.8 Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.4% 27.5% 29.5% 28.5% 13