NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 13, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it lowered its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Reserve National Insurance Co. (Reserve National) to 'A' from 'A+'. In addition, Standard&Poor's affirmed its 'BBB+' counterparty credit and senior debt ratings on Unitrin Inc. (NYSE:UTR) and affirmed its 'A' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Unitrin's property/casualty (P/C) subsidiaries and its 'A+' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Unitrin's life and health (L/H) subsidiaries. The outlook on all these ratings is stable. Reserve National is still considered nonstrategic to Unitrin's L/H operating companies. "Historically, the ratings on Reserve National benefited from one notch of support from Unitrin's L/H division, but because