DBRS Assigns Rating to Earnest Funding 6 LLC Warehouse Notes

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today assigned an A (sf) rating to the Earnest Funding 6 LLC Warehouse Notes (the Notes), which have been issued pursuant to the Warehouse Note Purchase and Security Agreement, dated as of March 17, 2016, between Earnest Funding 6 LLC as Borrower and the Lender and Facility Agent. The Notes will be secured by refinanced student loans originated and serviced by Earnest Operations LLC.

The rating is based upon a review by DBRS of the following considerations:
-- Transaction structure and sufficiency of the warehouse facility’s advance rate and other forms of credit enhancement, which are commensurate with a rating of A (sf).
-- Concentration limits and eligibility criteria, which will help maintain the characteristics of the revolving loan pool at a level commensurate with the A (sf) rating level.
-- The warehouse facility has certain performance triggers which, if violated, will result in an early amortization event.
-- The experience and capabilities of Earnest Operations LLC as an originator and underwriter of student loans.
-- The ability of Earnest Operations LLC to perform collections on the collateral pool.
-- The existence of a hot backup servicer and a backup administrator.
-- The soundness of the warehouse facility’s legal structure and presence of legal opinions that address the true sale and non-consolidation of the assets, that the special-purpose entity has a valid first priority security interest in the assets, and consistency with the DBRS “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance Transactions” methodology.

Notes:
The applicable methodology is Rating U.S. Private Student Loan Securitizations, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Rating Limited for use in the European Union.