DBRS Assigns Rating to Westlake Funding V, LLC and WPS V, LLC

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today assigned a rating of AA (low) (sf) to the Notes issued by Westlake Funding V, LLC as well as the Notes issued by WPS V, LLC. The Westlake Funding V, LLC and WPS V, LLC transactions are warehouses for the financing of subprime auto loan receivables.

The ratings are based on DBRS’s review of the following analytical considerations:
-- Transaction capital structure, proposed ratings and form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement.
-- Credit enhancement levels are sufficient to support the DBRS-projected expected cumulative net loss assumption under various stress scenarios.
-- The ability of the transactions to withstand stressed cash flow assumptions and repay investors according to the terms under which they have invested. For these transactions, the ratings address the payment of timely interest on a monthly basis and the payment of principal by the legal final maturity date.
-- The credit quality of the collateral and performance of the auto loan portfolio by origination channels.
-- The capabilities of Westlake Services, LLC (Westlake) with regard to originations, underwriting and servicing.
-- The quality and consistency of provided historical static pool data for Westlake originations and performance of the Westlake auto loan portfolio.
-- Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (rated AA (high)/R-1 (high) with Stable trends by DBRS) has served as a backup servicer for Westlake since 2003 when a conduit facility was put in place.
-- The legal structure and presence of legal opinions that address the true sale of the assets to the Issuer, the non-consolidation of the special-purpose vehicle with Westlake, that the trust has a valid first-priority security interest in the assets and the consistency with the DBRS “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance” methodology.

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating U.S. Retail Auto Loan Securitizations, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process. DBRS had access to the accounts and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at info@dbrs.com.