DBRS Assigns Provisional Ratings to SoFi Professional Loan Program 2017-C LLC

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today assigned provisional ratings to the following classes of Post-Graduate Loan Asset-Backed Notes (the Notes) issued by SoFi Professional Loan Program 2017-C LLC (SoFi 2017-C):

-- $96,069,000 Class A-1 rated AAA (sf)
-- $230,156,000 Class A-2A rated AAA (sf)
-- $175,653,000 Class A-2B rated AAA (sf)
-- $41,000,000 Class B rated AA (sf)
-- $18,000,000 Class C rated A (sf)

The provisional ratings are based on a review by DBRS of the following analytical considerations:

-- The transaction’s form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement.
-- The sequential pay structure.
-- The quality and credit characteristics of the student loan borrowers.
-- Structural features of the transaction that require the Class A Notes to enter into full turbo principal amortization if certain performance triggers are breached or if credit enhancement deteriorates.
-- The experience, underwriting and origination capabilities of SoFi.
-- The ability of the Servicer to perform collections on the collateral pool and other required activities.
-- The legal structure and expected legal opinions that will address the true sale of the student loans, the non-consolidation of the trust, 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.

The Notes will be backed by a trust certificate representing 100% of the beneficial ownership interest in a grantor trust, the assets of which consist of loans originated through SoFi’s private student loan refinancing program (Refinancing Loans). The variable-rate Class A-1 Notes will be primarily secured by a group of variable-rate Refinancing Loans. The fixed-rate Class A-2A Notes and Class A-2B Notes (together, the Class A-2 Notes) will be primarily secured by a group of fixed-rate Refinancing Loans. The Class B and Class C Notes will be secured by both the variable-rate and fixed-rate Refinancing Loans.

Credit enhancement for SoFi 2017-C will consist of overcollateralization, a separate reserve account for the Class A-1 Notes and the Class A-2 Notes, separate liquidity accounts for the Class B Notes and Class C Notes, subordination provided by the Class B Notes and Class C Notes for the benefit of the Class A Notes, subordination provided by the Class C Notes for the benefit of the Class B Notes, excess spread and limited cross-collateralization.

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

The principal methodology is Rating U.S. Private Student Loan Securitizations, which can be found on dbrs.com 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.

Please see the attached appendix for additional information regarding sensitivity of assumptions used in the rating process.

The full report providing additional information and analytical detail is available by clicking on the link under Related Research at the right of the screen or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.