DBRS Assigns Provisional Ratings to ELFI Graduate Loan Program 2018-A LLC

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) assigned provisional ratings to the following classes of notes (collectively, the Notes) issued by ELFI Graduate Loan Program 2018-A LLC (ELFI 2018-A):

-- $24,784,000 Class A-1 Notes at AAA (sf)
-- $158,650,000 Class A-2 Notes at AAA (sf)
-- $16,566,000 Class B Notes at A (sf)

The $200 million ELFI 2018-A transaction represents the first securitization of refinanced student loans originated by Education Loan Finance (ELFI), a division of Southeast Bank (the Bank).

The provisional ratings are based on a review by DBRS of the following considerations:
-- The transaction’s form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement.
-- The quality and credit characteristics of the student loan borrowers.
-- Structural features of the transaction that require the 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 the Bank.
-- 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 consistency with the DBRS “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance.”

The variable-rate Class A-1 Notes will be secured primarily by a group of variable-rate loans. The fixed-rate Class A-2 Notes will be secured primarily by a group of fixed-rate loans. The Class B Notes will be secured by both the variable-rate and fixed-rate loan groups.

ELFI 2018-A will use a traditional pass-through structure, with credit enhancement consisting of overcollateralization, excess spread, subordination provided by the Class B Notes for the benefit of the Class A-1 Notes and Class A-2 Notes (together, the Class A Notes), separate reserve accounts for each of the Class A Notes, a liquidity account for the Class B Notes 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 for this rating action. DBRS had access to the accounts and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities in connection with this rating action.

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

The full report providing additional analytical detail is available by clicking on the link under Related Documents below or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.