DBRS Morningstar Finalizes Provisional Rating on Education Funding Trust 2020-A

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS Morningstar) finalized its provisional rating of AAA (sf) on the $111,997,000 Class A Notes (the Notes) issued by Education Funding Trust 2020-A (EFT 2020-A).

The rating is based on a review by DBRS Morningstar of the following analytical considerations:

(1) Transaction capital structure, proposed ratings, and form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement.

(2) Transaction cash flows are sufficient to repay investors under AAA (sf) stress scenarios in accordance with the terms of the EFT 2020-A transaction documents.

(3) The quality and credit characteristics of the student loan borrowers.

(4) 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.

(5) The representations and warranties (R&W) framework and the ability of Nationwide Bank (Nationwide) and Goldman Sachs Asset Backed Securities Corp. (the Depositor) to repurchase obligations as a result of certain R&W breaches.
-- If the request for repurchase occurs before December 1, 2024, the Depositor’s obligation to repurchase affected trust student loans is conditional on the Depositor receiving indemnification payments from Nationwide. The Depositor will represent and warrant in the Loan Purchase Agreement that Nationwide made substantially the same R&W that the Depositor is making.
-- Nationwide is a highly rated financial institution with a strong ability to repurchase for breaches of R&W.

(6) If the request for repurchase occurs after December 1, 2024, the Depositor will be required to repurchase affected trust student loans.
-- The Depositor is a bankruptcy-remote special-purpose entity and a subsidiary of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which has no direct obligation to repurchase affected trust student loans in the event of a R&W breach.
-- The pool has a weighted-average (WA) FICO score of 762 and WA time since the origination into a Refinancing Loan of approximately 18 months. The quality and credit characteristics of the student loan borrowers mitigate the risk of R&W violations.
-- Third-party due diligence, including a re-underwriting review that was conducted on 100% of the pool with no exceptions, which mitigates the risk of future R&W violations.
-- In an expected pricing scenario, the percentage of the original principal balance remaining after December 2024 is approximately 20% and the Notes will revert to full turbo mode when the pool factor is less than 10%, minimizing the transaction’s tail-end exposure.
-- To date, there have been no repurchases due to R&W breaches.
-- DBRS Morningstar added appropriate stress to its cash flow analysis to address the inability to fulfill repurchase obligations. Transaction cash flows are sufficient to repay investors under all AAA (sf) scenarios.

(7) The experience, underwriting, and origination capabilities of College Ave Student Loans, LLC.

(8) The ability of the Subservicer, University Accounting Service, LLC, to perform collections on the collateral pool and other required activities.

(9) The legal structure and legal opinions that address the true sale of the student loans, the non-consolidation of the trust, and that the trust has a valid first-priority security interest in the assets and the consistency with the DBRS Morningstar “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance.”

The Notes are backed by a trust certificate representing 100% of the beneficial ownership interest in a grantor trust, the assets of which include Refinancing Loans originated through the Nationwide Education Refi Loan Program. The fixed-rate Notes have been secured by a group of fixed-rate and variable-rate Refinancing Loans.

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 & Criteria.

The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process for this rating action. DBRS Morningstar 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 [email protected].

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at [email protected].

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