Fitch Affirms Nelnet 2012-6; Outlook Stable
OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has affirmed the following Nelnet Student Loan Trust 2012-6 ratings:
--Class A at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--Class B at 'AAsf'; Outlook Stable.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
High Collateral Quality: The trust collateral is composed of 100% of Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans, including 20.3% rehabilitated FFELP loans. The credit quality of the trust collateral is high, in Fitch's opinion, based on the guarantees provided by the transaction's eligible guarantors and reinsurance provided by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for at least 97% of principal and accrued interest. Fitch currently rates the U.S. sovereign rating 'AAA' with a Stable Outlook.
Sufficient Credit Enhancement: Credit enhancement (CE) is provided by overcollateralization (OC; the excess of trust's asset balance over bond balance), excess spread, and, for the senior notes, subordination. As of August 2015, total parity is 101.01% (1% CE) and senior parity is 104.63% (4.42% CE). The trust will continue to release cash given the specified OC amount of 1.00% is maintained.
Adequate Liquidity Support: Liquidity support for the notes is provided by a reserve fund equal to the greater of 0.65% of the balance of the outstanding notes and $1,012,000. The reserve fund is sized at $4,751,623 as of August 2015.
Acceptable Servicing Capabilities: Nelnet, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), Xerox-ES, and Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc (GLELSI) are servicers of this trust. In Fitch's opinion, all servicers are acceptable servicers of FFELP student loans.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
Since the FFELP student loan ABS relies on the U.S. government to reimburse defaults, 'AAAsf' FFELP ABS ratings will likely move in tandem with the 'AAA' U.S. sovereign rating. Aside from the U.S. sovereign rating, defaults and basis risk account for the majority of the risk embedded in FFELP student loan transactions. Additional defaults and basis shock beyond Fitch's published stresses could result in future downgrades. Likewise, a build-up of CE driven by positive excess spread given favorable basis factor conditions could lead to future upgrades.
Комментарии