DBRS Assigns Provisional Ratings to Earnest Student Loan Program 2017-A LLC

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today assigned provisional ratings to the following classes issued by Earnest Student Loan Program 2017-A LLC (EARN 2017-A):

-- $24,424,000 Class A-1 rated AA (high) (sf)
-- $130,261,000 Class A-2 rated AA (high) (sf)
-- $15,096,000 Class B rated BBB (sf)
-- $5,479,000 Class C rated BB (sf)

The provisional ratings are based on DBRS’s review of the following analytical 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 Class A Notes to enter into full turbo principal amortization if certain performance triggers are breached or if credit enhancement deteriorates.
-- Earnest Operations LLC’s capabilities with regard to originations, underwriting and servicing.
-- The benefits offered by the existence of a hot backup servicer.
-- 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” methodology.

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

EARN 2017-A will use a traditional pass-through structure, with credit enhancement consisting of overcollateralization, a separate reserve account for each class of Class A Notes, a liquidity account for the Class B and Class C Notes, subordination provided by the Class B and Class C Notes for the benefit of the Class A 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.

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.