Fitch Affirms Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B; Outlook Stable

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fitch Ratings affirms the senior student loan notes at 'AAAsf' issued by Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B. The Rating Outlook remains Stable for all notes.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

High Collateral Quality: The collateral consists of 100% rehab Federal Family Education Loan Program (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. 'AAA' with a Stable Outlook.

Sufficient Credit Enhancement (CE): CE is provided by overcollateralization (OC; the excess of trust's asset balance over bond balance) and excess spread. As of the July 2015, total parity is 105.99% (5.65%CE). Cash is being released from the trust given that the target CE (5.65% of assets or $1 million) is maintained.

Adequate Liquidity Support: Liquidity support is provided by a reserve fund and a capitalized interest account. The reserve is sized equal to the greater of 0.25% of the pool balance, and $356,267. The capitalized interest account, sized at $1.5 million, will be released on October 2017.

Acceptable Servicing Capabilities: JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. is the master servicer of this trust, with Xerox-ES and Student Assistance Foundation of Montana acting as sub-servicers. Fitch believes all servicers to be acceptable servicers of FFELP student loans.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Since FFELP student loan ABS rely 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 credit enhancement driven by positive excess spread given favorable basis factor conditions could lead to future upgrades.

DUE DILIGENCE USAGE

Fitch was not provided due diligence information from any third parties relating to the Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B.

Fitch has affirmed the following:

Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B

--Class A-1 at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;

--Class A-2 at 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable.

Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.

Applicable Criteria

Global Structured Finance Rating Criteria (pub. 06 Jul 2015)

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=867952

Rating U.S. Federal Family Education Loan Program Student Loan ABS Criteria (pub. 23 Jun 2014)

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=750530

Related Research

Scholar Funding Trust 2012-B, Class A Student Loan Asset-Backed Notes -- Appendix

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=689334

Additional Disclosures

Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=989615

Solicitation Status

https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=989615

Endorsement Policy

https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150818006384/en/

Fitch Ratings
Primary Analyst
Paul Jiang
Associate Director
+1-212-908-9120
Fitch Ratings, Inc.
33 Whitehall St.
New York, NY 10004
or
Committee Chairperson
Tracy Wan
Senior Director
+1-212-908-9171
or
Media Relations:
Sandro Scenga, +1 212-908-0278
[email protected]

Source: Fitch Ratings

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