TMCnet News

Fitch Affirms North Texas Higher Education Loan Authority, Inc. Series 2010-2 Bonds
[April 30, 2014]

Fitch Affirms North Texas Higher Education Loan Authority, Inc. Series 2010-2 Bonds


NEW YORK --(Business Wire)--

Fitch Ratings affirms the Series 2010-2 student loan revenue bonds currently rated 'AAAsf' issued by North Texas Higher Education Authority, Inc. 2010-2 Indenture of Trust. The Rating Outlook remains Stable.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

High Collateral Quality: The trust collateral consists of 100% of 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. On March 24, 2014, Fitch affirmed the U.S. sovereign rating at 'AAA' and assigned a Stable Outlook.

Sufficient Credit Enhancement: CE is provided by overcollateralization (OC; the excess of trust's asset balance over bond balance) and excess spread. As of April 2014, total parity is 113.44% (11.85% CE). The trust is a full turbo structure therefore no cash is released until the note is paid in full.

Adequate Liquidity Support: Liquidity support is provided by a reserve account. The reserve is sized equal to the greater of 0.50% of the pool balance and $500,000.

Acceptable Servicing Capabilities: Higher Education Servicing Corporation (HESC) is the master servicer and will also provide day-to-day servicing for 19.21% of the loans being securitized. Day-to-day servicing for the remainder of the portfolio will be provided by Edfinancial Services, LLC (Edfinancial) (65.2%) and Nelnet Servicing, LLC (Nelnet) (15.6%). Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) will be the backup servicer for those loans serviced by HESC and Edfinancial. All servicers have demonstrated adequate servicing capabilities.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Since FFELP student loan ABS (News - Alert) 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 buildup of credit enhancement driven by positive excess spread given favorable basis factor conditions could lead to future upgrades.



Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:


--'Global Structured Finance Rating Criteria' (May 24, 2013);

--'Rating U.S. Federal Family Education Loan Program Student Loan ABS Criteria' (May 17, 2013).

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

Global Structured Finance Rating Criteria

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=708661

Rating U.S. Federal Family Education Loan Program Student Loan ABS Criteria -- Amended

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=708795

Additional Disclosure

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 (News - Alert) 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.


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]