DBRS Morningstar Confirms Ratings on Affirm Asset Securitization Trust 2023-A

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS Morningstar) confirms ratings on the following notes issued by Affirm Asset Securitization Trust 2023-A (Affirm 2023-A):

-- $628,320,000 Class A Notes at AAA (sf)
-- $45,080,000 Class B Notes at AA (sf)
-- $41,490,000 Class C Notes at A (sf)
-- $35,110,000 Class D Notes at BBB (sf)

Initial notes totaling $500 million were issued (Initial Notes) on January 26, 2023, the Initial Closing Date. The transaction includes a feature known as Expandable Notes, whereby the Issuer may issue Additional Notes (up to a maximum $1,500,000,000 of the total Notes outstanding) at any point during the Revolving Period. On or about April 28, 2023 (the Additional Notes Closing Date), the Issuer will be issuing an additional $250 million of Additional Notes for a total Note issuance of $750 million.

The terms of the Additional Notes of each Class will be the same as those of the Initial Notes of that Class, except that the interest due on the Additional Notes shall accrue from April 15, 2023 and shall be payable starting on the first Payment Date following the Additional Notes Closing Date.

The ratings on the notes are based on DBRS Morningstar's review of the following considerations:

(1) The transaction assumptions consider DBRS Morningstar’s baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereign economies, available in its commentary Baseline Macroeconomic Scenarios For Rated Sovereigns December 2022 Update, published on December 21, 2022. These baseline macroeconomic scenarios replace DBRS Morningstar’s moderate and adverse COVID-19 pandemic scenarios, which were first published in April 2020.

(2) The transaction’s form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement.
-- Subordination, overcollateralization, amounts held in the Reserve Account, the Yield Supplement Overcollateralization Amount, and excess spread create credit enhancement levels that are commensurate with the ratings.
-- Transaction cash flows are sufficient to repay investors under all AAA (sf), AA (sf), A (sf), and BBB (sf) stress scenarios in accordance with the terms of the Affirm 2023-A transaction documents.

(3) Inclusion of structural elements featured in the transaction such as the following:
-- Eligibility criteria for receivables that are permissible in the transaction.
-- Concentration limits designed to maintain a consistent profile of the receivables in the pool.
-- Performance-based Amortization Events that, when breached, will end the revolving period and begin amortization.

(4) The experience, sourcing, and servicing capabilities of Affirm, Inc. (Affirm).

(5) The experience, underwriting, and origination capabilities of Affirm Loan Services LLC (ALS), Cross River Bank (CRB), and Celtic Bank.

(6) The ability of Nelnet Servicing to perform duties as a Backup Servicer.

(7) The annual percentage rate charged on the loans and CRB and Celtic Bank’s status as the true lender.
-- All loans in the initial pool included in Affirm 2023-A are originated by Affirm through its subsidiary ALS or by originating banks, CRB and Celtic Bank, New Jersey and Utah, respectively, state-chartered FDIC-insured banks.
-- Loans originated by ALS utilize state licenses and registrations and interest rates are within each state's respective usury cap.
-- Loans originated by CRB are all within the New Jersey state usury limit of 30.00%.
-- Loans originated by Celtic Bank are all within the Utah state usury limit of 36.00%.
-- Loans may be in excess of individual state usury laws; however, CRB and Celtic Bank as the true lenders are able to export rates that preempt state usury rate caps.
-- The loan pool only includes loans made to borrowers in New York that have Contract Rates below the usury threshold.
-- Loans originated to borrowers in Iowa will be eligible to be included in the Receivables to be transferred to the Trust. These loans will be originated under the ALS entity using Affirm’s state license in Iowa.
-- Loans originated to borrowers in West Virginia will be eligible to be included in the Receivables to be transferred to the Trust. Affirm has the required licenses and registrations that will enable it to operate the bank partner platform in West Virginia.
-- Affirm has obtained a supervised lending license from Colorado, permitting Affirm to facilitate supervised loans in excess of the Colorado annual rate cap of 12%, outside of the Assurance of Discontinuance’s (AOD’s) safe harbor. All loans originated on the Affirm Platform in Colorado have Contract Rates below the usury threshold.
-- Loans originated to borrowers in Vermont above the state usury cap will be eligible to be included in the Receivables to be transferred to the Trust. Affirm has the required licenses and registrations in the state of Vermont.
-- Loans originated to borrowers in Connecticut with a Contract Rate above the state usury cap will be ineligible to be included in the Receivables to be transferred to the Trust until Affirm obtains the required licenses and registrations in the state of Connecticut. Inclusion of these Receivables will be subject to Rating Agency Condition.
-- Under the loan sale agreement, Affirm is obligated to repurchase any loan if there is a breach of representation and warranty that materially and adversely affects the interests of the purchaser.

(9) The legal structure and legal opinions that address the true sale of the unsecured consumer loans, the nonconsolidation of the Trust, and that the Trust has a valid perfected security interest in the assets and consistency with the DBRS Morningstar “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance.”

 
ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS
There were no Environmental/Social/Governance (ESG) factors that had a significant or relevant effect on the credit analysis.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework can be found in the DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/396929 (May 17, 2022).

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the rating is Rating U.S. Structured Finance Transactions at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/409449/rating-us-structured-finance-transactions (February 06, 2023).

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release.

The DBRS Morningstar Sovereign group releases baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereigns. DBRS Morningstar analysis considered impacts consistent with the baseline scenarios as set forth in the following report: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384482 .

The rating was initiated at the request of the rated entity.
The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process for this rating action.
DBRS Morningstar had access to the accounts, management and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities in connection with this rating action.
This is a solicited credit rating.

Please see the related appendix for additional information regarding the sensitivity of assumptions used in the rating process.

DBRS, Inc.
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The rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/about/methodologies.

Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit (February 7, 2023)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/409498/rating-clos-and-cdos-of-large-corporate-credit

Operational Risk Assessment for U.S. ABS Servicers (April 5, 2023)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/412303/operational-risk-assessment-for-us-abs-servicers

Operational Risk Assessment for U.S. ABS Originators (April 5, 2023)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/412302/operational-risk-assessment-for-us-abs-originators

Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance (December 7, 2022)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/407008/legal-criteria-for-us-structured-finance.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrsmorningstar.com or contact us at info@dbrsmorningstar.com.