Fitch rates the following student loan-backed notes issued by SLM Student Loan Trust 2006-7:

* $159,000,000 class A-1 floating-rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $406,000,000 class A-2 floating-Rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $175,000,000 class A-3 floating-rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $457,000,000 class A-4 floating-rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $418,890,000 class A-5 floating-rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $730,000,000 class A-6A floating-rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $90,000,000 class A-6B auction-rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $90,000,000 class A-6C auction-rate notes ‘AAA’;
* $78,120,000 class B floating-rate notes ‘AA+’.

The ratings are based on the quality of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) student loan portfolio, the quality of the servicing provided by Sallie Mae Inc., rated ‘ABPS/S1′ by Fitch, the transaction’s legal structure, and level of credit enhancement. The ratings reflect the ability of the trust estate to pay note principal at the legal final maturity and timely interest. The ratings do not address the ability of the indenture trustee to auction the collateral pool prior to the stated maturity of the notes.

Credit enhancement for the trust consists of the excess spread, a reserve account sized at 25 basis points (bps) of the current student loan pool balance with a floor of 15 basis points of the original student loan principal balance, and the $85,000,000 capitalized interest account. In addition, the class A notes benefit from 3.0% subordination provided by the class B notes.

The transaction has a senior subordinate structure with eight classes of notes. Interest on the class A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6 and B notes is indexed to the three-month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus a spread, and interest on the class A-6B and A-6C notes is indexed to the 28-day auction rate. All of the floating-rate notes pay quarterly commencing Oct. 25, 2006.

The collateral securing the notes are consolidation loans originated under FFELP. The loans are guaranteed to at least 98% of principal and accrued interest by an eligible guarantor(s), depending on loan origination date, and are reinsured by the U.S. Department of Education up to the same amounts. Sallie Mae, Inc. will act as servicer for the loan portfolio.

Fitch’s rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency’s public site, 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.

Contact:

Fitch Ratings, New York
Andrea Murad, 212-908-0896
Emily Lee, 212-908-0667
or
Media Relations:
Sandro Scenga, 212-908-0278

Source: Fitch Ratings

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Saturday, August 12, 2006 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Student Loan. Tags: Education News, Loans, Student, Student Loan, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.