EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1633023
Filing Year: 2021
Filename: 1633023_10-K_2021_0001140361-21-010746.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1.
Business

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A.
Risk Factors
Item 2.
Properties
Item 3.
Legal Proceedings

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B.
Unresolved Staff Comments
Not Applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4.
Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not Applicable.
The following information is substitute information provided in accordance with General Instruction J to Form 10-K:
Item 1112(b) of Regulation AB. Significant Obligor Financial Information
No single obligor represents more than 10% of the pool assets held by the Issuing Entity.
Items 1114(b)(2) of Regulation AB. Credit Enhancement and Other Support, Except for Certain Derivatives
No entity or group of affiliated entities provides external credit enhancement or other support with respect to payments on the notes issued by the Issuing Entity.
Items 1115(b) of Regulation AB. Credit Derivatives Instruments
No entity or group of affiliated entities provides derivative instruments with respect to payments on the notes issued by the Issuing Entity.
Item 1117 of Regulation AB. Legal Proceedings
Other than as stated in the following paragraphs, no legal proceedings are pending against the Issuing Entity, Navient Solutions, LLC (formerly, Navient Solutions, Inc.), as the Sponsor, the Servicer and the Administrator, Navient Funding, LLC, as the Depositor (the “Depositor”) and registrant under Registration Statement Number 333-190926 (the “Registrant”) or to the Registrant’s knowledge, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as the Indenture Trustee, that are or would be material to the holders of the notes issued by the Issuing Entity, nor does the Registrant know of any such proceeding contemplated by any governmental authorities.
The following three paragraphs are disclosure received from Navient Solutions, LLC (formerly, Navient Solutions, Inc.) (“Navient Solutions”), the servicer for this transaction.
In January 2017, the CFPB and the Offices of the Attorneys General for the State of Illinois and the State of Washington initiated civil actions naming Navient Corporation (“Navient”) and several of its subsidiaries (including Navient Solutions) as defendants alleging violations of certain federal and state consumer protection statutes, including the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (“CFPA”), the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and various state consumer protection laws. In October 2017, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania initiated a civil action against Navient and Navient Solutions, containing similar alleged violations of the CFPA and the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Additionally, the Attorneys General for the States of California, Mississippi and New Jersey have initiated similar actions against Navient and certain subsidiaries alleging violations of various state and federal consumer protection laws. We refer to the Illinois, Washington, Pennsylvania, California, Mississippi, and New Jersey Attorneys General collectively as the “State Attorneys General.” In addition to these matters, a number of lawsuits have been filed by nongovernmental parties or, in the future, may be filed by additional governmental or nongovernmental parties seeking damages or other remedies related to similar issues raised by the CFPB and the State Attorneys General. As Navient has previously stated, we believe the suits improperly seek to impose penalties on Navient based on new, unannounced servicing standards applied retroactively only against one servicer, and that the allegations are false. We therefore have denied these allegations and intend to vigorously defend against the allegations in each of these cases.
During the first quarter of 2016, Navient, certain Navient officers and directors, and the underwriters of certain Navient securities offerings (including certain of the initial purchasers) were sued in three putative securities class action lawsuits filed on behalf of certain investors in Navient stock or Navient unsecured debt. These three cases, which were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, were consolidated by the District Court, with Lord Abbett Funds appointed as Lead Plaintiff. The caption of the consolidated case is Lord Abbett Affiliated Fund, Inc., et al. v. Navient Corporation, et al. The plaintiffs filed their amended and consolidated complaint in September 2016. In September 2017, the Court granted the Navient defendants’ motion and dismissed the complaint in its entirety with leave to amend. The plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint with the court in November 2017 and the Navient defendants filed a motion to dismiss the second amended complaint in January 2018. In January 2019, the Court granted-in-part and denied-in-part the Navient defendants’ motion to dismiss. The Navient defendants deny the allegations and intend to vigorously defend against the allegations in this lawsuit. Discovery is on-going. Additionally, two putative class actions have been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey captioned Eli Pope v. Navient Corporation, John F. Remondi, Somsak Chivavibul and Christian Lown, and Melvin Gross v. Navient Corporation, John F. Remondi, Somsak Chivavibul and Christian M. Lown, both of which allege violations of the federal securities laws under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). After the cases were consolidated by the Court in February 2018 under the caption In RE Navient Corporation Securities Litigation, the plaintiffs filed a consolidated amended complaint in April 2018 and Navient Corporation filed a motion to dismiss in June 2018. In December 2019, the Court denied Navient’s motion to dismiss and discovery is on-going. Navient continues to deny the allegations and intends to vigorously defend itself.
At this point in time, Navient is unable to anticipate the timing of a resolution or the impact that these legal proceedings may have on Navient’s consolidated financial position, liquidity, results of operation or cash flows. As a result, it is not possible at this time to estimate a range of potential exposure, if any, for amounts that may be payable in connection with these matters and reserves have not been established. It is possible that an adverse ruling or rulings may have a material adverse impact on Navient, Navient Solutions and/or their affiliates or on the financial ability of the depositor, the servicer or a seller to fulfill an obligation to purchase or repurchase trust student loans in connection with a breach of representation, warranty or covenant. It is also possible that an adverse ruling or rulings on claims made by the CFPB and State Attorneys General in their complaints against Navient or its affiliates may have a material adverse effect on the trust student loans. In either case, the payments on your notes may be adversely affected.
The following three paragraphs are disclosure received from Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. concerning their role as trustee of certain residential mortgage backed securities trusts.
Beginning on June 18, 2014, a group of institutional investors filed civil complaints in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, and later the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, against Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., (“Wells Fargo Bank”) in its capacity as trustee for certain residential mortgage backed securities (“RMBS”) trusts. The complaints against Wells Fargo Bank alleged that the trustee caused losses to investors and asserted causes of action based upon, among other things, the trustee’s alleged failure to: (i) notify and enforce repurchase obligations of mortgage loan sellers for purported breaches of representations and warranties, (ii) notify investors of alleged events of default, and (iii) abide by appropriate standards of care following alleged events of default. Relief sought included money damages in an unspecified amount, reimbursement of expenses, and equitable relief. In November 2018, Wells Fargo Bank reached an agreement, in which it denied any wrongdoing, to resolve such claims on a classwide basis for the 271 RMBS trusts at issue. On May 6, 2019, the court entered an order approving the settlement agreement. Separate lawsuits against Wells Fargo Bank making similar allegations filed by certain other institutional investors concerning several RMBS trusts in New York federal and state court are not covered by the settlement agreement.
In addition to the foregoing cases, in August 2014 and August 2015 Nomura Credit & Capital Inc. (“Nomura”) and Natixis Real Estate Holdings, LLC (“Natixis”) filed a total of seven third-party complaints against Wells Fargo Bank in New York state court. In the underlying first-party actions, Nomura and Natixis have been sued for alleged breaches of representations and warranties made in connection with residential mortgage-backed securities sponsored by them. In the third-party actions, Nomura and Natixis allege that Wells Fargo Bank, as master servicer, primary servicer or securities administrator, failed to notify Nomura and Natixis of their own breaches, failed to properly oversee the primary servicers, and failed to adhere to accepted servicing practices. Natixis additionally alleges that Wells Fargo Bank failed to perform default oversight duties. Wells Fargo Bank has asserted counterclaims alleging that Nomura and Natixis failed to provide Wells Fargo Bank notice of their representation and warranty breaches.
With respect to each of the foregoing litigations, Wells Fargo Bank believes plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and intends to contest the claims vigorously, but there can be no assurances as to the outcome of the litigations or the possible impact of the litigations on Wells Fargo Bank or the related RMBS trusts.
PART II
The following Items have been omitted in accordance with General Instruction J to Form 10-K:

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5.
Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6.
Selected Financial Data

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9.
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A.
Controls and Procedures

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B.
Other Information
Nothing to report.
PART III
The following Items have been omitted in accordance with General Instruction J to Form 10-K:

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10.
Directors, Executive Officers, and Corporate Governance

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11.
Executive Compensation

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12.
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13.
Certain Relationships, Related Transactions, and Director Independence

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14.
Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The following information is substitute information provided in accordance with General Instruction J to Form 10-K:
Item 1119 of Regulation AB. Affiliations and Certain Relationships and Related Transactions
Pursuant to the Instruction to Item 1119 of Regulation AB, information required by Item 1119 has been omitted from this Report because substantially the same information related to affiliates of the Issuing Entity and certain relationships and related transactions is provided in the section titled “The Sponsor, Servicer and Administrator” of the base prospectus, previously filed with the SEC on February 20, 2015 pursuant to Securities Act Rule 424, file number 333-190926.
Item 1122 of Regulation AB. Compliance with Applicable Servicing Criteria
Navient Solutions, LLC, as the Servicer, Navient Solutions, LLC, as the Administrator and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as the Indenture Trustee (collectively, the “Servicing Parties”) have each been identified by the Depositor as parties participating in the servicing function with respect to the asset pool held by the Issuing Entity. Each of the Servicing Parties has completed a report on assessment of compliance with the servicing criteria applicable to it (each a “Servicing Report”), which Servicing Reports are attached as exhibits to this Form 10-K. Each of the Servicing Parties have provided an attestation report (each an “Attestation Report”) by one or more public accounting firms, which reports are also attached as exhibits to this Report. None of the Servicing Reports or Attestation Reports has identified any material instance of noncompliance with the servicing criteria as applicable to the respective Servicing Party. There have been no material instances of noncompliance with the servicing criteria for the period of this Report.
Item 1123 of Regulation AB. Servicer Compliance Statement
A Servicer Compliance Statement for each of Navient Solutions, LLC, as Servicer, and Navient Solutions, LLC, as Administrator, is included as an exhibit to this Report.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15.
Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules
(a)
List of Documents Filed as Part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K
(1)
Not applicable.
(2)
Not applicable.
(3)
See Item 15 (b) below.
(b)
Exhibits Required by Item 601 of Regulation S-K
EXHIBIT
DESCRIPTION
4.1
Indenture dated as of February 26, 2015 among Navient Student Loan Trust 2015-1, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as indenture trustee, and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as eligible lender trustee, which is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.6 of the Current Report on Form 8-K of the registrant, as filed with the Commission on February 26, 2015, with a file number of 333-190926-11.
10.1
Indenture dated as of February 26, 2015 among Navient Student Loan Trust 2015-1, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as indenture trustee, and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as eligible lender trustee, which is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.6 of the Current Report on Form 8-K of the registrant, as filed with the Commission on February 26, 2015, with a file number of 333-190926-11.
10.2
Servicing Agreement dated as of February 26, 2015 among Navient Student Loan Trust 2015-1, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as indenture trustee, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as eligible lender trustee, and Navient Solutions, LLC (formerly, Navient Solutions, Inc.)., as servicer and as administrator, which is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 99.7 of the Current Report on Form 8-K of the registrant, as filed with the Commission on February 26, 2015, with a file number of 333-190926-11.
10.3
Administration Agreement dated as of February 26, 2015 among Navient Student Loan Trust 2015-1, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as indenture trustee, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as eligible lender trustee, Navient Funding, LLC, as depositor, and Navient Solutions, LLC (formerly, Navient Solutions, Inc.), as servicer and as administrator, which is incorporated by reference from Exhibit 99.6 of the Current Report on Form 8-K of the registrant, as filed with the Commission on February 26, 2015, with a file number of 333-190926-11.
31.1*
Rule 13a-14(d)/15d-14(d) Certification (Section 302 Certification).
33.1*
Report on Assessment of Compliance with Servicing Criteria concerning servicing activities of Navient Solutions, LLC (formerly, Navient Solutions, Inc.), as Servicer and Administrator, as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020.
33.2*
Report on Assessment of Compliance with Servicing Criteria concerning servicing activities of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as Indenture Trustee, as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020.
34.1*
Independent Accountants’ Attestation Report concerning servicing activities of Navient Solutions, LLC (formerly, Navient Solutions, Inc.), as Servicer and Administrator, as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020.
34.2*
Independent Accountants’ Attestation Report concerning servicing activities of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as Indenture Trustee, as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020.
35.1*
Statement of Compliance of Navient Solutions, LLC (formerly, Navient Solutions, Inc.)., as Servicer and Administrator for the year ended December 31, 2020.
* Filed herewith.
(c)
Not Applicable.