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Borrowings
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
Borrowings Borrowings
Outstanding borrowings consist of unsecured debt and secured borrowings issued through our term ABS program and our Secured Borrowing Facility. The issuing entities for those secured borrowings are VIEs and are consolidated for accounting purposes. The following table summarizes our secured borrowings at December 31, 2023 and 2022.
As of December 31,
(dollars in thousands)		20232022
Short-TermLong-TermTotalShort-TermLong-TermTotal
Unsecured borrowings:
Unsecured debt (fixed-rate)$— $992,200 $992,200 $— $988,986 $988,986 
Total unsecured borrowings— 992,200 992,200 — 988,986 988,986 
Secured borrowings:
Private Education Loan term securitizations:
Fixed-rate— 3,585,254 3,585,254 — 3,462,363 3,462,363 
Variable-rate— 650,058 650,058 — 783,765 783,765 
Total Private Education Loan term securitizations— 4,235,312 4,235,312 — 4,246,128 4,246,128 
Secured Borrowing Facility— — — — — — 
Total secured borrowings— 4,235,312 4,235,312 — 4,246,128 4,246,128 
Total $— $5,227,512 $5,227,512 $— $5,235,114 $5,235,114 

Short-term Borrowings
Secured Financings
On May 16, 2023, we amended our Secured Borrowing Facility to extend the maturity of the facility. The amount that can be borrowed under the facility is $2 billion. We hold 100 percent of the residual interest in the Secured Borrowing Facility trust. Under the Secured Borrowing Facility, we incur financing costs on unused borrowing capacity and on outstanding advances. The amended Secured Borrowing Facility extended the revolving period, during which we may borrow, repay, and reborrow funds, until May 15, 2024. The scheduled amortization period, during which amounts outstanding under the Secured Borrowing Facility must be repaid, ends on May 15, 2025 (or earlier, if certain material adverse events occur). At both December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, there were no secured borrowings outstanding under the Secured Borrowing Facility.
Short-term borrowings have a remaining term to maturity of one year or less. The Secured Borrowing Facility’s contractual maturity is two years from the date of inception or renewal (one-year revolving period plus a one-year amortization period); however, we classify advances under our Secured Borrowing Facility as short-term borrowings because it is our intention to repay those advances within one year. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, there were no outstanding short-term borrowings. The Secured Borrowing Facility also incurs a non-use fee based upon the facility’s maximum borrowing limit of $2 billion, for both 2023 and 2022, which is applied to the unfunded balance. The facility non-use fee was 55 basis points and 45 basis points in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Long-term Borrowings
Unsecured Debt
On October 29, 2020, we issued at par an unsecured debt offering of $500 million of 4.20 percent Senior Notes due October 29, 2025. At December 31, 2023, the outstanding balance was $497 million.
On November 1, 2021, we issued an unsecured debt offering of $500 million, 3.125 percent Senior Notes due November 2, 2026, at a price of 99.43 percent. At December 31, 2023, the outstanding balance was $495 million.
Secured Financings
2023 Transactions
On March 15, 2023, we executed our $579 million SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2023-A term ABS transaction, which was accounted for as a secured financing. We sold $579 million of notes to third parties and retained a 100 percent interest in the residual certificates issued in the securitization, raising approximately $572 million of gross proceeds. The Class A and Class B notes had a weighted average life of 5.06 years and priced at a weighted average SOFR equivalent cost of SOFR plus 1.53 percent. On December 31, 2023, $591 million of our Private Education Loans, including $551 million of principal and $40 million in capitalized interest, were encumbered because of this transaction.
On August 16, 2023, we executed our $568 million SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2023-C term ABS transaction, which was accounted for as a secured financing. We sold $568 million of notes to third parties and retained a 100 percent interest in the residual certificates issued in the securitization, raising approximately $568 million of gross proceeds. The Class A and Class B notes had a weighted average life of 4.93 years and priced at a weighted average SOFR equivalent cost of SOFR plus 1.69 percent. On December 31, 2023, $620 million of our Private Education Loans, including $579 million of principal and $41 million in capitalized interest, were encumbered because of this transaction.
2022 Transactions
On August 9, 2022, we executed our $575 million SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2022-C term ABS transaction, which was accounted for as a secured financing. We sold $575 million of notes to third parties and retained a 100 percent interest in the residual certificates issued in the securitization, raising approximately $575 million of gross proceeds. The Class A and Class B notes had a weighted average life of 4.69 years and priced at a weighted average SOFR equivalent cost of SOFR plus 1.76 percent. At December 31, 2023, $543 million of our Private Education Loans, including $513 million of principal and $30 million in capitalized interest, were encumbered because of this transaction.
Pre-2022 Transactions
Prior to 2022, we executed a total of $9.81 billion in ABS transactions that were accounted for as secured financings. At December 31, 2023, $4.02 billion of our Private Education Loans, including $3.90 billion of principal and $128 million in capitalized interest, were encumbered as a result of these transactions.
The following table summarizes the outstanding long-term borrowings, the weighted average interest rates at the end of the period and the related average balance during the period. Rates reflect stated interest of borrowings and related discounts and premiums. The long-term borrowings amortize over time and mature serially from 2025 to 2053.

December 31, 2023Year Ended
December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022Year Ended
December 31, 2022
(Dollars in thousands)Ending BalanceWeighted Average
Interest Rate		Average BalanceEnding BalanceWeighted Average
Interest Rate		Average Balance
Long-term borrowings:
Floating-rate borrowings$650,058 6.51 %$715,409 $783,765 5.26 %$898,002 
Fixed-rate borrowings4,577,454 3.52 4,605,806 4,451,349 2.93 4,571,690 
Total long-term borrowings$5,227,512 3.89 %$5,321,215 $5,235,114 3.28 %$5,469,692 

    
As of December 31, 2023, the maturities of our brokered CDs and borrowings are summarized below.

As of December 31, 2023
(dollars in thousands)		Brokered CDsUnsecured
Debt
Secured Borrowings(1)
Total
2024$2,385,510 $— $721,038 $3,106,548 
20252,768,889 497,567 710,111 3,976,567 
20261,832,740 494,633 663,588 2,990,961 
2027151,131 — 592,381 743,512 
2028146,459 — 496,386 642,845 
2029 and after— — 1,051,808 1,051,808 
7,284,729 992,200 4,235,312 12,512,241 
Hedge accounting adjustments(1,306)— — (1,306)
Total$7,283,423 $992,200 $4,235,312 $12,510,935 
(1) We view our secured borrowings as long-term based on the contractual maturity dates ranging from 2031 to 2053. However, the actual maturity of our secured borrowings depends on the prepayment speeds of the underlying collateralized loans. To disclose how we expect this debt to pay down over time, the maturities for our secured borrowings are based on the projected bond principal paydowns using the current estimated loan prepayment speeds.


Secured Financings
The following summarizes our secured financings issued in 2022 and 2023:

IssueDate IssuedTotal Issued
Weighted Average
Cost of Funds(1)
Weighted Average Life
(in years)
(Dollars in thousands)
Private Education Loans:
2022-CAugust 2022575,000 
SOFR plus 1.76%
4.69
Total notes issued in 2022$575,000 
Total loan and accrued interest amount securitized at inception in 2022(2)
$674,387 
2023-AMarch 2023$579,000 
SOFR plus 1.53%
5.06
2023-CAugust 2023$568,000 
SOFR plus 1.69%
4.93
Total notes issued in 2023$1,147,000 
Total loan and accrued interest amount securitized at inception in 2023(3)
$1,292,507 
(1) Represents SOFR equivalent cost of funds for floating and fixed-rate bonds, excluding issuance costs.
(2) At December 31, 2023, $543 million of our Private Education Loans, including $513 million of principal and $30 million in capitalized interest, were encumbered related to these transactions.
(3) At December 31, 2023, $1.21 billion of our Private Education Loans, including $1.13 billion of principal and $81 million in capitalized interest, were encumbered related to these transactions.
Consolidated Funding Vehicles

    We consolidate our financing entities that are VIEs as a result of our being the entities’ primary beneficiary. As a result, these financing VIEs are accounted for as secured borrowings.

As of December 31, 2023
(dollars in thousands)
Debt OutstandingCarrying Amount of Assets Securing Debt Outstanding
Short-TermLong-TermTotalLoansRestricted Cash
Other Assets(1)
Total
Secured borrowings:
Private Education Loan term securitizations$— $4,235,312 $4,235,312 $5,539,964 $149,412 $311,697 $6,001,073 
Secured Borrowing Facility— — — — — 1,066 1,066 
Total$— $4,235,312 $4,235,312 $5,539,964 $149,412 $312,763 $6,002,139 
    
As of December 31, 2022
(dollars in thousands)
Debt OutstandingCarrying Amount of Assets Securing Debt Outstanding
Short-TermLong-TermTotalLoansRestricted Cash
Other Assets(1)
Total
Secured borrowings:
Private Education Loan term securitizations$— $4,246,128 $4,246,128 $5,433,602 $156,719 $286,093 $5,876,414 
Secured Borrowing Facility— — — — — 1,066 1,066 
Total$— $4,246,128 $4,246,128 $5,433,602 $156,719 $287,159 $5,877,480 
(1) Other assets primarily represent accrued interest receivable.
        

Unconsolidated VIEs
Private Education Loan Securitizations
Unconsolidated VIEs include variable interests that we hold in certain securitization trusts created by the sale of our Private Education Loans to unaffiliated third parties. We remained the servicer of these loans pursuant to applicable servicing agreements executed in connection with the sales, and we are also the administrator of these trusts. Additionally, we own five percent of the securities issued by the trusts to meet risk retention requirements. We were not required to consolidate these entities because the fees we receive as the servicer/administrator are commensurate with our responsibility, so the fees are not considered a variable interest. Additionally, the five percent vertical interest we maintain does not absorb more than an insignificant amount of the VIE’s expected losses, nor do we receive more than an insignificant amount of the VIE’s expected residual returns.
2023-B Transaction
On May 24, 2023, we closed an SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2023-B term ABS transaction (the “2023-B Transaction”), in which an unaffiliated third party sold to the trust approximately $2 billion of Private Education Loans that the third-party seller previously purchased from us on May 3, 2023. Sallie Mae Bank sponsored the 2023-B Transaction, is the servicer and administrator, and was the seller of an additional $105 million of Private Education Loans into the trust. The sale of such additional loans qualified for sale treatment and removed these loans from our balance sheet on the settlement date of the 2023-B Transaction and we recorded a $5 million gain on sale associated with this transaction. In connection with the 2023-B Transaction settlement, we retained a five percent vertical risk retention interest (i.e., five percent of each class issued in the securitization). We classified those vertical risk retention interests related to the 2023-B Transaction as available-for-sale investments, except for the interest in the residual class, which we classified as a trading investment recorded at fair value with changes recorded through earnings.
2023-D Transaction
On November 7, 2023, we closed an SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2023-D term ABS transaction (the “2023-D Transaction”), in which an unaffiliated third party sold to the trust approximately $1.0 billion of Private Education Loans that the third-party seller previously purchased from us on October 13, 2023. Sallie Mae Bank sponsored the 2023-D Transaction, is the servicer and administrator, and was the seller of an additional $53 million of Private Education Loans into the trust. The sale of such additional loans qualified for sale treatment and removed these loans from our balance sheet on the settlement date of the 2023-D Transaction and we recorded a $1 million gain on sale associated with this transaction. In connection with the 2023-D Transaction settlement, we retained a five percent vertical risk retention interest (i.e., five percent of each class issued in the securitization). We classified those vertical risk retention interests related to the 2023-D Transaction as available-for-sale investments, except for the interest in the residual class, which we classified as a trading investment recorded at fair value with changes recorded through earnings.
2022-A Transaction
On March 16, 2022, we closed an SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2022-A term ABS transaction (the “2022-A Transaction”), in which an unaffiliated third party sold to the trust approximately $973 million of Private Education Loans that the third-party seller previously purchased from us on November 17, 2021. In the 2022-A Transaction, we were the sponsor, servicer and administrator, and the seller of an additional $95 million of Private Education Loans into the trust. The sale of such additional loans qualified for sale treatment and removed these loans from our balance sheet on the settlement date of the 2022-A Transaction and we recorded a $10 million gain on sale associated with this transaction. In connection with the 2022-A Transaction settlement, we retained a five percent vertical risk retention interest (i.e., five percent of each class issued in the securitization). We classified those vertical risk retention interests related to the 2022-A Transaction as available-for-sale investments, except for the interest in the residual class, which we classified as a trading investment recorded at fair value with changes recorded through earnings.
2022-B Transaction
On May 27, 2022, we closed an SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2022-B term ABS transaction (the “2022-B Transaction”), in which an unaffiliated third party sold to the trust approximately $2.0 billion of Private Education Loans that the third-party seller previously purchased from us on April 27, 2022. In the 2022-B Transaction, we were the sponsor, servicer and administrator, and the seller of an additional $107 million of Private Education Loans into the trust. The sale of such additional loans qualified for sale treatment and removed these loans from our balance sheet on the settlement date of the 2022-B Transaction and we recorded an $11 million gain on sale associated with this transaction. In connection with the 2022-B Transaction settlement, we retained a five percent vertical risk retention interest (i.e., five percent of each class issued in the securitization). We classified those vertical risk retention interests related to the 2022-B Transaction as available-for-sale investments, except for the interest in the residual class, which we classified as a trading investment recorded at fair value with changes recorded through earnings.
2022-D Transaction
On October 19, 2022, we closed an SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2022-D term ABS transaction (the “2022-D Transaction”), in which an unaffiliated third party sold to the trust approximately $1.0 billion of Private Education Loans that the third-party seller previously purchased from us on September 15, 2022. In the 2022-D Transaction, we were the sponsor, servicer and administrator, and the seller of an additional $54 million of Private Education Loans into the trust. The sale of such additional loans qualified for sale treatment and removed these loans from our balance sheet on the settlement date of the 2022-D Transaction and we recorded a $3 million gain on sale associated with this transaction. In connection with the 2022-D Transaction settlement, we retained a five percent vertical risk retention interest (i.e., five percent of each class issued in the securitization). We classified those vertical risk retention interests related to the 2022-D Transaction as available-for-sale investments, except for the interest in the residual class, which we classified as a trading investment recorded at fair value with changes recorded through earnings.
The table below provides a summary of our exposure related to our unconsolidated VIEs.
20232022
As of December 31,
(dollars in thousands)
Debt Interests(1)
Equity Interests(2)
Total Exposure
Debt Interests(1)
Equity Interests(2)
Total Exposure
Private Education Loan term securitizations$423,327 $54,481 $477,808 $329,188 $50,786 $379,974 
(1) Vertical risk retention interest classified as available-for-sale investment.
(2) Vertical risk retention interest classified as trading investment.
Other Borrowing Sources
We maintain discretionary uncommitted Federal Funds lines of credit with various correspondent banks, which totaled $125 million at December 31, 2023. The interest rate we are charged on these lines of credit is priced at Fed Funds plus a spread at the time of borrowing, and is payable daily. We did not utilize these lines of credit in the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
We established an account at the FRB to meet eligibility requirements for access to the Primary Credit borrowing facility at the FRB’s Discount Window (the “Window”). The Primary Credit borrowing facility is a lending program available to depository institutions that are in generally sound financial condition. All borrowings at the Window must be fully collateralized. We can pledge asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, as well as FFELP Loans and Private Education Loans, to the FRB as collateral for borrowings at the Window. Generally, collateral value is assigned based on the estimated fair value of the pledged assets. At December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the value of our pledged collateral at the FRB totaled $1.6 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively. The interest rate charged to us is the discount rate set by the FRB. We did not utilize this facility in the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.