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Borrowings
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
Borrowings Borrowings
Outstanding borrowings consist of unsecured debt and secured borrowings issued through our term asset-backed securities (“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, 2024 and 2023.
As of December 31,
(dollars in thousands)		20242023
Short-TermLong-TermTotalShort-TermLong-TermTotal
Unsecured borrowings:
Unsecured debt (fixed-rate)$— $995,420 $995,420 $— $992,200 $992,200 
Total unsecured borrowings— 995,420 995,420 — 992,200 992,200 
Secured borrowings:
Private Education Loan term securitizations:
Fixed-rate— 4,617,743 4,617,743 — 3,585,254 3,585,254 
Variable-rate— 827,182 827,182 — 650,058 650,058 
Total Private Education Loan term securitizations— 5,444,925 5,444,925 — 4,235,312 4,235,312 
Secured Borrowing Facility— — — — — — 
Total secured borrowings— 5,444,925 5,444,925 — 4,235,312 4,235,312 
Total $— $6,440,345 $6,440,345 $— $5,227,512 $5,227,512 

Short-term Borrowings
Secured Financings
On June 14, 2024, we amended our $2 billion maximum Secured Borrowing Facility to extend the maturity. We hold 100 percent of the residual interest in the Secured Borrowing Facility trust. The amendment extended the revolving period, during which we may borrow, repay, and reborrow funds, until June 13, 2025. The scheduled amortization period, during which amounts outstanding under the Secured Borrowing Facility must be repaid, ends on June 13, 2026 (or earlier, if certain material adverse events occur). The one-year revolving period plus the one-year amortization period results in a contractual maturity that is two years from the date of inception or renewal; 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, 2024 and December 31, 2023, there were no outstanding short-term borrowings under the Secured Borrowing Facility.
With the Secured Borrowing Facility, we incur financing costs on the unused borrowing capacity and on any outstanding advances. The non-use fee is based upon the Facility’s maximum borrowing limit of $2 billion, for both 2024 and 2023, and is applied to the unfunded balance. The Facility non-use fee was 55 basis points in both 2024 and 2023.
Long-term Borrowings
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 2056.

December 31, 2024Year Ended
December 31, 2024		December 31, 2023Year Ended
December 31, 2023
(Dollars in thousands)Ending BalanceWeighted Average
Interest Rate		Average BalanceEnding BalanceWeighted Average
Interest Rate		Average Balance
Long-term borrowings:
Floating-rate borrowings$827,182 5.71 %$724,761 $650,058 6.51 %$715,409 
Fixed-rate borrowings5,613,163 4.09 4,864,359 4,577,454 3.52 4,605,806 
Total long-term borrowings$6,440,345 4.30 %$5,589,120 $5,227,512 3.89 %$5,321,215 

    As of December 31, 2024, the maturities of our brokered CDs and borrowings are summarized below.

As of December 31, 2024
(dollars in thousands)		Brokered CDsUnsecured
Debt
Secured Borrowings(1)
Total
2025$2,763,401 $498,897 $823,843 $4,086,141 
20261,824,607 496,523 840,927 3,162,057 
2027783,061 — 823,320 1,606,381 
2028146,282 — 642,798 789,080 
2029683,748 — 568,779 1,252,527 
2030 and after— — 1,764,900 1,764,900 
6,201,099 995,420 5,464,567 12,661,086 
Hedge accounting adjustments(241)— — (241)
Total$6,200,858 $995,420 $5,464,567 $12,660,845 
(1) We view our secured borrowings as long-term based on the contractual maturity dates ranging from 2032 to 2056. 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.

Unsecured Financing Transactions
On October 29, 2020, we issued $500 million of 4.20 percent unsecured Senior Notes due October 29, 2025. At December 31, 2024, the outstanding balance was $499 million. This unsecured borrowing remained classified as long-term as of December 31, 2024 in accordance with our ability and intent to refinance the debt on a long-term basis. On February 18, 2025, we redeemed these Senior Notes with proceeds from $500 million of 6.50 percent unsecured Senior Notes issued on January 31, 2025 and due January 31, 2030. See Note 23, “Subsequent Events” in this Form 10-K for additional information.
On November 1, 2021, we issued $500 million of 3.125 percent unsecured Senior Notes due November 2, 2026, at a price of 99.43 percent. At December 31, 2024, the outstanding balance was $496 million.
Secured Financing Transactions
The following summarizes our term funding collateralized by pools of Private Education Loans in the long-term ABS market issued in 2023 and 2024 in which we retained 100 percent of the residual class certificates.
SMB Private Education Loan TrustDate Closed
Loans Transferred to the Trust(1)
Notes
Issued		Gross
Proceeds
Weighted Average
Cost of Funds(2)
Weighted Average Life of Class A and Class B Notes
(in years)
(Dollars in thousands)
2023-A ABS TransactionMarch 15, 2023$644,573 $579,000 $571,910 
SOFR plus 1.53%
5.06
2023-C ABS TransactionAugust 16, 2023647,934 568,000 567,881 
SOFR plus 1.69%
4.93
Total 2023$1,292,507 $1,147,000 $1,139,791 
2024-C ABS TransactionMay 15, 2024$733,644 $668,000 $667,888 
SOFR plus 1.19%
5.36
2024-E ABS TransactionAugust 14, 2024944,645 868,000 867,743 
SOFR plus 1.42%
5.17
2024-F ABS TransactionNovember 6, 2024732,445 680,000 679,981 
SOFR plus 1.08%
5.09
Total 2024$2,410,734 $2,216,000 $2,215,612 
(1)The transfer of such loans did not qualify for sale treatment and thus remain on our consolidated balance sheet. At December 31, 2024, the following Private Education Loan amounts remain encumbered related to these transactions:
SMB Private Education Loan TrustLoan PrincipalCapitalized
Interest		Total Loans
(Dollars in thousands)
2023-A ABS Transaction$484,551 $32,856 $517,407 
2023-C ABS Transaction516,507 35,287 551,794 
Total 2023$1,001,058 $68,143 $1,069,201 
2024-C ABS Transaction$646,550 $52,968 $699,518 
2024-E ABS Transaction841,355 69,238 910,593 
2024-F ABS Transaction662,361 55,131 717,492 
Total 2024$2,150,266 $177,337 $2,327,603 
(2)Represents SOFR equivalent cost of funds for variable and fixed-rate bonds, excluding issuance costs.

Pre-2023 Transactions
Prior to 2023, we executed a total of $10.38 billion in ABS transactions that were accounted for as secured financings. At December 31, 2024, $3.74 billion of our Private Education Loans, including $3.63 billion of principal and $107 million in capitalized interest, were encumbered as a result of 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, 2024
(dollars in thousands)
Debt OutstandingCarrying Amount of Net Assets Securing Debt Outstanding
Short-TermLong-TermTotalLoansRestricted Cash
Other Assets, Net(1)
Total
Secured borrowings:
Private Education Loan term securitizations$— $5,444,925 $5,444,925 $6,786,390 $173,892 $418,705 $7,378,987 
Secured Borrowing Facility— — — — — 98 98 
Total$— $5,444,925 $5,444,925 $6,786,390 $173,892 $418,803 $7,379,085 
    
As of December 31, 2023
(dollars in thousands)
Debt OutstandingCarrying Amount of Net Assets Securing Debt Outstanding
Short-TermLong-TermTotalLoansRestricted Cash
Other Assets, Net(1)
Total
Secured borrowings:
Private Education Loan term securitizations$— $4,235,312 $4,235,312 $5,539,964 $149,412 $303,653 $5,993,029 
Secured Borrowing Facility— — — — — 100 100 
Total$— $4,235,312 $4,235,312 $5,539,964 $149,412 $303,753 $5,993,129 
(1) Other assets, net primarily represents accrued interest receivable and payable.
Unconsolidated Funding Vehicles
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. We classified those vertical risk retention interests related to the securitization transactions listed below as available-for-sale investments, except for the interest in the residual class, which we classified as trading investments recorded at fair value with changes recorded through earnings. The following summarizes our Private Education Loan ABS transactions closed in 2023 and 2024 where the respective VIEs were not consolidated.

SMB Private Education Loan TrustDate ClosedLoans Transferred to the Trust by Third-Party SellerDate Third-Party Seller Previously Purchased Loans from the Bank
Additional Loans the Bank Transferred to the Trust(1)
Gain on Sale for Additional Loans Transferred by Bank
(Dollars in thousands)
2023-B ABS transaction(2)
May 24, 2023$1,988,277 May 3, 2023$104,743 $5,391 
2023-D ABS transaction(2)
November 7, 2023995,184 October 13, 202352,572 1,570 
2024-A ABS transaction(2)
March 13, 20241,988,248 February 1, 2024104,748 6,685 
2024-R1 ABS transaction(3)
April 9, 202468,896 n/a— — 
2024-B ABS transaction(2)
April 11, 2024191,445 
March 6, 2020 and
 
November 17, 2021
10,132 35 
2024-D ABS transaction(2)
June 28, 20241,494,953 May 23, 202478,782 $6,051 
(1)The transfer of such additional loans qualified for sale treatment and removed these loans from our balance sheet on the settlement date of the transaction.
(2)Sallie Mae Bank sponsored the transaction and is the servicer and administrator.
(3)An unaffiliated third party sold to the Trust approximately $69 million of Private Education Loan residual flows from our 2020-PTA and 2020-PTB transactions through a re-securitization. Sallie Mae Bank sponsored the 2024-R1 transaction and is the administrator of the Trust.

The table below provides a summary of our exposure related to our unconsolidated VIEs.
20242023
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$571,795 $53,262 $625,057 $423,327 $54,481 $477,808 
(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, 2024 and 2023.
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 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, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the value of our pledged collateral at the FRB totaled $2.2 billion and $1.6 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, 2024 and 2023.