Navient Corp (NAVI) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Navient fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

早上好，歡迎參加 Navient 2025 年第四季財報電話會議。本次通話正在錄音。（操作說明）

At this time, I'll turn the call over to Jen Earyes, Navient Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我將把電話轉交給 Navient 投資者關係主管 Jen Earyes。請繼續。

Hello. Good morning, and welcome to Navient's earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2025. With me today are David Yowan, Navient's CEO; and Steve Hauber, Navient's CFO. After the prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. Today's discussion is accompanied by a presentation, which you can find on navient.com/investors.

你好。早上好，歡迎參加 Navient 2025 年第四季財報電話會議。今天陪同我的是 Navient 的執行長 David Yowan 和 Navient 的財務長 Steve Hauber。在發言結束後，我們將開放提問環節。今天的討論附帶一份演示文稿，您可以在 navient.com/investors 上找到它。

Before we begin, keep in mind our discussion will contain predictions, expectations, forward-looking statements, and other information about our business that is based on management's current expectations as of the date of this presentation. Actual results in the future may be materially different from those discussed here. This could be due to a variety of factors. Listeners should refer to the discussion of those factors on the company's Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC.

在開始之前，請記住，我們的討論將包含預測、預期、前瞻性陳述以及其他關於我們業務的信息，這些信息均基於管理層截至本次演示之日的當前預期。未來的實際結果可能與此處討論的結果有重大差異。這可能是由多種因素造成的。聽眾可以參考該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格和其他文件中對這些因素的討論。

During this conference call, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures, including core earnings, adjusted tangible equity ratio, and various other non-GAAP financial measures that are derived from core earnings. Our GAAP results, description of our non-GAAP financial measures, and a reconciliation of core earnings to GAAP results can be found in Navient's fourth quarter 2025 earnings release, which is posted on our website.

在本次電話會議中，我們將提及非公認會計準則財務指標，包括核心收益、調整後的有形權益比率以及其他各種源自核心收益的非公認會計準則財務指標。我們的 GAAP 業績、非 GAAP 財務指標說明以及核心收益與 GAAP 業績的調節表可在 Navient 2025 年第四季度收益報告中查閱，該報告已發佈在我們的網站上。

Thank you, and now I will turn the call over to Dave.

謝謝，現在我把電話交給戴夫。

Thanks, Jen. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call and for your interest in Navient. First, Joe Fisher is joining me this morning. I want to extend our sincere thanks to Joe for his dedicated service over 20-plus years and the solid foundation and team he helped build. We wish Joe all the best in his next endeavor.

謝謝你，珍。各位早安。感謝您參加本次電話會議，也感謝您對 Navient 的關注。首先，今天早上喬·費雪將和我連線。我要向喬致上誠摯的謝意，感謝他二十多年來的盡心服務，以及他幫助建立的堅實基礎和團隊。我們祝福喬在未來的事業中一切順利。

I'm also joined this morning by Steve Hauber, who was appointed Chief Financial Officer earlier this month. Steve is also a 20-plus-year veteran of the company and brings strong leadership and deep experience to the role. He most recently served as our Chief Administrative Officer and played a key role in managing our transformation and our expense reduction efforts. Steve's appointment is part of a broader set of changes that better align our management structure with the business strategy for Earnest and Navient that we shared in November.

今天早上和我一起的還有史蒂夫·豪伯，他於本月初被任命為財務長。史蒂夫在該公司工作了 20 多年，擁有強大的領導能力和豐富的經驗。他最近擔任我們的首席行政官，並在管理我們的轉型和削減開支工作中發揮了關鍵作用。史蒂夫的任命是更廣泛的變革的一部分，旨在更好地使我們的管理結構與我們在 11 月公佈的 Earnest 和 Navient 的業務策略保持一致。

As we mentioned in November, starting January 1, our in-school lending business was transferred from Earnest to Navient to consolidate our education activities, which also includes the legacy FFELP and private loan portfolios.

正如我們在 11 月所提到的，從 1 月 1 日起，我們的校內貸款業務從 Earnest 轉移到 Navient，以整合我們的教育活動，其中還包括原有的 FFELP 和私人貸款組合。

This morning, we reported Q4 and full year results that demonstrate our underlying ability to drive high-quality loan growth, while at the same time reducing operating expenses. Our reported results include an additional provision on our private legacy portfolio and restructuring costs, largely related to our expense reduction initiatives.

今天上午，我們公佈了第四季度和全年業績，證明了我們有能力推動高品質貸款成長，同時降低營運費用。我們公佈的業績包括對私人遺留資產組合和重組成本的額外撥備，這主要與我們的削減開支計劃有關。

During 2025, we effectively completed our Phase 1 transformation within legacy Navient and will exceed our $400 million expense reduction objective. These operating expense reductions increase our already substantial future life of loan cash flows by $2 billion cumulatively, providing increased financial flexibility and even greater levels of capital for new growth.

2025 年，我們有效地完成了 Navient 原有業務的第一階段轉型，並將超額完成 4 億美元的費用削減目標。這些營運費用的減少使我們原本就相當可觀的未來貸款現金流累計增加了 20 億美元，從而提高了財務靈活性，並為新的增長提供了更大的資本水平。

The benefits of our investments at Earnest and the expense reductions we have achieved are reflected in the operating leverage within our 2026 outlook. We expect that we can fund year-on-year loan growth of $1.5 billion or 60% with total expenses that are lower than last year by roughly 20%.

我們在 Earnest 的投資收益以及我們所實現的費用削減，都體現在我們 2026 年展望中的營運槓桿效應中。我們預計，在總支出比去年減少約 20% 的情況下，我們可以為 15 億美元或 60% 的年度貸款成長提供資金。

As set out in November, we are operating with lower expenses and also with improved capital efficiency, which should enable us to finance our growth plans simply by utilizing the capital being released with the existing back book portfolio.

正如我們在 11 月制定的計劃，我們降低了營運成本，提高了資本效率，這將使我們能夠僅透過利用現有未償債務組合釋放的資金來為我們的成長計劃提供資金。

Earnest had its strongest quarter of the year, more than doubling origination volume year-over-year, accompanied by high credit quality, totaling approximately $634 million in new refi loans. This brings full year refi originations to $2.1 billion, more than doubling volume from the prior year.

Earnest 迎來了今年最強勁的一個季度，貸款發放量年增超過一倍，同時信貸品質也很高，新增再融資貸款總額約為 6.34 億美元。這使得全年再融資貸款發放達到 21 億美元，比前一年翻了一番還多。

In-school lending also had a great year, originating its highest ever level of new loans of $401 million, with strong credit quality and margins. Steve will take you through some more detailed statistics showing the continued momentum at Earnest in a few minutes. We continue to invest in capabilities in Earnest.

在校貸款業務也取得了巨大成功，新增貸款額達到歷史最高水準 4.01 億美元，信貸品質和利潤率都很高。史蒂夫將在幾分鐘後帶您了解一些更詳細的統計數據，這些數據將顯示 Earnest 的持續發展勢頭。我們將繼續投資提升 Earnest 的能力。

An important part of the executive changes we made earlier this month was the establishment of a vertically integrated CFO role at Earnest. We're currently conducting a search for fintech experience to fill it. The momentum in Earnest and the actions we took in 2025 position us well going into the new year.

本月初我們進行的高階主管調整中，一個重要的部分是在 Earnest 設立垂直整合的財務長職位。我們目前正在尋找具有金融科技經驗的人才來填補這個職位。Earnest 的發展勢頭以及我們在 2025 年採取的行動，使我們在新的一年中處於有利地位。

Turning to guidance for 2026. We're currently targeting total loan originations of $4 billion, which would represent growth of approximately 60% over 2025. We expect refi and in-school lending growth of over 50% each and less than $100 million for personal lending, while we continue our pilot program.

接下來展望2026年。我們目前的目標是貸款發放總額達到 40 億美元，這將比 2025 年成長約 60%。我們預計再融資貸款和在校貸款的增幅將分別超過 50%，而個人貸款的增幅將低於 1 億美元，同時我們將繼續推進試點計畫。

As you see, we took incremental provision in the fourth quarter, largely relating to the private legacy portfolio, which were loans originated more than a decade ago. There were minimal additional provisions for FFELP or refi loans. While this provision has a significant impact on reported earnings per share, the effect on the life of loan cash we expect to receive from the legacy portfolios was immaterial. Steve will take you through these in more detail in just a minute.

如您所見，我們在第四季度提列了額外的撥備，主要與私人遺留貸款組合有關，這些貸款是十多年前發放的。對於聯邦家庭教育貸款計劃 (FFELP) 或再融資貸款，額外規定非常少。雖然這項準備金對報告的每股盈餘有重大影響，但對我們預期從遺留貸款組合中獲得的貸款現金的期限的影響微乎其微。史蒂夫稍後會更詳細地為您講解這些內容。

We also continue to return capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends and expect to continue to do so in 2026, with share repurchases being opportunistic as they were in 2025. When I assumed the CEO role in 2023, the company had multiple business lines and products supported by a significant shared service footprint of capabilities and expenses.

我們也將繼續透過股票回購和分紅向股東返還資本，並預計在 2026 年繼續這樣做，股票回購將像 2025 年一樣，視情況而定。2023 年我擔任 CEO 一職時，公司擁有多條業務線和產品線，並擁有龐大的共享服務能力與支出體系。

The executive organizational structure at that time reflected an operating company business model with multiple enterprise functional heads reporting into the CEO. We have been migrating and expect to continue to migrate toward a holding company management structure with carefully managed and lower central costs.

當時的執行組織結構體現了營運公司的商業模式，多個企業職能部門負責人向執行長報告工作。我們一直在向控股公司管理結構轉型，並計劃繼續轉型，以更精細地控制中心成本，降低成本。

Earnest's and Navient's education finance activities will both manage directly more of the services needed to operate their respective business. The organizational structure we announced earlier this month are another step in this migration. I'm very excited about Navient and Earnest prospects for 2026, and we look forward to reporting on our achievements in the coming quarters.

Earnest 和 Navient 的教育金融業務都將直接管理更多經營各自業務所需的服務。我們本月稍早公佈的組織架構是此次轉型過程中的另一步。我對 Navient 和 Earnest 在 2026 年的前景感到非常興奮，我們期待在接下來的幾季中報告我們的成就。

With that, I'll turn it over to Steve who will provide more detail on Q4 results and our 2026 outlook.

接下來，我將把發言權交給史蒂夫，他將詳細介紹第四季業績和我們對 2026 年的展望。

Thank you, Dave, and thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. I will review the fourth quarter and full year 2025 results and will provide our outlook for 2026. During the fourth quarter, our actions to further reduce operating expenses position us to over-deliver on the $400 million expense reduction target and our legacy activities established two years ago.

謝謝戴夫，也謝謝各位參加今天的電話會議。我將回顧 2025 年第四季和全年業績，並展望 2026 年。第四季度，我們採取的進一步降低營運成本的措施，使我們能夠超額完成 4 億美元的成本削減目標以及兩年前製定的傳統活動。

At the same time, Earnest continued to demonstrate strong loan origination growth with its highest refi quarter of the year, ending the year with total originations of $2.5 billion. We also provided for additional expected credit losses in our private legacy portfolio and recorded restructuring costs related to our expense reduction efforts.

同時，Earnest 繼續保持強勁的貸款發放成長勢頭，實現了全年最高的再融資季度業績，全年貸款發放總額達到 25 億美元。我們也為私人遺留資產組合提列了額外的預期信貸損失，並記錄了與削減開支相關的重組成本。

In total, core earnings per share for the fourth quarter were $0.02. On a full year basis, we reported core loss per share of $0.35.

第四季核心每股收益為 0.02 美元。全年來看，我們報告核心每股虧損為 0.35 美元。

Let's turn to Slide 6, where I will review Earnest loan origination growth in 2025. Refi originations were $2.1 billion in 2025, which doubled the volume from the prior year. Refi rate check volume measured as prospective refi customers, completing a soft credit pool to receive a personalized rate quote increased nearly 3 times from 2024 to 2025.

讓我們翻到第 6 張投影片，我將回顧 2025 年 Earnest 貸款發放的成長情況。2025 年再融資發放額為 21 億美元，比前一年翻了一番。以潛在再融資客戶完成軟信用池以獲得個人化利率報價為衡量標準的再融資利率查詢量，從 2024 年到 2025 年增長了近 3 倍。

This growth demonstrates positive tailwinds and strong demand for our refi product. We are generating demand and converting volume efficiently. As you can see on the slide, both sales and marketing and other operating expenses as a percentage of originations improved meaningfully year-over-year, down 29% and 35%, respectively. These efficiency gains are lowering our cost per dollar of volume and driving stronger operating leverage as we scale. Capital efficiency is also improving.

這一成長表明，我們的再融資產品面臨著積極的利好因素和強勁的需求。我們正在高效地創造需求並轉化銷售。從投影片中可以看出，銷售和行銷費用以及其他營運費用佔貸款發放額的百分比均較去年同期顯著改善，分別下降了 29% 和 35%。這些效率的提升降低了我們每單位銷售的成本，並在我們擴大規模的過程中推動了更強的營運槓桿作用。資本效率也在提高。

As we shifted toward vertical securitization structures, the amount of equity required to finance these loans has declined materially.

隨著我們轉向垂直證券化結構，為這些貸款融資所需的股權數量大幅下降。

To summarize the refi story in 2025, demand is improving, we're efficiently converting that demand into high-quality loan volume, we deliver a great customer experience, and we're benefiting from both stronger operating leverage and improved capital efficiency.

總結 2025 年的再融資情況，需求正在改善，我們正在有效地將這種需求轉化為高品質的貸款量，我們提供良好的客戶體驗，並且我們受益於更強的營運槓桿和更高的資本效率。

In-school originations also grew to $401 million in 2025, approximately half of which related to borrowers pursuing graduate degrees.

到 2025 年，在校學生貸款發放額也將增加至 4.01 億美元，其中約一半與攻讀研究生學位的借款人有關。

We remain focused on the 2026 peak season, the expanded market opportunities and targeting strong growth in 2026. We are approaching the graduate lending market expansion with disciplined and strong momentum. Our platform, partnerships and underwriting discipline put us in a good position to serve our target customer segments with our highly rated products and customer experience.

我們將繼續專注於 2026 年的旺季、不斷擴大的市場機遇，並爭取在 2026 年實現強勁成長。我們正以嚴謹而強勁的勢頭進軍畢業生貸款市場。我們的平台、合作夥伴關係和核保紀律使我們能夠憑藉我們備受好評的產品和客戶體驗，更好地服務我們的目標客戶群。

Slide 7 provides similar loan origination growth information and compares to the fourth quarter of 2025 to the same quarter in the prior year. We maintained our positive growth momentum in the fourth quarter, with refi origination growth of 2 times, improving trajectory for our expense efficiency metrics and strong credit quality.

幻燈片 7 提供了類似的貸款發放增長信息，並將 2025 年第四季度與上一年同期進行了比較。我們在第四季度保持了積極的成長勢頭，再融資業務成長了 2 倍，費用效率指標和信貸品質均有所改善。

I'll now cover segment financial results, beginning with the Consumer Lending segment on slide 8. Fourth quarter net income was $25 million compared to $37 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Consumer lending net interest income declined year-over-year, mostly due to lower outstanding balances and the product mix of the portfolio.

接下來我將介紹各業務部門的財務業績，先從第 8 頁的消費信貸部門開始。第四季淨收入為 2,500 萬美元，而 2024 年第四季為 3,700 萬美元。消費貸款淨利息收入較去年同期下降，主要原因是未償餘額減少和產品組合的變動。

Looking forward, we expect consumer lending net interest income in 2026 to remain relatively stable compared to the back half of '25. We expect new originations to outpace the amortization of the portfolio in 2026, leading to growth in our total outstanding balance of private loans.

展望未來，我們預計 2026 年消費貸款淨利息收入將與 2025 年下半年相比保持相對穩定。我們預計 2026 年新增貸款金額將超過貸款組合的攤銷額，導致我們的未償還私人貸款總額成長。

Year-over-year expenses in the fourth quarter were down slightly as efficiency gains more than offset the expense impact from higher origination volume.

第四季年比支出略有下降，效率提升抵銷了貸款發放量增加帶來的支出影響。

Moving to credit. Private charge-off rates declined from 2.48% in the third quarter to 2.24% in the fourth quarter. Delinquency rates increased from the third quarter to fourth quarter with 31-plus day delinquency rates increasing from 6.1% to 6.3% and 91-plus delinquencies increasing from 2.8% to 2.9%. We recorded a provision of $43 million in the fourth quarter, $9 million of which was related to new origination.

轉為信用貸款。私人貸款核銷率從第三季的 2.48% 下降到第四季的 2.24%。從第三季度到第四季度，逾期率有所上升，其中逾期 31 天以上的逾期率從 6.1% 上升到 6.3%，逾期 91 天以上的逾期率從 2.8% 上升到 2.9%。我們在第四季提列了 4,300 萬美元的撥備，其中 900 萬美元與新發放的貸款有關。

The remainder primarily reflects the weaker macroeconomic outlook and in response to fourth quarter delinquency trends, largely within our legacy private loan portfolio.

其餘部分主要反映了疲軟的宏觀經濟前景，以及對第四季度違約趨勢的回應，主要涉及我們原有的私人貸款組合。

Federal Education Loans segment results are on slide 9. Fourth quarter net income of $27 million was $8 million lower than the third quarter, mostly due to third quarter net interest income benefiting from the adoption of lower prepayment rate assumptions. Comparing Q4 to the prior year quarter, net income was $17 million higher. The increase reflects lower provision and the impact of decreasing interest rates on the different index resets on assets and debt.

聯邦教育貸款部分的結果在第9頁投影片。第四季淨收入為 2,700 萬美元，比第三季減少了 800 萬美元，這主要是由於第三季淨利息收入受益於採用了較低的提前還款率假設。與上年同期相比，第四季淨利增加了 1,700 萬美元。這一增長反映了撥備減少以及利率下降對資產和債務的不同指數重置的影響。

Additionally, expenses in this segment were 20% lower facilitated by our variable cost structure from outsourcing the servicing of our portfolio. Provision in the Federal segment in the fourth quarter fell to $1 million. The total delinquency rate improved slightly from Q3 declining from 18.1% to 17.5%, while the net charge-off rate rose 8 basis points to 23 basis points.

此外，由於我們將投資組合的服務外包，採用了變動成本結構，因此該領域的支出降低了 20%。第四季聯邦業務撥備降至 100 萬美元。整體違約率較第三季略有改善，從 18.1% 降至 17.5%，而淨核銷率上升 8 個基點至 23 個基點。

The higher charge-off rate in the quarter primarily reflects loans to borrowers affected by 2024 natural disasters that were written off in the quarter. Self-prepayments remained historically low at $225 million in the fourth quarter compared to $322 million a year ago and over $1 billion two years ago.

本季較高的核銷率主要反映了受 2024 年自然災害影響的借款人的貸款在本季度被核銷。第四季自付額仍處於歷史低位，為 2.25 億美元，而一年前為 3.22 億美元，兩年前超過 10 億美元。

With the slow amortization of the self-loan portfolio, we expect relatively stable net interest income throughout 2026, barring unexpected macro events impacting the interest rate environment.

由於自有貸款組合的攤銷速度較慢，我們預期 2026 年全年淨利息收入將相對穩定，除非發生影響利率環境的意外宏觀事件。

The allowance for loan loss, excluding expected future recoveries on previously charged-off loans for our entire education loan portfolio is $707 million, which is highlighted on slide 10.

不包括預期未來對先前已核銷貸款的回收，我們整個教育貸款組合的貸款損失準備金為 7.07 億美元，這在第 10 張幻燈片中重點列出。

The slide 11 shows the results from our Business Processing segment. In October, we completed our final obligations under the transition services agreement, or TSA, for our Government Services business. The TSA revenues and expenses from this quarter represents the tail end of this activity totaled less than $1 million and are reported in the other segment.

第 11 張投影片展示了我們業務流程部分的成果。10 月份，我們完成了政府服務業務過渡服務協議 (TSA) 下的最後義務。本季 TSA 的收入和支出代表了這項活動的尾聲，總額不到 100 萬美元，並在其他部分中報告。

The earlier-than-expected completion of the TSA allowed us to begin our final push to remove remaining legacy shared expenses. We will overdeliver on our $400 million expense reduction target. More detail on the total expenses can be found on slide 12.

TSA 的提前完成使我們能夠開始最後的衝刺，以消除剩餘的遺留共同支出。我們將超額完成削減4億美元開支的目標。有關總支出的更多詳細資訊請參閱第 12 頁投影片。

We closed 2025 with fourth quarter total core operating expenses of $88 million, a 40% improvement compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. Restructuring expenses were $11 million in the quarter as we recognized charges related to our legacy structure and environment that will no longer be in our expense run rate. This included $6 million of restructuring costs related to the earlier-than-expected retirement of significant components of our former technology infrastructure.

2025 年第四季核心營運總支出為 8,800 萬美元，比 2024 年第四季減少了 40%。本季重組費用為 1,100 萬美元，因為我們確認了與原有結構和環境相關的費用，這些費用將不再計入我們的費用運行率。這其中包括與我們先前的技術基礎設施的重要組成部分提前退役相關的 600 萬美元重組成本。

Full year 2025 total expenses were $438 million, a decrease of close to 50% compared to 2023. This decrease is the direct result of our focused and aggressive efforts to reduce our expense base through divesting the BPS business, transitioning to a variable servicing expense structure and significantly reducing our corporate expenses. As illustrated on slide 12, this momentum is continuing into 2026.

2025 年全年總支出為 4.38 億美元，比 2023 年減少了近 50%。這一下降是我們集中精力積極採取措施降低支出基礎的直接結果，這些措施包括剝離 BPS 業務、過渡到可變服務費用結構以及大幅降低公司支出。如投影片 12 所示，這種勢頭將持續到 2026 年。

Let's turn to our capital allocation and financing activity that is highlighted on slide 13. In the fourth quarter, we completed our fourth securitization of the year, bringing our total issuance in 2025 to nearly $2.2 billion of term ABS finance.

讓我們來看看第 13 頁投影片中重點介紹的資本配置和融資活動。第四季度，我們完成了今年的第四筆證券化交易，使我們在 2025 年的定期資產支持證券 (ABS) 發行總額接近 22 億美元。

We continue to see strong investor demand and achieved high effective cash advance rates in these financings. Our current cash and capital positions provide ample capacity to distribute capital and invest in strong loan origination growth.

我們持續看到強勁的投資者需求，並在這些融資中實現了較高的有效現金預付款率。我們目前的現金和資本狀況提供了充足的能力來分配資本並投資於強勁的貸款發放成長。

In the fourth quarter, we repurchased 2.1 million shares at an average price of $12.67 as our shares remain significantly below tangible book value. In total, we returned $41 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends while maintaining a strong balance sheet with an adjusted tangible equity ratio of 9.1%.

在第四季度，我們以平均每股 12.67 美元的價格回購了 210 萬股股票，因為我們的股票價格仍然遠低於有形帳面價值。我們透過股票回購和分紅，總共向股東返還了 4,100 萬美元，同時維持了強勁的資產負債表，調整後的有形權益比率為 9.1%。

Slide 14 provides our outlook for full year 2026. We are targeting total loan originations of $4 billion, with growth rates over 50% for both our refi and in-school loan products. We expect to achieve this growth while reaping the benefits of our investments in capabilities at Earnest and our legacy expense reduction efforts.

第 14 張幻燈片提供了我們對 2026 年全年的展望。我們的目標是貸款發放總額達到 40 億美元，其中再融資貸款和在校貸款產品的成長率均超過 50%。我們期望在實現這一成長的同時，也能收穫我們在 Earnest 能力建設方面的投資以及我們以往削減開支的努力所帶來的成果。

Specifically, we expect expenses in 2026 of $350 million, which is $88 million lower than 2025 total expenses. Our outlook for full year 2026 core EPS is a range of $0.65 to $0.80. This range is net of a $0.35 to $0.40 per share impact due to upfront CECL charges and operating expenses related to our expected $1.5 billion year-over-year increase in loan originations.

具體而言，我們預計 2026 年的支出為 3.5 億美元，比 2025 年的總支出減少 8,800 萬美元。我們對 2026 年全年核心每股收益的預期為 0.65 美元至 0.80 美元。該預期已扣除每股 0.35 美元至 0.40 美元的影響，這些影響是由於預付 CECL 費用和與我們預計貸款發放量同比增長 15 億美元相關的營運費用造成的。

As I wrap up my comments, I want to express my appreciation to Joe for his years of valuable contributions to the company. I'd also like to thank the Navient team for their continued dedication throughout our strategic transformation. Thank you for your time, and I will now open the call for any questions.

在我結束演講之際，我想對喬多年來為公司做出的寶貴貢獻表示感謝。我還要感謝 Navient 團隊在我們策略轉型過程中所展現出的持續奉獻精神。感謝您抽出時間，現在我將開放提問環節。

(Operator Instructions) Bill Ryan, Seaport Research Partners.

（操作說明）比爾·瑞安，海港研究合作夥伴。

Good morning, Dave, and congratulations, Steve. First question is on the credit metrics of the private legacy portfolio. Obviously, a big question among investors, it's about reserve adequacy and there's been some deterioration since you took the charge in the third quarter.

早安，戴夫；恭喜你，史蒂夫。第一個問題是關於私人遺產投資組合的信用指標。顯然，投資者們非常關心的一個問題是儲​​備充足性，而自從您在第三季度提列費用以來，情況已經有所惡化。

Could you maybe walk us through what you saw over the course of the quarter that prompted you to bump up the reserve rates or build the reserves for that portfolio in the provision and some idea of what the ending reserve rate on the legacy portfolio is? And I have one follow-up.

您能否詳細介紹一下您在本季觀察到的情況，是什麼促使您提高準備金率或在撥備中為該投資組合建立準備金？以及您對原有投資組合的期末準備率有何看法？我還有一個後續問題。

Hey Bill, good morning, thanks for your comments. Let me start out by providing some context of the -- what we've seen across our portfolios over the last two quarters and the actions that we've taken to respond to those.

嗨，比爾，早安，謝謝你的評論。首先，我想介紹過去兩季我們在投資組合中看到的情況，以及我們為應對這些情況所採取的行動。

If you go back to the third quarter, we conducted a comprehensive review of the assumptions underlying the life of loan cash flows for our legacy portfolios. And we did that, we made assumption changes around the level of prepayments that we're seeing in both the FFELP portfolio and the private legacy portfolios. Those assumptions extended the life of the portfolios significantly in some cases.

回顧第三季度，我們對遺留貸款組合的貸款現金流生命週期假設進行了全面審查。我們確實這樣做了，我們對 FFELP 投資組合和私人遺產投資組合中看到的預付款水準做出了假設性改變。在某些情況下，這些假設顯著延長了投資組合的壽命。

We also looked at the default and delinquency experiences that we've had over the preceding recent history, and we made some adjustments based on what we have seen there about the life of loan cash flows.

我們也回顧了近期以來的違約和拖欠情況，並根據我們從中了解到的貸款現金流生命週期情況做出了一些調整。

We also made some assumption changes about future financings which impact the periodicity and the amount of the life of loan cash flows. So we did that all in the third quarter and cumulatively and in isolation from everything else that was going on in the portfolio, those assumption changes increased our expected life of loan cash flows by a little less than $200 million.

我們也對未來的融資做出了一些假設性改變，這會影響貸款現金流的週期和期限。因此，我們在第三季完成了所有這些工作，並且累積起來，撇開投資組合中發生的其他一切因素不談，這些假設的變化使我們預期的貸款現金流期限增加了不到 2 億美元。

As we went into the fourth quarter, the recording that you see there really reflects two things. One is there was a deterioration or further deterioration in the macroeconomic scenario that deterioration impacts all portfolios and represents about 20% of the back book provision that we're taking this quarter, the rest of the back book provision is almost exclusively focused and related to the private legacy portfolio.

進入第四季度後，你看到的記錄實際上反映了兩件事。一是宏觀經濟情勢惡化或進一步惡化，這種惡化影響了所有投資組合，約占我們本季提列的帳面準備金的 20%，其餘帳面準備金幾乎完全集中在私人遺留投資組合上。

These are loans originated more than a decade ago, where we did see the sequential increases in delinquency rates that Steve described for you. Those delinquency rates are in the consumer lending segment, which includes private legacy, refi and in-school well.

這些貸款發放於十多年前，當時我們確實看到了史蒂夫向你描述的那種違約率逐年上升的趨勢。這些違約率指的是消費貸款領域的違約率，其中包括私人遺留貸款、再融資貸款和在校學生貸款。

If you look into the segments there, the delinquency increases were almost exclusively focused in private legacy and so our provision expense responds to what we saw in the fourth quarter with what we think is an appropriate provision. [Next] Steve can talk about the end of quarter reserve levels, which is the second part of your question.

如果你仔細研究各個細分市場，你會發現違約率的上升幾乎完全集中在私人遺留債務上，因此我們的撥備支出也反映了我們在第四季度看到的情況，我們認為這是適當的撥備。[接下來] Steve 可以談談季度末的儲備水平，這是你問題的第二部分。

Yes. On the reserve coverage, we ended the year in the mid-3% range. I think the way to think about that, clearly, that reserve coverage will shift over time as the mix of our portfolio for private changes with more of the portfolio centered around refi.

是的。就準備金覆蓋率而言，我們年底的覆蓋率在 3% 左右。我認為，很明顯，隨著我們私人投資組合的組成發生變化，越來越多的投資組合以再融資為中心，儲備覆蓋率也會隨之改變。

And so when you think about the 3.5%, it's a blend similar to what Dave was saying, as we look at the statistics in the Consumer Lending segment, similarly, you have that blend and mix issue with the refi and legacy. The 3.5% is the amount we were at, at year-end.

所以，當你考慮 3.5% 這個數字時，它和 Dave 所說的混合情況類似，當我們查看消費信貸領域的統計數據時，同樣地，再融資和傳統貸款也存在混合和組合問題。3.5% 是我們年底時的比例。

And if you look today, Bill, over half of the private legacy portfolio is refi, that percentage given where originating and where we're rolling off is only going to increase into the future. And so reserve ratios, et cetera, are migrating more towards the representative of the refi portfolio and less of private legacy on a segment basis.

比爾，如果你看看現在的情況，你會發現超過一半的私人遺產投資組合都是再融資，考慮到貸款的來源地和我們終止貸款的地域，這個比例未來只會繼續增加。因此，準備金率等指標正逐漸向再融資組合的代表性指標靠攏，而非向私人遺產的代表性指標靠攏。

Okay, thank you for that. And one follow-up, more of an accounting-related question. Obviously, the $4 billion origination is above the consensus, I believe it's somewhere between $3.4 billion and $3.5 billion. And you noted that the growth investments included the expected CECL charges. You're out looking for a fintech-type CFO.

好的，謝謝。還有一個後續問題，比較偏向會計方面。顯然，40億美元的貸款發放額高於市場普遍預期，我認為實際發放額應該在34億到35億美元之間。您還指出，成長投資包括了預期的 CECL 費用。你正在尋找一位金融科技領域的財務長。

Has there been any internal discussion or thought about the use of fair value accounting? Obviously, that would kind of like alleviate some of the pressures that you're facing as it relates to the CECL tags and puts you on a level playing field with several of your peers that have already adopted that accounting methodology?

公司內部是否討論過或考慮過採用公允價值會計方法？顯然，這在某種程度上可以減輕您在 CECL 標籤方面面臨的一些壓力，並使您與已經採用該會計方法的幾位同行處於同一起跑線上？

Yeah, Bill, we're certainly looking at others in the space that have utilized (inaudible). We're not ready to announce any -- certainly at this point in time, but it's certainly something that's on our radar screen is what I would say.

是的，比爾，我們當然也在關注其他已經利用過這項技術的公司。（聽不清楚）我們目前還不准備宣布任何消息——至少現在還不行，但這絕對是我們正在關注的事情。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Jeff Adelson, Morgan Stanley.

傑夫·阿德爾森，摩根士丹利。

Yeah, hey, good morning, thanks for taking my questions. It's nice to see the origination guide and you made reference to this additional $1.5 billion. I guess I'm just curious with given the opportunity you've got ahead, I know you're still maybe piloting in the personal loan space here. You do have this nice plus opportunity ahead.

是啊，嘿，早安，謝謝你回答我的問題。很高興看到這份貸款發放指南，您還提到了這額外的 15 億美元。我只是好奇，鑑於你目前的機會，我知道你可能還在個人貸款領域進行試點。你面前確實有一個很好的額外機會。

I'm curious if, number one, you've continued to do any work or any findings you can share with us on what you think that plus opportunity could be for you ultimately maybe on an annual basis? And just in light of the acceleration in originations and that plus opportunity, you still do have this runoff overall in the portfolio from the legacy and the felt book.

首先，我很好奇，您是否繼續進行任何研究或有任何發現可以與我們分享，您認為這個額外機會最終可能對您每年都有哪些影響？鑑於貸款發放速度加快以及由此帶來的機遇，整體投資組合中仍存在來自傳統貸款和現有貸款的流失。

Just kind of curious like how you're thinking about eventually returning to positive loan growth, positive top line growth? And how long that might take at this point in your view?

我只是有點好奇，你們打算如何最終恢復貸款正成長和營收正成長？你認為目前這大概要花多久時間？

Yeah, Thanks for the question, Jeff. There's a lot there. I'll try to address all parts of it. Look, the personal loan launch, we did manage to cross-sell launch in the fourth quarter.

謝謝你的提問，傑夫。那裡有很多東西。我會盡量涵蓋所有方面。你看，個人貸款業務的推出，我們確實在第四季度實現了交叉銷售。

We've also begun to go outside our existing customer base. We are very much -- it's too early to call or share any results from that other than to say that we're achieving the testing and learning that we set out in the initial launch, and we're encouraged by the initial results.

我們也開始拓展現有客戶群以外的市場。我們現在還無法透露任何結果，只能說我們正在實現最初發佈時設定的測試和學習目標，並且我們對初步結果感到鼓舞。

Even if we address our less than $100 million that we've talked about, it's still going to be a pilot year for us in 2026. And so, it's not going to impact our financials in any meaningful way in 2026.

即使我們解決了先前提到的不到 1 億美元的資金問題，2026 年對我們來說仍然會是試點年。因此，這不會對我們2026年的財務狀況產生任何實質影響。

The plus opportunity, we sized that for '26 in the November presentation at around $3 billion. I would say that '26 is clearly your transition, and I think you're seeing this from others in the industry as well. I think there's a high degree of variability and uncertainty about exactly how that -- how long that transition period is going to be and exactly what the market opportunity are.

加碼機會，我們在 11 月的報告中估計，2026 年的加碼機會約為 30 億美元。我認為 26 年顯然是你的過渡年，我認為業內其他人也看到了這一點。我認為，過渡期究竟有多長，以及市場機會究竟如何，都存在著很大的變數和不確定性。

We're very excited and confident about our ability to grow that book of business at 150% in 2026, and we're very focused on that. In terms of the runoff in the mix, I think Steve provided an interesting comment in his remarks. I don't know this for sure, but it may be the first time in a while, but the balances in the private legacy portfolio are actually going to be stable year-over-year.

我們非常興奮，也很有信心在 2026 年將業務量成長 150%，我們正全力以赴實現這一目標。關於混合物中的徑流問題，我認為史蒂夫在他的演講中提出了一個有趣的評論。我不能肯定，但這可能是近年來的第一次，私人遺產投資組合的餘額實際上將逐年保持穩定。

So we're originating loans that is more than offsetting the runoff of private legacy and other portfolios as well. That's been a long time coming, as I'm sure you can appreciate the loan book that we are projecting and targeting for this year which we have a lot of momentum.

因此，我們所發放的貸款足以抵銷私人遺產和其他投資組合的虧損。我相信您一定能理解，我們今年的貸款組合規劃和目標已經取得了長足的進步，我們正朝著這個目標努力。

You can see in the fourth quarter, it was our best quarter ever at Earnest, one of the things for the year, one of the things that we are seeing is an increased interest from federal borrowers to refinance. You go to the November presentation as well in the appendix, we showed some of the interest rates that are associated with federal lending over the last few years.

從第四季可以看出，這是我們 Earnest 有史以來業績最好的季度。今年我們看到的一個現像是，聯邦借款人對再融資的興趣日益濃厚。您也可以查看附錄中的 11 月演示文稿，其中展示了過去幾年聯邦貸款的一些利率。

There's opportunities for customers to lower their rates and for us to make high-quality loans, we continue to see that into January. And so we're very optimistic and confident about our ability to continue the momentum on that loan growth in that particular product.

客戶有機會降低利率，我們也能發放高品質貸款，這種情況一直持續到一月份。因此，我們對繼續保持該產品貸款成長勢頭的能力非常樂觀和有信心。

Okay. Great. And maybe you could just touch on any of the early conversations you've been having with some institutions regarding some more formal whole loan sale or flow programs. I know you're already executing on the securitization strategy in a more capital-light manner, but just any sort of expectations around potential for promoting loan sales from here?

好的。偉大的。或許您可以談談您與一些機構就更正式的整筆貸款出售或流動計劃進行的早期洽談。我知道你們已經在以更輕資產的方式執行證券化策略，但是對於未來促進貸款銷售的潛力，你們有什麼預期嗎？

Yes. Look, I think we've said consistently and so I'll continue to say that we feel like we have a number of opportunities, channels for us to distribute loans, both the loans that we're making today as well as any potential expanded opportunities that we can fine as we leverage the platform at Earnest.

是的。我認為我們一直以來都這麼說，所以我會繼續說，我們覺得我們有很多機會和管道來發放貸款，包括我們今天發放的貸款，以及我們在利用 Earnest 平台時可能發現的任何潛在的擴展機會。

Right now, and you can see this in the slides that we -- that Steve referred to, securitizations in 2025 for us for an incredibly -- for us, an incredibly capital efficient way for us to finance the production of refi and in-school as well.

目前，正如史蒂夫提到的幻燈片所示，證券化在 2025 年對我們來說是一種極其高效的資本方式，可以為再融資和在校教育的生產提供資金。

The initial equity requirement is lower by a significant percentage and is just a fraction of what the legacy portfolio is required in terms of equity capital and unsecured capital. And so given the economics of securitization and our ability to finance them, that's why we've continued to throughout 2025, have a make and hold strategy, and that's why our target is to continue to have that.

初始股權要求大幅降低，僅為原有投資組合在股權資本和無擔保資本方面所需資金的一小部分。因此，鑑於證券化的經濟性和我們為其融資的能力，這就是為什麼我們在 2025 年繼續採取「買入並持有」策略，這也是為什麼我們的目標是繼續保持這種策略。

If the relative economics of securitization and loan sales and flow goes changed, if the -- we identify origination opportunities that have a better source of capital than the securitization market that we have then we feel confident in our ability to pivot and take advantage of the opportunities that those different financings present.

如果證券化和貸款銷售及流動的相對經濟效益發生變化，如果我們發現比我們現有的證券化市場擁有更好資本來源的貸款發放機會，那麼我們有信心能夠調整策略，抓住這些不同融資方式帶來的機會。

Okay, great. Thank you, guys.

好的，太好了。謝謝大家。

Terry Ma, Barclays.

Terry Ma，巴克萊銀行。

Hey, thank you. Good morning. I want to talk about credit. You guys so far have highlighted just the delinquency trends in the legacy book, kind of talked about the reserve associated with that. But when I look at the private refi book, there's also a noticeable uptick in delinquencies there for 90-day delinquencies is about 20 basis points year-over-year. It looks like it drove the bulk of the dollar increase and 90-day delinquencies for the total book.

嘿，謝謝。早安.我想談談信用問題。到目前為止，你們只重點介紹了歷史帳簿中的違約趨勢，並討論了與之相關的儲備金。但當我查看私人再融資帳簿時，也發現違約率明顯上升，90 天違約率比去年同期上升了約 20 個基點。看起來，這導致了美元金額大幅增加，並導致總帳期 90 天逾期率上升。

So maybe just kind of talk about what you're seeing there with respect to credit performance? And then since you're kind of leaning into originations there, maybe just talk about reserve adequacy and kind of like direction of travel for credit metrics for the private refi book?

所以，或許可以談談你在那邊觀察到的信用表現？既然你似乎更傾向於貸款發放，那麼或許可以談談儲備充足性以及私人再融資業務信貸指標的發展方向？

Yeah, Thanks, Terry. I think in terms of refi and what we're seeing, we are seeing did see slight uptick in delinquency levels from year-end and from last quarter. We feel really good about our overall position with refi. What we see there, of course, is on an absolute basis very low delinquency rates.

謝謝你，特里。我認為就再融資而言，我們看到，與年底和上個季度相比，違約率確實略有上升。我們對自身在再融資領域的整體地位感到非常滿意。當然，我們看到的是那裡的違約率絕對值非常低。

We've seen signs and have expectations that that will improve as we move forward here. I think also important to reference on refi would be the high quality of the loans that we originated in 2025, which is also what we saw in 2024. And so we're feeling good about that.

我們已經看到一些跡象，並期望隨著我們在這裡繼續前進，情況會有所改善。我認為，在再融資方面，也應該參考我們在 2025 年發放的高品質貸款，這與我們在 2024 年看到的情況相同。所以，我們對此感到很滿意。

And in terms of the reserve levels for refi, that was part of when we did our review back in the third quarter, we did make adjustments to refi to add to the reserve levels there modestly. I feel good about that being the right level of reserves going forward for refi and still thinking about that refi book being on a life of loan basis below 2% in terms of lifetime losses.

至於再融資的儲備水平，這是我們在第三季進行審查時的一部分，我們確實對再融資進行了調整，適度增加了儲備水平。我覺得目前的儲備水準對於未來的再融資來說是合適的，而且我仍然認為再融資組合在貸款期限內的損失率將低於 2%。

Got it, thank you. And then maybe just on the origination outlook. I may have missed it, but you called out 50% upside for -- or increase in-school originations. Your business there has kind of outgrown the overall growth in the market the last two years. But as to the material step-up, are you seeing what's driving the incremental opportunity?

明白了，謝謝。然後或許只是從發源前景來看。我可能錯過了，但你提到了 50% 的上漲空間——或者說增加校內貸款發放。過去兩年，您在那裡的業務成長速度已經超過了市場整體的成長速度。但就實質的提升而言，您是否看到了推動這種增量機會的因素？

Is there something changing in competitive dynamics? Or are you just kind of going after the market more aggressively? Thank you.

競爭格局是否正在改變？還是你只是採取了更積極的市場策略？謝謝。

Yes. So we're coming off 2025 was the best year we've had in-school since we entered that marketplace five or six years ago. So we have a lot of momentum in that space. Just based on the organic customers that we serve and obviously the additional opportunity from Grad PLUS even in a transition year, which 2026 is, gives us confidence that we can accelerate the growth rates in that particular product. That's why you see the 50% increase there.

是的。所以，2025 年是我們自五、六年前進入這個市場以來，在校期間表現最好的一年。因此，我們在該領域擁有很大的發展勢頭。僅憑我們服務的有機客戶，以及即使在過渡年（2026 年）也從 Grad PLUS 獲得的額外機會，就足以讓我們有信心加快該特定產品的增長速度。這就是為什麼你會看到成長了50%。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Rick Shane, JP Morgan.

Rick Shane，摩根大通。

Good morning, everybody. I have A couple of things. I guess it's all related. You expect to grow the private book being '26. You have about $525 million in maturities on the debt side. Over the last decade, you guys have been very disciplined about returning capital to equity holder-- using cash flows to return capital to equity holders and consistently paying down debt.

各位早安。我有兩樣東西。我想這一切都是有關聯的。你希望私人帳簿在26歲時成長。你們的債務方面有大約 5.25 億美元的到期債務。過去十年，你們在向股東返還資本方面一直非常自律——利用現金流向股東返還資本，並不斷償還債務。

As the strategy transitions and you start to at least grow the private book, you talked about being opportunistic in terms of equity repurchases, what does that look like? Obviously, you're trading at a huge discount to tangible book, assuming yesterday's close.

隨著策略的轉變，當你開始至少擴大私人投資規模時，你談到了在股權回購方面抓住機會，這具體是什麼樣的呢？顯然，假設是昨天的收盤價，那麼你的交易價格相對於實際帳面價值來說有很大的折扣。

So opportunistic seems to be there today. Should we expect sort of consistent purchases in '26 with the levels we saw in '25?

所以，如今機會主義似乎依然存在。我們是否可以預期 2026 年的購買量會與 2025 年的水準保持相對穩定？

Yeah, Thanks, Rick. Look, we're not signaling any change in the way we're thinking about share repurchase. I think you summarized it well in terms of what we've been doing from a capital management perspective.

謝謝你，里克。聽著，我們並沒有暗示我們對股票回購的看法會有任何改變。我認為你很好地總結了我們從資本管理角度所做的工作。

The one thing I would say is that as you think about '26 and you think about the share authorization that we received from our Board last December in the fourth quarter, which was $100 million as the share count has come down significantly over the years, the amount of share repurchases has declined as well overall.

我想說的是，當你回顧 2026 年，並回顧我們去年 12 月第四季度從董事會獲得的 1 億美元股份授權時，由於多年來股份數量大幅下降，股份回購金額也總體上有所下降。

The opportunistic is in fact, based in part on the valuation of the shares, and we continue to believe that the discount to tangible book value provides an opportunity for us to repurchase. So same strategy scale to the size of the share repurchase authorization that you saw, which is scaled to the overall size of market cap and shares outstanding of the company.

事實上，這種機會主義行為部分是基於對股票的估值，我們仍然認為，相對於有形帳面價值的折價為我們提供了回購的機會。因此，同樣的策略也適用於您所看到的股票回購授權規模，而該規模又與公司的市值和流通股總數成正比。

Got it. Okay, I appreciate that. And I would be remiss not to congratulate Steve and also, equally importantly, not to thank Joe for all of his conversations and help over the years as well. So thank you guys and congratulations.

知道了。好的，謝謝。我不僅要祝賀史蒂夫，還要同樣感謝喬多年來的交流和幫助，否則我將失職。所以，謝謝大家，也恭喜你們。

Thank you, Rick.

謝謝你，里克。

(Operator Instructions) Caroline Latta, Bank of America.

（操作員說明）卡羅琳·拉塔，美國銀行。

Oh hey, Sorry about that. So, the guidance slide says it reflects the current outlook. So what are the macro assumptions underpinning the guide specifically in terms of unemployment rate and then also in terms of interest rates, thinking about refi volumes next year or this year, sorry?

哦，抱歉。因此，指引幻燈片表示，它反映了當前的展望。那麼，該指南的具體宏觀假設是什麼？特別是關於失業率和利率的假設，以及明年或今年再融資規模的假設？

Caroline, thanks for the question. Look here, I don't have them right in front of me, but you can think of those as really like the blue-chip consensus for unemployment and interest rates. We don't have an in-house economist. So we're relying as many firms do on some of the providers of those scenarios and Jen could provide those to you off-line, but it's really a consensus macroeconomic assumption for next year.

卡羅琳，謝謝你的提問。你看，我手邊沒有這些數據，但你可以把它們看作是對失業率和利率的藍籌共識。我們公司沒有內部經濟學家。所以，和許多公司一樣，我們也依賴一些情境預測供應商，Jen 可以私下提供這些預測，但這其實是對明年宏觀經濟的共識假設。

Okay, thanks.

好的，謝謝。

Yeah.

是的。

Sanjay Sakhrani, KBW.

Sanjay Sakhrani，KBW。

Thank you. Good morning. Can we go back to the deterioration in the private legacy portfolio? I'm just curious like what exactly is driving deterioration on loans that were originated a decade ago. And I'm just curious, like -- is it that those students? Or are those consumers are now seeing job loss? I mean, what's the driver of the higher delinquencies there?

謝謝。早安.我們能否回到私人遺產投資組合惡化的話題？我只是好奇，究竟是什麼原因導致十年前發放的貸款惡化。我只是好奇，是不是那些學生？或者說，這些消費者現在正面臨失業問題？我的意思是，導致當地違約率居高不下的原因是什麼？

Yeah, Thanks, Sanjay. I think probably important for us to zoom out a bit and some of what Dave was talking about earlier when we did our third quarter review. Our private legacy portfolio, which, as you know, was originated more than a decade ago, it's a portfolio that has gone through some cycles. And so clearly, there's a strong component of that portfolio that's been making payments consistently.

是啊，謝謝你，桑傑。我認為我們或許應該稍微跳脫固有思維，回顧一下戴夫之前在第三季回顧中提到的一些事情。如您所知，我們的私人傳承投​​資組合創立於十多年前，它經歷了幾個週期。因此很明顯，該投資組合中有相當一部分資產一直持續支付收益。

You have other borrowers who have struggled at times and we've been there to help them with payment programs and the like as we managed through things.

還有其他一些借款人也曾遇到困難，我們一直在幫助他們制定還款計劃等等，幫助他們渡過難關。

If we go over the course of the year, clearly going through the pandemic, the pandemic release cycle, the return to repayment cycle with many of these borrowers having federal loans as well. It's put them through some changes and some challenges there.

如果我們回顧這一年，就會清楚看到疫情、疫情後的紓困週期、以及恢復還款週期，其中許多藉款人還有聯邦貸款。這給他們帶來了一些變化和挑戰。

I think what we're seeing here is that the performance quarter-to-quarter, even though it slipped, we're seeing positive momentum in terms of those borrowers getting on track and heading into 2026. We're optimistic that will that those trends will improve.

我認為我們看到的是，儘管季度業績有所下滑，但就這些借款人而言，我們看到了積極的勢頭，他們正在步入正軌，邁向 2026 年。我們樂觀地認為這些趨勢將會改善。

I think in terms of really what's affecting borrowers, I mean, clearly, there's a variety of factors, including those I mentioned. There's also macroeconomic factors, inflation and the like. But I'd say in terms of just how we're sizing it up in general, I think it's just important to remember kind of the cycle they went through and now that we're past a lot of that kind of the positive momentum that we expect to see going forward.

我認為，真正影響借款人的因素很多，顯然包括我提到的那些因素。另外還有宏觀經濟因素，例如通貨膨脹等等。但就我們整體的評估而言，我認為重要的是要記住他們經歷的周期，現在我們已經度過了很多階段，我們期待未來能看到積極的勢頭。

Okay. Great. And then I know you guys didn't really like kind of give a whole lot on the outlook for NIM and provisions. I'm just curious as we think about those other components for 2026, is there any way to contextualize sort of the path for NIM because it was a little bit weaker than we had anticipated for both FFELP and consumer lending. And then obviously, kind of what's being baked into provisions given some of the delinquency trends and the growth differences that you talked about?

好的。偉大的。我知道你們並沒有真正深入探討淨利差和撥備的前景。我只是好奇，當我們考慮 2026 年的其他組成部分時，是否有辦法對 NIM 的發展路徑進行一些背景分析，因為無論是 FFELP 還是消費貸款，NIM 的表現都比我們預期的要弱一些。那麼，很明顯，考慮到您提到的某些違約趨勢和成長差異，相關條款中都包含了哪些內容？

Yes. So first on the NIM side of things, for the FFELP portfolio, we're expecting relatively stable NIM given the slowdown in the prepayment of the FFELP loans. So year-over-year, I'd expect that to be relatively consistent.

是的。首先，就淨利差而言，鑑於 FFELP 貸款提前償還速度放緩，我們預計 FFELP 投資組合的淨利差將相對穩定。因此，我預計這種情況會與往年相比相對穩定。

In terms of the private or the consumer lending side, the -- what we saw in the second half of 2025 is a good barometer for 2026. And clearly, what we're seeing there is with the portfolio remaining stable or increasing slightly in 2026.

就私人或消費信貸方面而言，我們在 2025 年下半年看到的情況可以很好地預示 2026 年的情況。顯然，我們看到的是，2026 年投資組合將保持穩定或略有成長。

That's a positive. The mix of the portfolio towards more refi is -- goes the other way in terms of overall margin.

這是個好消息。投資組合向更多再融資傾斜——就整體利潤率而言，情況則恰恰相反。

So it's a -- I'd say it's a relatively stable outlook there as well. In terms of provision, what's in the forecast here is provision on new originations. And obviously, our reserve levels that we have at the end of the year or what we expect going forward. So really that's what the provision entails for 2026.

所以——我認為那裡的前景也相對穩定。就準備金而言，這裡的預測是針對新增貸款的準備金。顯然，還有我們年底的儲備水平，或者我們對未來的預期。所以，這其實就是該條款對 2026 年的具體內容。

Got it. All right, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

知道了。好的，非常感謝。謝謝。

Mark DeVries, Deutsche Bank.

馬克‧德弗里斯，德意志銀行。

Yeah, thank you. As we look out to 2027, should we expect the same level of net incremental growth investments, which you called out is weighing on the on the '26 earnings expectations by $0.35 to $0.40 a share? Or does that -- is that going to trail off?

是啊，謝謝。展望 2027 年，我們是否應該預期淨增量成長投資水準與您所指出的水準相同，即這將使 2026 年每股收益預期減少 0.35 至 0.40 美元？或者說——那會逐漸消失嗎？

Hey Mark, thanks for the question. Look, we're focused at the moment on '26 and trying to execute against that. I think if you go back to the November strategy presentation, Earnest is now very focused on some products that have particularly high growth rates, high addressable TAMs.

嗨，馬克，謝謝你的提問。你看，我們目前專注於2026年的目標，並努力實現這個目標。我認為，如果你回顧11月的策略報告，你會發現Earnest現在非常專注於一些成長率特別高、潛在市場規模很大的產品。

The personal loan product is going to be in pilot 2026. And we're encouraged by the opportunities there and trying to test and learn and make sure we can understand where we can best take advantage of that highly addressable TAM.

個人貸款產品將於2026年進行試行。我們對那裡的機會感到鼓舞，並努力測試和學習，以確保我們能夠了解如何才能最好地利用這個極具潛力的市場規模。

The refi market has every year, there's federal loans that are being made in significant amounts that add to the addressable TAM in that market and the expansion of the Grad PLUS opportunity.

再融資市場每年都有大量的聯邦貸款發放，這增加了該市場的潛在市場規模，並擴大了研究生PLUS貸款的機會。

So there's lots of room for growth. We're not here to give a 2027 outlook. But if you just look at those three products that we have, the addressable market and the market expansion opportunities, we think are large and sustainable as well. So I'd sort of leave it at that for 2027.

所以還有很大的發展空間。我們今天不是來展望2027年的。但如果你只看我們現有的這三款產品，我們認為它們的潛在市場和市場擴張機會都很大，而且是可持續的。所以，關於2027年，我就先說到這裡吧。

Okay, fair enough.

好吧，這說得有道理。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions in queue. I would now like to turn it back to Jen Earyes for closing remarks.

謝謝。目前隊列中沒有其他問題了。現在我謹將發言權交還給 Jen Earyes，請她作總結發言。

Thanks Angela and thank you everybody for joining today's call. Please contact me if you have any follow-up questions. This concludes today's call.

謝謝Angela，也謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議。如有任何後續問題，請與我聯絡。今天的電話會議到此結束。

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。感謝您抽空參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。