Fitch Ratings expects to assign ratings and Rating Outlooks to the series 2023-1 notes issued by Verizon Master Trust (VZMT).

The series 2023-1 notes represent the tenth public issuance from Verizon Communications Inc.'s (Verizon) Verizon Master Trust (VZMT). The notes are collateralized by device payment plan agreements (DPPs), which were originated by Cellco Partnership (d/b/a Verizon Wireless) and other affiliates of Verizon and are serviced by Cellco Partnership.

RATING ACTIONS

Entity / Debt

Rating

Verizon Master Trust Series 2023-1

A1-A

LT

AAA(EXP)sf

Expected Rating

A1-B

LT

AAA(EXP)sf

Expected Rating

B

LT

AA+(EXP)sf

Expected Rating

C

LT

A+(EXP)sf

Expected Rating

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VIEW ADDITIONAL RATING DETAILS

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Solid Receivable Quality: The VZMT pool is revolving and primarily consists of DPPs that are originated and serviced by subsidiaries of Verizon Communications Inc (Verizon). The weighted average tenure of customers that have been with Verizon is 113 months, furthermore, the non-zero weighted average FICO score is 723 and 25.32% have a FICO score below 650 (or no FICO score available), which Fitch would consider subprime credit quality. The pool also features business DPP receivables at 9.90%, which can grow to a maximum of 10.00% of the pool based on the contractual concentration limits.

The DPPs were originated at 24-month (9.29%), 30-month (18.29%), and 36-month (72.42%) original terms. In February 2022, Verizon announced that 36-month term loans will be originated going forward; the composition of these loans as a percentage of the pool has increased and is expected to increase further over time. Fitch believes handset receivables are supported by borrowers' prioritization of these installment payments over other consumer loans given the essential nature of internet connectivity for work, school and telehealth.

Base Case Loss Proxy Reflects Revolving Pool: Fitch's default assumption for the pool as of the statistical calculation date is 3.05%; however, a base case loss assumption of 3.92% was assigned to the worst-case portfolio allowed under the transaction documents to account for the revolving nature of the pool. The DDPs in the pool may revolve for up to three years. Fitch applied a stress multiple of 4.50x and 5.00x at the 'AAAsf' stress level, for the consumer and business portfolios, respectively.

The stress multiples reflect the length of the revolving period with the view that customer and business payment behavior on the DPPs could be negatively affected by a Verizon insolvency as well as the potential for performance degradation during the revolving periods.

Stable Historical Performance: To date, default performance of Verizon's prior securitizations and overall managed portfolio has been stable and has performed in line or better than previous base case loss proxies. Recent performance of VZMT has remained strong with 60+ days delinquencies staying below 70 bps and cumulative default rate remaining below 1.70%, since inception. However, there has been an uptick in both the parameters recently as delinquencies increased from 0.42% in March 2022 to 0.60% in December 2022.

Verizon Rating Exposure: The note ratings face greater exposure than other consumer loan transactions to the credit profile and market position of Verizon, whose subsidiaries act as originators, the servicer and the network operator. Customers may change their payment behavior in the event of a Verizon insolvency and concerns about the viability of its mobile network. For these reasons, a multi-notch downgrade of Verizon, to low speculative grade, may increase the likelihood of a downgrade of the notes. Fitch currently rates Verizon 'A-'/'F1'/Stable. However, there is no automatic credit linkage, because of other factors such as the current strength of Verizon's network, Fitch's 0.25% upgrade risk uplift to the loss assumption at each rating category above Verizon's rating and the additional credit enhancement (CE) to cover any such risk and the available CE, if already increasing during the amortization phase, could lessen any rating impact in the future.

Adequate Servicing Capabilities: Fitch considers Verizon's servicing operations of cell phone contracts adequate and a strength compared to peers. Cellco Partnership has acted as servicer of all previous Verizon securitizations and has a long track record of underwriting and servicing consumer cell phone contracts including DPPs. Cellco Partnership demonstrates strong capabilities to service this transaction as evidenced by the tools at its disposal for payment collections (i.e. service disconnection) and by its historical portfolio performance.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative rating action/downgrade:

Unanticipated increases in the frequency of defaults or charge-offs on customer accounts could produce loss levels higher than the base case and would likely result in declines of CE and remaining loss coverage levels available to the notes. Decreased CE may make certain ratings on the notes susceptible to potential negative rating actions, depending on the extent of the decline in coverage.

Fitch conducts sensitivity analysis by stressing a transaction's initial base case default assumption an additional 10%, 25%, 50% and 100% and examining rating implications. These increases of the base case are intended to provide an indication of the rating sensitivity of the notes to unexpected deterioration of a trust's performance.

Rating sensitivity to increased defaults (class A/class B/class C):

Current Ratings: 'AAAsf'/'AA+sf'/'A+sf';

Increased default base case by 10%: 'AAAsf'/'AAsf'/'A+sf';

Increased default base case by 25%: 'AAAsf'/'AA-sf'/'Asf';

Increased default base case by 50%: 'AAsf'/'Asf'/'BBB+sf';

Increased default base case by 100%: 'Asf'/'BBBsf'/'BB+sf'.

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action/upgrade:

Stable to improved asset performance driven by stable delinquencies would lead to increasing CE levels and consideration for potential upgrades.

Rating sensitivity from decreased defaults (class A/class B/class C):

Current Ratings: 'AAAsf'/'AA+sf'/'A+sf';

Decreased default base case by 20%: 'AAAsf'/'AAAsf'/'AA+sf'.

Best/Worst Case Rating Scenario

International scale credit ratings of Structured Finance transactions have a best-case rating upgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a positive direction) of seven notches over a three-year rating horizon; and a worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative direction) of seven notches over three years. The complete span of best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating categories ranges from 'AAAsf' to 'Dsf'. Best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings are based on historical performance. For more information about the methodology used to determine sector-specific best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings, visit https://www.fitchratings.com/site/re/10111579.

USE OF THIRD PARTY DUE DILIGENCE PURSUANT TO SEC RULE 17G -10

Fitch was provided with Form ABS Due Diligence-15E (Form 15E) as prepared by Ernst & Young LLP on or about June 1, 2022. The third-party due diligence described in Form 15E focused on a comparison and recalculation of certain characteristics with respect to 4,000 randomly selected statistical receivables. Fitch considered this information in its analysis, and the findings did not have an impact on our analysis.

REFERENCES FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MATERIAL SOURCE CITED AS KEY DRIVER OF RATING

The principal sources of information used in the analysis are described in the Applicable Criteria.

REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES AND ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS

A description of the transaction's representations, warranties and enforcement mechanisms (RW&Es) that are disclosed in the offering document and which relate to the underlying asset pool is available by clicking the link to the Appendix. The appendix also contains a comparison of these RW&Es to those Fitch considers typical for the asset class as detailed in the Special Report titled 'Representations, Warranties and Enforcement Mechanisms in Global Structured Finance Transactions'.

ESG Considerations

Unless otherwise disclosed in this section, the highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3'. This means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. For more information on Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores, visit www.fitchratings.com/esg.

Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com

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