NOTE 7. DERIVATIVE AND HEDGING ACTIVITIES

The Company uses interest rate derivative contracts to manage its exposure to changes in interest rates on its variable rate debt. These derivatives are considered cash flow hedges and are recorded on a gross basis at fair value. Assessments of hedge effectiveness are performed quarterly using either a qualitative or quantitative approach. The Company recognizes the entire change in the fair value in AOCL and the change is reflected as cash flow hedge changes in fair value in the supplemental disclosures of non-cash investing and financing activities in the consolidated statement of cash flows. Amounts will subsequently be reclassified to earnings when the hedged item affects earnings. The Company does not enter into derivative contracts for speculative or trading purposes and does not have derivative netting arrangements.

The Company is exposed to credit risk in the event of non-performance by its derivative counterparties. The Company evaluates counterparty credit risk through monitoring the creditworthiness of counterparties, which includes review of debt ratings and financial performance. To mitigate credit risk, the Company enters into agreements with counterparties it considers credit-worthy, such as large financial institutions with favorable credit ratings.

In December 2018, the Company entered into interest rate swap agreements. In the third quarter of 2019, the Company terminated its interest rate swaps and accelerated the reclassification of a loss of $12.5 million from AOCL to termination of interest rate swaps as a result of a portion of the hedged forecasted transactions becoming probable not to occur. There were no events of default related to the interest rate swaps prior to their termination. Given that a portion of the hedged transactions remained probable to occur, $12.3 million of the loss was deferred in other comprehensive loss and will be amortized over the remaining initial term of the interest rate swaps, which ends March 31, 2024. As of September 30, 2020, the unamortized portion of loss in AOCL related to terminated interest rate swaps was $9.4 million.

The following table provides information about the amounts recorded in AOCL, as well as the loss recorded in operations, when reclassified out of AOCL or recognized in earnings immediately (in thousands):

During the next 12 months, we estimate that approximately $2.8 million will be reclassified as an increase to interest expense related to terminated hedges of existing floating-rate debt.