Enova International, Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019

OR

For the transition period from                      to                     

Commission File Number 1-35503

Enova International, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(312) 568-4200

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter time that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

The aggregate market value of 33,039,620 shares of the registrant’s common stock, par value $0.00001 per share, held by non-affiliates on June 30, 2019 was approximately $761,563,241.

At February 24, 2020 there were 32,463,048 shares of the registrant’s Common Stock, $0.00001 par value per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Company’s Proxy Statement for the 2020 Annual Meeting of stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

ENOVA INTERNATIONAL, INC.

YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2019

INDEX TO FORM 10-K

CAUTIONARY NOTE CONCERNING FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT FUTURE RESULTS

This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. These forward-looking statements give current expectations or forecasts of future events and reflect the views and assumptions of senior management with respect to the business, financial condition, operations and prospects of Enova International, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”). When used in this report, terms such as “believes,” “estimates,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “may,” “forecast,” “project” and similar expressions or variations as they relate to the Company or its management are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address matters that involve risks and uncertainties that are beyond the ability of the Company to control and, in some cases, predict. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. Key factors that could cause the Company’s actual financial results, performance or condition to differ from the expectations expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following:

The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive and new factors may emerge or changes to these factors may occur that would impact the Company’s business and cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any of our forward-looking statements. Additional information regarding these and other factors may be contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Readers of this report are encouraged to review all of the Risk Factors

contained in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors to obtain more detail about the Company’s risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties. The occurrence of the events described, and the achievement of the expected results, depends on many events, some or all of which are not predictable or within the Company’s control. If one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if management’s underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may differ materially from what the Company anticipates. The forward-looking statements in this report are made as of the date of this report, and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this report. All forward-looking statements in this report are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements.

PART I

Overview

We are a leading technology and analytics company focused on providing online financial services. In 2019, we extended approximately $2.2 billion in credit or financing to borrowers. As of December 31, 2019, we offered or arranged loans or draws on lines of credit to consumers in 40 states and Washington D.C. in the United States and Brazil. We also offered financing to small businesses in all 50 states and Washington D.C. in the United States. We use our proprietary technology, analytics and customer service capabilities to quickly evaluate, underwrite and fund loans or provide financing, allowing us to offer consumers and small businesses credit or financing when and how they want it. Our customers include the large and growing number of consumers who and small businesses which have bank accounts but use alternative financial services because of their limited access to more traditional credit from banks, credit card companies and other lenders. We were an early entrant into online lending, launching our online business in 2004, and through December 31, 2019, we have completed over 51.1 million customer transactions and collected approximately 37 terabytes of currently accessible consumer behavior data, allowing us to better analyze and underwrite our specific customer base. We have significantly diversified our business over the past several years having expanded the markets we serve and the financing products we offer. These financing products include short-term loans, line of credit accounts, installment loans and receivables purchase agreements (“RPAs”).

We believe our customers highly value our products and services as an important component of their personal or business finances because our products are convenient, quick and often less expensive than other available alternatives. We attribute the success of our business to our advanced and innovative technology systems, the proprietary analytical models we use to predict the performance of loans and finance receivables, our sophisticated customer acquisition programs, our dedication to customer service and our talented employees.

We have developed proprietary underwriting systems based on data we have collected over our more than 15 years of experience. These systems employ advanced risk analytics to decide whether to approve financing transactions, to structure the amount and terms of the financings we offer pursuant to jurisdiction-specific regulations and to provide customers with their funds quickly and efficiently. Our systems closely monitor collection and portfolio performance data that we use to continually refine the analytical models and statistical measures used in making our credit, purchase, marketing and collection decisions.

Our flexible and scalable technology platforms allow us to process and complete customers’ transactions quickly and efficiently. In 2019, we processed approximately 3.8 million transactions, and we continue to grow our loan and finance receivables portfolio and increase the number of customers we serve through desktop, tablet and mobile platforms. Our highly customizable technology platforms allow us to efficiently develop and deploy new products to adapt to evolving regulatory requirements and consumer preference, and to enter new markets quickly. In 2012, we launched a new product in the United States designed to serve near-prime customers. In June 2014, we launched our business in Brazil, where we arrange financing for borrowers through a third-party lender. In addition, in July 2014, we introduced a new line of credit product in the United States to serve the needs of small businesses. In June 2015, we further expanded our product offering by acquiring certain assets of a company that provides financing and installment loans to small businesses by offering RPAs. These new products have allowed us to further diversify our product offerings and customer base.

We have been able to consistently acquire new customers and successfully generate repeat business from returning customers when they need financing. We believe our customers are loyal to us because they are satisfied with our products and services. We acquire new customers from a variety of sources, including visits to our own websites, mobile sites or applications, and through direct marketing, affiliate marketing, lead providers and relationships with other lenders. We believe that the online convenience of our products and our 24/7 availability to accept applications with quick approval decisions are important to our customers.

Once a potential customer submits an application, we quickly provide a credit or purchase decision. If a loan or financing is approved, we or our lending partner typically fund the loan or financing the next business day or, in some cases, the same day. During the entire process, from application through payment, we provide access to our well-trained customer service team. All of our operations, from customer acquisition through collections, are structured to build customer satisfaction and loyalty, in the event that a customer has a need for our products in the future. We have developed a series of sophisticated proprietary scoring models to support our various products. We believe that these models are an integral component of our operations and allow us to complete a high volume of customer transactions while actively managing risk and the related credit quality of our loan and finance receivable portfolios. We believe our successful application of these technology innovations differentiates our capabilities relative to competitive platforms as evidenced by our history of strong growth and stable credit quality.

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Products and Services

Our online financing products and services provide customers with a deposit of funds to their bank account in exchange for a commitment to repay the amount deposited plus fees, interest and/or revenue on the receivables purchased. We originate, arrange, guarantee or purchase short-term consumer loans, line of credit accounts, installment loans and RPAs. We also offer an analytics-as-a-service solution for businesses. We have one reportable segment that includes all of our online financial services.

Short-term consumer loans. Short-term consumer loans are unsecured loans written by us or by a third-party lender through our credit services organization program, which we refer to as our CSO program, that we arrange and guarantee. As of December 31, 2019, we offered or arranged short-term consumer loans in 15 states in the United States. Short-term consumer loans generally have terms of seven to 90 days, with proceeds typically deposited promptly in the customer’s bank account in exchange for a pre-authorized debit from their account or debit card. Due to the credit risk and high transaction costs of serving our customer segment, the interest and/or fees we charge are generally considered to be higher than the interest or fees charged to consumers with superior credit histories by banks and similar lenders who are typically unwilling to make unsecured loans to non-prime credit consumers. Our short-term consumer loans contributed approximately 9.7% of our total revenue in 2019, 14.5% in 2018, and 17.4% in 2017.

Line of credit accounts. We offer new consumer line of credit accounts in 12 states (and continue to service existing line of credit accounts in one additional state) in the United States and business line of credit accounts in 36 states in the United States, which allow customers to draw on their unsecured line of credit in increments of their choosing up to their credit limit. Customers may pay off their account balance in full at any time or make required minimum payments in accordance with their terms of the line of credit account. As long as the customer’s account is in good standing and has credit available, customers may continue to borrow on their line of credit. Our line of credit accounts contributed approximately 45.6% of our total revenue in 2019, 37.4% in 2018, and 36.0% in 2017.

Installment loans. Installment loans are longer-term loans that generally require the outstanding principal balance to be paid down in multiple installments. We offer, or arrange through our CSO program, as defined below, multi-payment unsecured consumer installment loan products in 37 states in the United States and small business installment loans in 18 states. We also offer or arrange multi-payment unsecured consumer installment loan products in Brazil. Terms for our installment loan products range between two and 60 months. These loans generally have higher principal amounts than short-term loans. The loan may be repaid early at any time with no prepayment charges. Our installment loans contributed approximately 42.7% of our total revenue in 2019, 46.7% in 2018, and 44.4% in 2017.

We have been investing and will continue to invest in the growth of our near-prime installment lending portfolio.

Receivables purchase agreements. Under RPAs, small businesses receive funds in exchange for a portion of the business’s future receivables at an agreed upon discount. In contrast, lending is a commitment to repay principal and interest and/or fees. A small business customer who enters into an RPA commits to delivering a percentage of its receivables through ACH or wire debits or by splitting credit card receipts until all purchased receivables are delivered. We offer RPAs in all 50 states and in Washington D.C. in the United States. RPAs contributed approximately 1.8% of our total revenue in 2019, 1.3% in 2018, and 2.1% in 2017.

CSO programs. We currently operate a CSO program in Texas. Until April 2019, we also operated a CSO program in Ohio. Through our current and former CSO programs, we provide services related to third-party lenders’ short-term and installment loan products by acting as a credit services organization or credit access business on behalf of consumers in accordance with applicable state laws. Services offered under our CSO program include credit-related services such as arranging loans with independent third-party lenders and assisting in the preparation of loan applications and loan documents (“CSO loans”). When a consumer executes an agreement with us under our CSO program, we agree, for a fee payable to us by the consumer, to provide certain services, one of which is to guarantee the consumer’s obligation to repay the loan received by the consumer from the third-party lender if the consumer fails to do so. For CSO loans, each lender is responsible for providing the criteria by which the consumer’s application is underwritten and, if approved, determining the amount of the consumer loan. We, in turn, are responsible for assessing whether or not we will guarantee such loan. The guarantee represents an obligation to purchase specific short-term loans, which for our CSO program, generally have terms of eight to 35 days, and specific installment loans, which have terms of four to six months, if they go into default.

As of December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, the outstanding amount of active short-term consumer loans originated by third-party lenders under the CSO programs was $14.9 million, $25.4 million and $28.9 million, respectively, which were guaranteed by us. The outstanding amount of active installment loans originated by third-party lenders under the CSO programs was $12.7 million, $4.2 million and $5.3 million as of December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively, which were guaranteed by us.

Bank program. In March 2016, we launched a program with a state-chartered bank where we provide technology, loan servicing and marketing services to the bank (the “Bank Program”). Our bank partner offered unsecured consumer installment loans. We also had the ability to purchase loans originated through this program. In May 2018, as a result of a change in the law in Ohio, our bank partner suspended lending and we suspended purchasing loans through this program. In December 2019, we launched a similar Bank Program, whereby our bank partner offers unsecured consumer installment loans in multiple states in the United States. Revenue

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generated from these Bank Programs for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 was 0.8%, 1.9% and 1.8% of our total revenue, respectively.

Decision Management Platform-as-a-Service (“dmPaaS”) and Analytics-as-a-Service (“AaaS”). Launched under our Enova Decisions brand in 2016, we help businesses make better decisions faster by providing our decision management platform and analytics expertise as a service. Our solutions are designed to automate or augment customer decisions including, but not limited to, credit risk, fraud risk, identity verification, customer profitability, payments, and collection. Services offered under our dmPaaS include machine learning model deployment, business rules management, data source connectivity, decision flow authoring, decision simulation, experiments, and real-time decision flow execution via API. Through our AaaS offerings, we provide tailored predictive/prescriptive analytic model development, explainable machine learning, and mathematical optimization. Industries served include financial services, communications, telecommunications, healthcare, and higher education in North America and Asia. Although still less than 1% of total revenue, we plan to continue to grow this program through increasing the size of our sales team, adding new partners, and continued enhancement of our technology.

Our Markets

We currently provide our services in the following countries:

United States. We began our online business in the United States in May 2004. As of December 31, 2019, we provided services in all 50 states and Washington D.C. We market our financing products under the names CashNetUSA at www.cashnetusa.com, NetCredit at www.netcredit.com, Headway Capital at www.headwaycapital.com and The Business Backer at www.businessbacker.com. The United States represented 98.2% of our total revenue in 2019 and 97.3% of our total revenue in 2018.

Brazil. In June 2014, we launched our business in Brazil under the name Simplic at www.simplic.com.br, where we arrange installment loans for a third party lender. We plan to continue to invest in and expand our financial services program in Brazil. Brazil represented 1.8% of total revenue in 2019 and 2.7% of total revenue in 2018.

Prior to October 25, 2019, we provided services in the United Kingdom under the names QuickQuid, Pounds to Pocket and On Stride Financial. Due in part to the challenging and uncertain regulatory environment, we evaluated potential courses of action with our regulator, including, but not limited to, a scheme of arrangement, to reduce exposure to complaints about historical lending. On October 24, 2019, we announced our intention to exit the U.K. market and on October 25, 2019, a licensed U.K. insolvency practitioner was appointed as administrator to take control of management of the U.K. business. As a result, we have deconsolidated our U.K. businesses and are presenting them as discontinued operations.

Key Financial and Operating Metrics

We have achieved significant growth since we began our online business as we have expanded our product offerings. We measure our business using several financial and operating metrics. Our key metrics include combined loans and finance receivables outstanding, in addition to other measures described under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

This growth in product offerings has resulted in significant combined loans and finance receivables and revenue diversification, as set forth below:

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Our Industry

The internet has transformed how consumers and small businesses shop for and acquire products and services. According to a study by the United Nations, 53.6% of the world’s population had access to the internet in 2019, a 9% increase from 2015. International Data Corporation reported that global internet usage is expected to increase at a pace of 2% annually through 2020. Accompanying the rise in internet usage is the continued disruption of storefront retail by e-commerce companies like Amazon, as consumers flock to purchase goods and interact with businesses online. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, e-commerce sales as a percent of total quarterly retail sales in the United States more than tripled from the first quarter of 2009 to the third quarter of 2019, reaching 11.2%. In addition, a number of traditional financial services, such as banking, bill payment and investing, have become widely available online. A March 2018 report by the Consumer and Community Development Research Section of the Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Consumer and Community Affairs found that approximately 50% of bank customers in a U.S. sample have used mobile banking as a means of accessing banking services. This level of use highlights the extent to which consumers now accept the internet for conducting their financial transactions and are willing to entrust their financial information to online companies. We believe the increased acceptance of online financial services has led to an increased demand for online lending and financing, the benefits of which include customer privacy, easy access, security, 24/7 availability to apply for a loan or financing, speed of funding and transparency of fees and interest.

We use the internet to serve the large and growing number of underbanked consumers and small businesses that have bank accounts but use alternative financial services because of their limited access to more traditional credit from banks, credit card companies and other lenders. Demand from consumers has been fueled by several demographic and socioeconomic trends, including an overall increase in the population and stagnant to declining growth in the household income for working-class individuals. The necessity for alternative financial services was highlighted by a May 2019 report from the Federal Reserve, which found that 39% of respondents could not cover an emergency expense of $400, or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money. The report also found a sizeable portion of the population (22%) is unbanked or underbanked, with two-fifths of unbanked consumers turning to alternative financial services options in the prior year. Approximately 31% of respondents who applied for credit were denied credit or were offered less credit than they desired, and 3% of respondents desired credit but did not apply for fear of denial.

Small businesses are also suffering from lack of access to credit from traditional lenders. Among a sample of small businesses surveyed for the Federal Reserve Banks 2019 Small Business Credit Survey, 31% reported that lack of available capital is one of the three most significant challenges to the future growth and survival of their business. Similarly, according to a 2019 study by the Federal Reserve Banks, only 39% of nonemployer firms that were approved for financing received the full amount requested. Online lending and funding options are emerging as a solution for small businesses that are seeking capital. According to a 2018 report from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, online alternative finance platforms in the United States facilitated more than $10.1 billion of loans to small and medium enterprises in 2017, up 37% from 2015. The Federal Reserve found that 32% of small businesses surveyed applied for credit from online lenders. Aside from the need for capital, 63% of businesses surveyed seek out online lenders for their often faster, easier application process. In the Federal Reserve study, approved applicants cited the long wait for a credit decision and the difficult application process as top reasons for their dissatisfaction with banks, whereas online lenders performed the best in these areas.

We believe that consumers and small businesses seek online lending services for numerous reasons, including because they often:

With increasing competition across industries, tightening regulations and higher expectations from consumers, businesses are seeking solutions for faster, more accurate decision making. In 2016, we launched a product that uses our proprietary technology and analytics capabilities to offer businesses a solution for real-time decisioning at scale. The analytics-as-a-service market was valued at more than $7 billion, and, according to a report by Orbis Research, the market is expected to experience a CAGR of 30% between 2017 and 2022, reaching a value of $49 billion by the end of 2022.

Our Customers

Our subprime consumer customer base is comprised largely of individuals living in households that earn an average annual income of $41,000 in the United States and our U.S. near-prime customers earn an average annual income of $61,000. Based on our analysis of

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industry data, we believe our addressable markets are approximately 68 million individuals in the United States. The short-term lending market is sizable in the United States and Brazil. We estimate there is a $69 billion consumer lending opportunity market in the United States. In Brazil, we estimate there to be an $80 billion consumer loans market. Small business lending is also an attractive market opportunity, with a total U.S. small business loan market of $82 billion. Tighter banking regulations forced banks to vacate the market for loans under $1 million. Loans under $100 thousand are the fastest growing loan segment and accounts for 60% of all small business loan growth. Our small business customers who enter into RPAs average approximately $1.9 million in annual sales and 15 years of operating history, while those who obtain a line of credit account average approximately $473 thousand in annual sales and 7 years of operating history.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe that the following competitive strengths position us well for continued growth:

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Our Growth Strategy

Online Financing Process

Our consumer and small business financing transactions are conducted almost exclusively online. When a customer is approved for a new loan or RPA, nearly all customers choose to have funds promptly deposited in their bank account and choose to use a pre-authorized debit for repayment from their bank account or debit card. Where permitted by law and approved by us, a customer may choose to renew a short-term consumer loan before payment becomes due by agreeing to pay an additional finance charge. If a loan is renewed or refinanced, the renewal or refinanced loan is considered a new loan.

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We have created a quick and simple process for customers to apply for an online loan or RPA, as shown below:

Technology Platform

Our proprietary technology platforms are built for scalability and flexibility and are based on proven open source software. The technology platforms were designed to be powerful enough to handle the large volumes of data required to evaluate consumer and small business applications and flexible enough to capitalize on changing customer preferences, market trends and regulatory changes. The scalability and flexibility of our technology platforms allow us to enter new markets and launch new products quickly, typically within three to six months from conception to launch.

We continually employ technological innovations to improve our technology platforms, which perform a variety of integrated and core functions, including:

The key elements of our technology platforms include:

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Proprietary Data and Analytics

Decision Engine

We have developed a fully integrated decision engine that evaluates and rapidly makes credit and other determinations throughout the customer relationship, including automated decisions regarding marketing, underwriting, customer contact and collections. Our decision engine currently handles more than 100 algorithms and over 1,000 variables. The algorithms in use are constantly monitored, validated, updated and optimized to continuously improve our operations. In order to support the daily running and ongoing improvement of our decision engine, we have assembled a highly skilled team of over 60 data and analytics professionals as of December 31, 2019.

Proprietary Data, Models and Underwriting

Our proprietary models are built on more than 15 years of history, using advanced statistical methods that take into account our experience with the millions of transactions we have processed during that time and the use of data from numerous third-party sources. We continually update our underwriting models to manage risk of defaults and to structure loan and financing terms. Our system completes these assessments within seconds of receiving the customer’s data.

Our underwriting system is able to assess risks associated with each customer individually based on specific customer information and historical trends in our portfolio. We use a combination of numerous factors when evaluating a potential customer, which can include a consumer’s income, rent or mortgage payment amount, employment history, external credit reporting agency scores, amount and status of outstanding debt and other recurring expenditures, fraud reports, repayment history, charge-off history and the length of time the customer has lived at his or her current address. While the relative weight or importance of the specific variables that we consider when underwriting a loan changes from product to product, generally, the key factors that we consider for loans include monthly gross income, disposable income, length of employment, duration of residency, credit report history and prior loan performance history if the applicant is a returning customer. Similar factors are considered for small business applicants and also include length of time in business, online business reviews, and sales volumes. Our customer base for consumer loans is predominantly in the low to fair range of FICO scores, with scores generally between 500 and 680 for most of our loan products. We generally do not take into account a potential customer’s FICO score when deciding whether to make a loan. A Vantage-Score is one of the factors in our credit models for our near-prime installment product in the United States. Since we designed our system specifically for our specialized products, we believe our system provides more predictive assessments of future payment behavior and results in better evaluation of our customer base when compared to traditional credit assessments, such as a FICO score.

Fraud Prevention

Our robust fraud prevention system is built from in-depth analysis of previous fraud incidences and information from third party data sources. To ensure sustainable growth, our fraud prevention team has built rigorous systems and processes to detect fraud trends, identify fraudulent applications and learn from past fraudulent cases.

Working together with multiple vendors, our systems first determine whether customer information submitted matches other indicators regarding the application and that the applicant can authorize transactions for the submitted bank account. To prevent more organized and systematic fraud, we have developed predictive models that incorporate signals from various sources that we have found to be useful in identifying fraud. These models utilize advanced data mining algorithms and recent technologies to effectively identify fraudulent applications with a very low false positive rate. In addition, we have built strong loan processing teams that handle suspicious activities efficiently while minimizing friction in customer experience. Our fraud prevention system incorporates algorithms to differentiate customers in an effort to identify suspected fraudulent activity and to reduce our risks of loss from fraud.

We continuously develop and implement ongoing improvements to these systems and, while no system can completely protect against losses from fraud, we believe our systems provide protection against significant fraud losses.

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Marketing

We use a multi-channel approach to marketing our online loans and financing products, with both broad-reach and highly-targeted channels, including television, digital, direct mail, telemarketing and partner marketing (which includes lead providers, independent brokers and marketing affiliates). The goal of our marketing is to promote our brands and products in the online lending marketplace and to directly acquire new customers at low cost. Our marketing has successfully built strong awareness of and preference for our brands, as our products have achieved market leadership through the following:

Our brand, technology and analytics-powered approach to marketing has enabled us to increase the percentage of consumer loans sourced through direct marketing (where we have more visibility and control than in the lead purchase or affiliate channels) from approximately 32% in 2009 to 55% in 2019, and we believe we have also improved customer brand loyalty during the same period.

Customer Service

We believe that our in-house contact center and our emphasis on superior customer service are significant contributors to our growth. To best serve our consumers and small businesses, we use customer-oriented business practices, such as offering extended-hours customer service. We continuously work to improve our customers’ experience and satisfaction by evaluating information from website analytics, customer satisfaction surveys, contact center feedback, call monitoring and focus groups. Our contact center teams receive training on a regular basis, are monitored by quality assurance managers and adhere to rigorous internal service-level agreements. We do not outsource our contact center operations, except in Brazil. We have two contact center facilities to support our U.S. operations, one in our corporate offices in Chicago and another in Gurnee, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. As of December 31, 2019, we had 569 employees in our contact centers supporting our customers.

Collections

We operate centralized collection teams within our two contact centers to coordinate a consistent approach. We have implemented loan and financing collection policies and practices designed to optimize regulatory compliant loan and financing repayment, while also providing excellent customer service. Our collections employees are trained to help the customer understand available payment alternatives and make arrangements to repay the loan or financing. We use a variety of collection strategies to satisfy a delinquent loan, such as settlements and payment plans, or to adjust the delivery of finance receivables.

Contact center employees contact customers following the first missed payment and periodically thereafter. Our primary methods of contacting past due customers are through phone calls, letters and emails. At times, we sell loans that we are unable to collect to debt collection companies or place the debt for collection with debt collection companies.

Competition

We have many competitors. Our principal competitors are consumer loan and finance companies, CSOs, online lenders, credit card companies, auto title lenders, pawnshops and other financial institutions that offer similar financial products and services, including loans on an unsecured as well as a secured basis. We believe that there is also indirect competition to some of our products, including bank overdraft facilities and banks’ and retailers’ insufficient funds policies, many of which may be more expensive alternative approaches for consumers and small businesses to cover their bills and expenses than the consumer and small business loan and financing products we offer. Some of our U.S. competitors operate using other business models, including a “tribal model” where the lender follows the laws of a Native American tribe regardless of the state in which the customer resides.

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We believe that the principal competitive factors in the consumer and small business loan and financing industry consist of the ability to provide sufficient loan or financing size to meet customers’ financing requests, speed of funding, customer privacy, ease of access, transparency of fees and interest and customer service. We believe we have a significant competitive advantage as an early mover in many of the markets that we serve. New entrants face obstacles typical to launching new lending operations, such as successfully implementing underwriting and fraud prevention processes, incurring high marketing and customer acquisition costs, overcoming customer brand loyalty and having or obtaining sufficient capital to withstand early losses associated with unseasoned loan portfolios. In addition, there are substantial regulatory and compliance costs, including the need for expertise to customize products and obtain licenses to lend in various states in the United States and in international jurisdictions. Our proprietary technology, analytics expertise, scale, international reach, brand recognition and regulatory compliance would be difficult for a new competitor to duplicate.

Because numerous competitors offer consumer and small business loan and financing products, and many of our competitors are privately held, it is difficult for us to determine our exact competitive position in the market. However, we believe our principal online competitors in the United States include Avant, Curo, Elevate, and LendUp. Storefront consumer loan lenders that offer loans online or in storefronts are also a source of competition in some of the markets where we offer consumer loans, including Ace Cash Express, Check Into Cash, Check ‘n Go and One Main Financial. For online small business financing, we believe our main competitors are CAN Capital, OnDeck and Kabbage.

Intellectual Property

Protecting our rights to our intellectual property is critical, as it enhances our ability to offer distinctive services and products to our customers, which differentiates us from our competitors. We rely on a combination of trademark laws and trade secret protections in the United States and other jurisdictions, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions, to protect the intellectual property rights related to our proprietary analytics, predictive underwriting models, tradenames and marks and software systems. We have several registered trademarks, including CashNetUSA and our “e” logo. These trademarks have varying expiration dates, and we believe they are materially important to us and we anticipate maintaining them and renewing them.

Seasonality

Demand for our consumer loan products and services in the United States has historically been highest in the third and fourth quarters of each year, corresponding to the holiday season, and lowest in the first quarter of each year, corresponding to our customers’ receipt of income tax refunds. Typically, our cost of revenue for our consumer loan products, which represents our loan loss provision, is lowest as a percentage of revenue in the first quarter of each year, corresponding to our customers’ receipt of income tax refunds, and increases as a percentage of revenue for the remainder of each year. Consequently, we experience seasonal fluctuations in our domestic operating results and cash needs.

Financial Information on Segments and Areas

Additional financial information regarding our operating segment and each of the geographic areas in which we do business is provided in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 16” of this report.

Operations

Management and Personnel

Executive Officers

Our executive officers, and information about each as of December 31, 2019, are listed below.

There are no family relationships among any of the officers named above. Each officer of Enova holds office from the date of appointment until removal or termination of employment with Enova. Set forth below is additional information regarding the executive officers identified above.

David Fisher has served as our Chief Executive Officer since January 29, 2013 when he joined Enova. Mr. Fisher has also served as our Director since February 11, 2013. Prior to joining Enova, Mr. Fisher was Chief Executive Officer of optionsXpress Holdings, Inc., or optionsXpress, from October 2007 until The Charles Schwab Corporation (“Schwab”), acquired the business in September 2011. Following the acquisition, Mr. Fisher served as President of optionsXpress until March 2012. Mr. Fisher also served as the President

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of optionsXpress from March 2007 to October 2007 and as the Chief Financial Officer of optionsXpress from August 2004 to March 2007. Prior to joining optionsXpress, Mr. Fisher served as Chief Financial Officer of Potbelly Sandwich Works from February 2001 to July 2004, and before that in the roles of Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel for Prism Financial Corporation. In addition, Mr. Fisher has served on the Board of Directors of InnerWorkings, Inc. since November 2011 and has served on the Board of Directors of GrubHub, Inc. since May 2012. Mr. Fisher also served on the Boards of Directors of optionsXpress from October 2007 until September 2011 and CBOE Holdings, Inc. from January 2007 until October 2011. Mr. Fisher received a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois and a law degree from Northwestern University School of Law.

Kirk Chartier has served as our Chief Marketing Officer since he joined Enova in April 2013. Prior to joining Enova, Mr. Chartier was the Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer of optionsXpress Holdings from January 2010 until Schwab acquired the business in September 2011. Following the acquisition, Mr. Chartier served as Vice President of Schwab through May 2012. From 2004 to 2010, Mr. Chartier was the Senior Managing Principal and Business Strategy Practice Leader for the Zyman Group, a marketing and strategy consultancy owned by MDC Partners, where he also served in interim senior marketing executive roles for Fortune 500 companies, including Safeco Insurance. Mr. Chartier has held executive roles at technology companies including as Senior Vice President of Business Services & eCommerce for CommerceQuest, as Vice President of Online Marketing & Strategy for THINK New Ideas and as a Corporate Auditor for the General Electric Company. He started his career as a combat pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps and is a veteran of Desert Storm. Mr. Chartier received a Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University, a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Steven Cunningham has served as our Chief Financial Officer since he joined Enova in June 2016. Mr. Cunningham joined Enova from Discover Financial Services, where he most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer for Discover’s $8.7 billion direct banking and payment services business. He joined Discover as its Corporate Treasurer in 2010. Prior to Discover, Mr. Cunningham was the CFO of Harley-Davidson Financial Services, a $7 billion receivables business, and spent eight years at Capital One Financial in various corporate and line of business finance leadership positions, including CFO for the Auto Finance segment, a $20 billion receivables business, and CFO for the company’s banking segment. Mr. Cunningham also has experience as a bank regulator with the FDIC. Mr. Cunningham received a bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance and Investment Management from the University of Alabama and a Master of Business Administration from George Washington University. He also holds the professional designation of Chartered Financial Analyst.

Sean Rahilly has served as our General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer since June 2018. Mr. Rahilly joined Enova in October 2013 as Chief Compliance Officer. Mr. Rahilly previously served as Assistant General Counsel and Compliance Officer of First American Bank from September 2006 to September 2013. He also served as First American Bank’s Vice President—Community Reinvestment Act and Compliance Officer from January 2006 to September 2006, Vice President—Compliance Manager from November 2003 to January 2006 and Assistant Vice President—Compliance and Community Reinvestment Act from July 2002 to November 2003. Prior to joining First American Bank, Mr. Rahilly served as an attorney with the Law Offices of Victor J. Cacciatore, a project assistant with Schiff Hardin & Waite and in various roles with Pullman Bank and Trust Company. He received a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from DePaul University College of Commerce and a Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law.

Personnel

As of December 31, 2019, we had 1,325 employees, of whom 112 were responsible for the continued servicing of loans related to our discontinued U.K. operations.

Market and Industry Data

The market and industry data contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including trends in our markets and our position within such markets, are based on a variety of sources, including our good faith estimates, which are derived from our review of internal surveys, information obtained from customers and publicly available information, as well as from independent industry publications, reports by market research firms and other published independent sources. Although we believe these sources are reliable, we have not independently verified the information. None of the independent industry publications used in this report were prepared on our behalf.

REGULATION

Our operations are subject to extensive regulation, supervision and licensing under various federal, state, local and international statutes, ordinances and regulations.

U.S. Federal Regulation

Consumer Lending Laws. Our consumer loan business is subject to the federal Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”), and its underlying regulations, known as Regulation Z, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). These laws require us to provide certain disclosures

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to prospective borrowers and protect against unfair credit practices. The principal disclosures required under TILA are intended to promote the informed use of consumer credit. Under TILA, when acting as a lender, we are required to disclose certain material terms related to a credit transaction, including, but not limited to, the annual percentage rate, finance charge, amount financed, total of payments, the number and amount of payments and payment due dates to repay the indebtedness. The FCRA regulates the collection, dissemination and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. The federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), prohibits us from discriminating against any credit applicant on the basis of any protected category, such as race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status or age, and requires us to notify credit applicants of any action taken on the individual’s credit application.

Consumer Reports and Information. The use of consumer reports and other personal data used in credit underwriting is governed by the FCRA and similar state laws governing the use of consumer credit information. The FCRA establishes requirements that apply to the use of “consumer reports” and similar data, including certain notifications to consumers where their loan application has been denied because of information contained in their consumer report. The FCRA requires us to promptly update any credit information reported to a credit reporting agency about a consumer and to allow a process by which consumers may inquire about credit information furnished by us to a consumer reporting agency.

Information-Sharing Laws. We are also subject to the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which limits the sharing of information with affiliates for marketing purposes and requires us to adopt written guidance and procedures for detecting, preventing and responding appropriately to mitigate identity theft and to adopt various policies and procedures and provide training and materials that address the importance of protecting non-public personal information and aid us in detecting and responding to suspicious activity, including suspicious activity that may suggest a possible identity theft red flag, as appropriate.

Marketing Laws. Our advertising and marketing activities are subject to several federal laws and regulations including the Federal Trade Commission Act (the “FTC Act”), which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices and false or misleading advertisements in all aspects of our business. As a financial services company, any advertisements related to our products must also comply with the advertising requirements set forth in TILA. Also, any of our telephone marketing activities must comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the “TCPA”) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (the “TSR”). The TCPA prohibits the use of automatic telephone dialing systems for communications with wireless phone numbers without express consent of the consumer, and the TSR established the Do Not Call Registry and sets forth standards of conduct for all telemarketing. Our advertising and marketing activities are also subject to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which establishes certain requirements for commercial email messages and specifies penalties for the transmission of commercial email messages that are intended to deceive the recipient as to the source of content.

Protection of Military Members and Dependents. The Military Lending Act (“MLA”) is a federal law that limits the annual percentage rate to 36% on certain consumer loans made to active duty members of the U.S. military, reservists and members of the National Guard and their immediate families. The MLA’s implementing regulation also contains various disclosure requirements, limitations on renewals and refinancing, as well as restrictions on the use of prepayment penalties, arbitration provisions and certain waivers of rights. The 36% annual percentage rate cap applies to a variety of consumer loan products, including short-term consumer loans. Therefore, due to these rate restrictions, we are unable to offer certain short-term consumer loans to active duty military personnel, active reservists and members of the National Guard and their immediate dependents. Federal law also limits the annual percentage rate on existing loans when the borrower, or spouse of the borrower, becomes an active-duty member of the military during the life of a loan. Pursuant to federal law, the interest rate must be reduced to 6% per year on amounts outstanding during the time in which the service member is on active duty.

Funds Transfer and Signature Authentication Laws. The consumer loan business is also subject to the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act (“EFTA”), and various other laws, rules and guidelines relating to the procedures and disclosures required in debiting or crediting a debtor’s bank account relating to a consumer loan (i.e., Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) funds transfer). Furthermore, we are subject to various state and federal e-signature rules mandating that certain disclosures be made and certain steps be followed in order to obtain and authenticate e-signatures.

Debt Collection Practices. We use the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) as a guide in connection with operating our other collection activities. We are also required to comply with all applicable state collection practices laws.

Privacy and Security of Non-Public Customer Information. We are also subject to various federal and state laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security. Under these laws, including the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), we must disclose to consumers our privacy policy and practices, including those policies relating to the sharing of consumers’ nonpublic personal information with third parties. These regulations also require us to ensure that our systems are designed to protect the confidentiality of consumers’ nonpublic personal information. These regulations also dictate certain actions that we must take to notify consumers if their personal information is disclosed in an unauthorized manner.

Anti-Money Laundering and Economic Sanctions. We are also subject to certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and the Bank Secrecy Act under which we must maintain an anti-money laundering compliance program covering certain of our business activities.

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In addition, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) prohibits us from engaging in financial transactions with specially designated nationals.

Anticorruption. We are also subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), which generally prohibits companies and their agents or intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business and/or other benefits.

CFPB

In July 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) and Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”), which regulates consumer financial products and services, including consumer loans that we offer. The CFPB has regulatory, supervisory and enforcement powers over providers of consumer financial products and services, including explicit supervisory authority to examine and require registration of such providers. Pursuant to these powers, the CFPB has examined our lending products, services and practices, and we expect to continue to be examined on a regular basis by the CFPB.

On November 20, 2013, Cash America International, Inc. (“Cash America”), our parent company at the time, consented to the issuance of a Consent Order by the CFPB pursuant to which it agreed, without admitting or denying any of the facts or conclusions made by the CFPB from its 2012 examination of Cash America and us, to pay a civil money penalty of $5 million. The Consent Order relates in part to issues self-disclosed to the CFPB by us, including the making of a limited number of loans to consumers who may have been active-duty members of the military at the time of the loan at rates in excess of the annual percentage rate permitted by the federal Military Lending Act, and for which we made refunds of approximately $33,500, and for certain failures to timely provide and preserve records and information in connection with the CFPB’s examination of us. In addition, as a result of the CFPB’s review, we enhanced and continue to enhance our compliance management system and implemented additional policies and procedures to address the issues identified by the CFPB.

On July 10, 2017, the CFPB issued a final rule prohibiting the use of mandatory arbitration clauses and class action waiver provisions in consumer financial services contracts. On November 1, 2017, President Trump signed a joint resolution passed by the House and Senate pursuant to the Congressional Review Act disapproving the CFPB arbitration rule and blocking it from taking effect. The joint resolution also precludes an agency from reissuing a rule in substantially the same form unless the reissued rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted subsequent to the President signing the joint resolution of disapproval.

On October 6, 2017, the CFPB issued its Final Rule (the “Final Rule”) on Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans. The Final Rule would impose significant limitations on all short-term loans and longer-term loans with balloon payments. Among other provisions, the Final Rule requires lenders to conduct a specific assessment regarding a borrower’s ability to repay, including a requirement to verify borrowers’ income and major financial obligations. The Final Rule also includes limitations on the number of loans that certain borrowers can have within a specified time frame and requires additional disclosures in loan documents and notices and limitations regarding payments. The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2017 and would apply to loan contracts entered into beginning August 19, 2019. On January 16, 2018, the CFPB issued a statement that it intends to engage in a rulemaking process to reconsider the Final Rule. On February 6, 2019, the CFPB issued two notices of proposed rulemaking: (1) to rescind the Final Rule’s mandatory underwriting provisions, including the ability to repay requirements and (2) to delay the August 19, 2019 compliance date for those provisions until November 19, 2020. On June 17, 2019 the CFPB issued a final rule to delay the compliance date for the Small Dollar Rule’s mandatory underwriting provisions to November 19, 2020. The provisions relating to payments were still scheduled to take effect on August 19, 2019, but the Final Rule has been stayed indefinitely by a Texas federal district court.

For further discussion of the CFPB and its regulatory, supervisory and enforcement powers, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry— The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has examination authority over our U.S. consumer lending business that could have a significant impact on our U.S. business” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

U.S. State Regulation

Our consumer lending business is regulated under a variety of enabling state statutes, all of which are subject to change and which may impose significant costs or limitations on the way we conduct or expand our business. As of the date of this report, we offer or arrange consumer loans in 40 states that have specific statutes and regulations that enable us to offer economically viable products. We currently do not offer consumer loans in the remaining states because we do not believe it is economically feasible to operate in those jurisdictions due to specific statutory or regulatory restrictions, such as interest rate ceilings, caps on the fees that may be charged, or costly operational requirements. However, we may later offer our consumer products or services in any of these states if we believe doing so may become economically viable because of changes in applicable statutes or regulations or if we determine we can broaden our product offerings to operate under existing laws and regulations.

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The scope of state regulation of consumer loans, including the fees and terms of our products and services, varies from state to state. The terms of our products and services vary from state to state in order to comply with the laws and regulations of the states in which we operate. In addition, our advertising and marketing activities and disclosures are subject to review under various state consumer protection laws and other applicable laws and regulations. The states with laws that specifically regulate our consumer products and services may limit the principal amount of a consumer loan and set maximum fees or interest rates customers may be charged. Some states also limit a customer’s ability to renew a short-term consumer loan and require various disclosures to consumers. State statutes often specify minimum and maximum maturity dates for short-term consumer loans such as ours and, in some cases, specify mandatory cooling-off periods between transactions. Our collection activities regarding past due amounts may be subject to consumer protection laws and state regulations relating to debt collection practices. In addition, some states require certain disclosures or content to accompany our advertising or marketing materials. Also, some states require us to report short-term consumer loan activity to state-wide databases and restrict the number and/or principal amount of loans a consumer may have outstanding at any particular time or over the course of a particular period of time.

In Texas, where we offer our CSO program, we comply with the jurisdiction’s Credit Services Organization Act and related regulations. These laws generally define the services that we can provide to consumers and require us to provide a contract to the customer outlining our services and the cost of those services to the customer. In addition, these laws may require additional disclosures to consumers and may require us to be registered with the jurisdiction and/or be bonded.

We must also comply with state restrictions on the use of lead providers. Over the past few years, several states have taken actions that have caused us to discontinue the use of lead providers in those states. Other states may propose or enact similar restrictions on lead providers in the future.

Over the last few years, legislation that prohibits or severely restricts our consumer loan products and services has been introduced or adopted in a number of states. As a result, we have ceased making consumer loans in several states where we formerly made such loans, and we have also modified our business operations in other states where restrictive legislation has been enacted. For example, Maryland passed a law in 2017 that limits the total fees, charges and interest that can be assessed on unsecured revolving credit plans with Maryland consumers to an effective rate of 33% per year. The law went into effect on July 1, 2017 with regard to new revolving credit plans. In October 2018, Ohio enacted House Bill 123. The law took effect on April 27, 2019, and placed new restrictions on companies operating under the Ohio Credit Services Organization Act, the Ohio Small Loan Act, and the Ohio General Loan Law. We previously offered services under the Credit Services Organization Act but began offering a credit product under the Ohio Short-Term Loan Act after the implementation date of House Bill 123. Additional legislation or regulations targeting or otherwise directly affecting our products and services have also been recently passed in several states. We regularly monitor proposed legislation or regulations that could affect our business.

Local Regulation—United States

In addition to state and federal laws and regulations, the short-term loan industry is subject to various local rules and regulations. These local rules and regulations are subject to change and vary widely from city to city. Local jurisdictions’ efforts to restrict short-term lending have been increasing. Typically, these local ordinances apply to storefront operations, however, local jurisdictions could attempt to enforce certain business conduct and registration requirements on online lenders lending to residents of that jurisdiction. Actions taken in the future by local governing bodies to impose other restrictions on short-term lenders such as us could impact our business.

Company and Website Information

Our principal executive offices are located at 175 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, Illinois 60604, and our telephone number is (312) 568-4200.

Our website is located at www.enova.com. Through our website, we provide free access to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC.

Our business and future results may be affected by a number of risks and uncertainties that should be considered carefully in evaluating us. In addition, this report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below. The occurrence of one or more of the events listed below could also have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

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Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our business is highly regulated, and if we fail to comply with applicable laws, regulations, rules and guidance, our business could be adversely affected.

Our products and services are subject to extensive regulation, supervision and licensing under various federal, state, local and international statutes, ordinances, regulations, rules and guidance. For example, our loan products may be subject to requirements that generally mandate licensing or authorization as a lender or as a credit services organization or credit access business (collectively, “CSO”), establish limits on the amount, duration, renewals or extensions of and charges for (including interest rates and fees) various categories of loans, direct the form and content of our loan contracts and other documentation, restrict collection practices, outline underwriting requirements and subject us to periodic examination and ongoing supervision by regulatory authorities, among other things. We must comply with federal laws, such as TILA, ECOA, FCRA, EFTA, GLBA and Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act, among other laws, as well as regulations adopted to implement those laws. In addition, our marketing and disclosure efforts and the representations made about our products and services are subject to unfair and deceptive practice statutes, including the FTC Act, the TCPA and the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 in the United States and analogous state statutes under which the FTC, the CFPB, state attorneys general or private plaintiffs may bring legal actions.

We are also subject to various international laws, licensing or authorization requirements in connection with the products or services we offer in Brazil, which are discussed below. Compliance with applicable laws, regulations, rules and guidance requires forms, processes, procedures, training, controls and the infrastructure to support these requirements. Compliance may also create operational constraints, be costly or adversely affect operating results. See “Business—Regulation” of Part I, Item 1 of this report for further discussion of the laws applicable to us.

The regulatory environment in which we conduct our business is extensive and complex. From time to time we become aware of instances where our products and services have not fully complied with requirements under applicable laws and regulations or applicable contracts. Determinations of compliance with applicable requirements or contracts, such as those discussed above, can be highly technical and subject to varying interpretations. When we become aware of such an instance, whether as a result of our compliance reviews, regulator inquiry, customer complaint or otherwise, we generally conduct a review of the activity in question and determine how to address it, such as modifying the product, making customer refunds or providing additional disclosure. We also evaluate whether reports or other notices to regulators are required and provide notice to regulators whenever required. In some cases, we have decided and will decide to take corrective action even after applicable statutory or regulatory cure periods have expired, and in some cases we have notified regulators even where such notification may not have been required. Regulators or customers reviewing such incidents or remedial activities may interpret the laws, regulations and customer contracts differently than we have, or may choose to take regulatory action against us or bring private litigation against us notwithstanding the corrective measures we have taken. This may be the case even if we no longer offer the product or service in question.

State, federal and international regulators, as well as the plaintiffs’ bars, have subjected our industry to intense scrutiny in recent years. In addition, our contracts for certain products and services are governed by the law applicable in a state other than the state in which the customer resides. If a court were to reject our choice of law and determine that a contract was governed by the laws of another state, the contract may be unenforceable. Failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations, rules and guidance, or any finding that our past forms, practices, processes, procedures, controls or infrastructure were insufficient or not in compliance, could subject us to regulatory enforcement actions, result in the assessment against us of civil, monetary, criminal or other penalties (some of which could be significant in the case of knowing or reckless violations), result in the issuance of cease and desist orders (which can include orders for restitution, as well as other kinds of affirmative relief), require us to refund payments, interest or fees, result in a determination that certain financial products are not collectible, result in a suspension or revocation of licenses or authorization to transact business, result in a finding that we have engaged in unfair and deceptive practices, limit our access to services provided by third-party financial institutions or cause damage to our reputation, brands and valued customer relationships. We may also incur additional, substantial expenses to bring those products and services into compliance with the laws of various jurisdictions or stop offering certain products and services in certain jurisdictions.

Our failure to comply with any regulations, rules or guidance applicable to our business could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could prohibit or directly or indirectly impair our ability to continue current operations.

The lending and financing industry continues to be targeted by new laws or regulations in many jurisdictions that could restrict the lending and financing products and services we offer, impose additional compliance costs on us, render our current operations unprofitable or even prohibit our current operations.

Governments at the national, state and local levels, as well as international governments, may seek to impose new laws, regulatory restrictions or licensing requirements that affect the products or services we offer, the terms on which we may offer them, and the disclosure, compliance and reporting obligations we must fulfill in connection with our lending and financing business. They may also

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interpret or enforce existing requirements in new ways that could restrict our ability to continue our current methods of operation or to expand operations, impose significant additional compliance costs, and may have a negative effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. In some cases, these measures could even directly prohibit some or all of our current business activities in certain jurisdictions or render them unprofitable and/or impractical to continue.

In recent years, consumer loans, and in particular the category commonly referred to as “payday loans,” which includes certain of our short-term loan products, have come under increased regulatory scrutiny that has resulted in increasingly restrictive regulations and legislation that makes offering such loans in certain states in the United States or the international countries where we operate (as further described below) less profitable or unattractive. Laws or regulations in some states in the United States require that all borrowers of certain short-term loan products be reported to a centralized database and limit the number of loans a borrower may receive or have outstanding. Other laws prohibit us from providing some of our consumer loan products in the United States to active duty military personnel, active members of the National Guard or members on active reserve duty and their spouses and immediate dependents.

Certain consumer advocacy groups and federal and state legislators and regulators have advocated that laws and regulations should be tightened so as to severely limit, if not eliminate, the type of loan products and services we offer to consumers, and this has resulted in both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. federal government and state governmental bodies exhibiting an interest in debating legislation that could further regulate consumer loan products and services such as those that we offer. The U.S. Congress, as well as other similar federal, state and local bodies and similar international governmental authorities, have debated, and may in the future adopt, legislation or regulations that could, among other things, place a cap (or decrease a current cap) on the interest or fees that we can charge or a cap on the effective annual percentage rate that limits the amount of interest or fees that may be charged, ban or limit loan renewals or extensions of short-term loans (where the customer agrees to pay the current finance charge on a loan for the right to make payment of the outstanding principal balance of such loan at a later date plus an additional finance charge), including the rates to be charged for loan renewals or extensions, require us to offer an extended payment plan, limit origination fees for loans, require changes to our underwriting or collections practices, require lenders to be bonded or to report consumer loan activity to databases designed to monitor or restrict consumer borrowing activity, impose “cooling off” periods between the time a loan is paid off and another loan is obtained or prohibit us from providing any of our consumer loan products in the United States to active duty members of the U.S. military, reservists and members of the National Guard and their immediate families.

Furthermore, legislative or regulatory actions may be influenced by negative perceptions of us and our industry, even if such negative perceptions are inaccurate, attributable to conduct by third parties not affiliated with us (such as other industry members), or attributable to matters not specific to our industry.

We cannot currently assess the likelihood of any future unfavorable federal, state, local or international legislation or regulations being proposed or enacted that could affect our products and services. We closely monitor proposed legislation in jurisdictions where we offer our loan products. Additional legislative or regulatory provisions could be enacted that could severely restrict, prohibit or eliminate our ability to offer a consumer or small business loan or financing product. In addition, under statutory authority, U.S. state regulators have broad discretionary power and may impose new licensing requirements, interpret or enforce existing regulatory requirements in different ways or issue new administrative rules, even if not contained in state statutes, that could adversely affect the way we do business and may force us to terminate or modify our operations in particular states or affect our ability to obtain new licenses or renew the licenses we hold.

Any of these or other legislative or regulatory actions that affect our lending and financing business at the national, state, international and local level could, if enacted or interpreted differently, have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could prohibit or directly or indirectly impair our ability to continue current operations.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has examination authority over our U.S. consumer lending business that could have a significant impact on our U.S. business.

In July 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act, and Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act created the CFPB, which regulates U.S. consumer financial products and services, including consumer loans offered by us. The CFPB has regulatory, supervisory and enforcement powers over providers of consumer financial products and services, such as us, including explicit supervisory authority to examine and require registration of such providers.

The CFPB exercises supervisory review over and examines certain non-bank providers of consumer financial products and services, including providers of consumer loans such as us. The CFPB has examined our lending products, services and practices, and we expect to continue to be examined on a regular basis by the CFPB. The CFPB’s examination authority permits CFPB examiners to inspect the books and records of providers of short-term, small dollar lenders, and ask questions about their business practices, and the examination procedures include specific modules for examining marketing activities; loan application and origination activities; payment processing activities and sustained use by consumers; collections, accounts in default, and consumer reporting activities as

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well as third-party relationships. As a result of these examinations, we could be required to change our products, services or practices, whether as a result of another party being examined or as a result of an examination of us, or we could be subject to monetary penalties, which could materially adversely affect us.

The CFPB also has broad authority to prohibit unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices and to investigate and penalize financial institutions that violate this prohibition. In addition to having the authority to obtain monetary penalties for violations of applicable federal consumer financial laws (including the CFPB’s own rules), the CFPB can require remediation of practices, pursue administrative proceedings or litigation and obtain cease and desist orders (which can include orders for restitution or rescission of contracts, as well as other kinds of affirmative relief). Also, where a company has violated Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act or CFPB regulations implemented thereunder, the Dodd-Frank Act empowers state attorneys general and state regulators to bring civil actions to remedy violations of state law. If the CFPB or one or more state attorneys general or state regulators believe that we have violated any of the applicable laws or regulations, they could exercise their enforcement powers in ways that could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We are subject to a Consent Order issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and any noncompliance would materially adversely affect our business.

On January 25, 2019, we consented to the issuance of a Consent Order by the CFPB pursuant to which we agreed, without admitting or denying any of the facts or conclusions, to pay a civil money penalty of $3.2 million. The Consent Order relates to issues self-disclosed to the CFPB in 2014, including failure to provide loan extensions to 308 consumers and debiting approximately 5,500 consumers from the wrong bank account. We remain subject to the restrictions and obligations of the Consent Order, including a prohibition from engaging in certain conduct. Any noncompliance with the Consent Order or similar orders or agreements from other regulators could lead to further regulatory penalties and could have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could prohibit or directly or indirectly impair our ability to continue current operations.

The CFPB recently finalized a new rule that may affect the consumer lending industry, and this rule could have a material adverse effect on our U.S. consumer lending business.

On October 6, 2017, the CFPB issued its final rule on payday and certain high-cost installment loans, also known as the “Small Dollar Rule,” which would cover some of the loans we offer. The Small Dollar Rule requires that lenders who make short-term loans and longer-term loans with balloon payments reasonably determine consumers’ ability to repay the loans according to their terms before issuing the loans. The Small Dollar Rule also introduces new limitations on repayment processes for those lenders as well as lenders of other longer-term loans with an annual percentage rate greater than 36 percent that include an ACH authorization or similar payment provision. If a consumer has two consecutive failed payment attempts, the lender must obtain the consumer’s new and specific authorization to make further withdrawals from the consumer’s bank account. For loans covered by the Small Dollar Rule, lenders must provide certain notices to consumers before attempting a first payment withdrawal or an unusual withdrawal and after two consecutive failed payment attempts. The Small Dollar Rule has a compliance date of August 19, 2019, but was stayed indefinitely by a Texas federal district court. On October 26, 2018, the CFPB under then-acting Director Mick Mulvaney announced that the CFPB would reconsider the Small Dollar Rule. In December 2018, Kathy Kraninger was confirmed by the Senate as the CFPB’s new director. Following her confirmation, the CFPB announced that it would revisit the Small Dollar Rule. On February 6, 2019, the CFPB issued two notices of proposed rulemaking: (1) to rescind the Small Dollar Rule’s mandatory underwriting provisions, including the ability to repay requirements and (2) to delay the August 19, 2019 compliance date for those provisions until November 19, 2020. On June 17, 2019 the CFPB issued a final rule to delay the compliance date for the Small Dollar Rule’s mandatory underwriting provisions to November 19, 2020. It is likely that there will be legal challenges to the Small Dollar Rule before it goes into effect. We cannot currently assess the likelihood that the CFPB will make additional changes to the Small Dollar Rule, nor whether the Small Dollar Rule will become effective. If the Small Dollar Rule does become effective in its current proposed form, we will need to make certain changes to our payment processes and customer notifications in our U.S. consumer lending business. If we are not able to execute these changes effectively because of unexpected complexities, costs or otherwise, we cannot guarantee that the Small Dollar Rule will not have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our advertising and marketing materials and disclosures have been and continue to be subject to regulatory scrutiny.

In the jurisdictions where we operate, our advertising and marketing activities and disclosures are subject to regulation under various industry standards, consumer protection laws, and other applicable laws and regulations. Consistent with the consumer lending industry as a whole, our advertising and marketing materials have come under increased scrutiny.

Going forward, there can be no guarantee that we will be able to advertise and market our business in a manner we consider effective. Any inability to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

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Significant changes in international laws or regulations or a deterioration of the political, regulatory or economic environment of Brazil, or any other country in which we begin operations, could affect our operations in these countries.

We offer, arrange and/or service online consumer loans to customers in Brazil. New legislation or regulations could further restrict the consumer loan products we offer.

Significant changes in international laws or regulations or a deterioration of the political, regulatory or economic environment of Brazil could restrict our ability to sustain or expand our operations. Similarly, a significant change in laws, regulations or overall treatment (including an interpretation or application of such laws and regulations not anticipated when exploring or initiating business) or a deterioration of the political, regulatory or economic environment of any other country in which we may decide to do business, could also materially adversely affect our prospects and could restrict our ability to initiate a pilot program or develop a pilot program into full business operations.

The administration of our subsidiary, CashEuroNet, through which we conducted our U.K. business, could have an adverse impact on our liquidity and financial position.

Effective October 25, 2019, in accordance with the provisions of the U.K. Insolvency Act and pursuant to approval by the board of directors of CashEuroNet, insolvency practitioners from Grant Thornton UK LLP were appointed as administrators in respect of CashEuroNet. In conjunction with the administration, claims related to the management and financial support of CashEuroNet prior to the administration could be asserted, which could result in additional expense to us. We are currently providing certain administrative, technical and other services, and incur other exit costs and expenses related to CashEuroNet during its administration. While we do not believe there will be claims or costs beyond the initial anticipated charge of $74.5 million, we cannot provide complete assurance we will not experience significant additional claims or costs related to the administration of CashEuroNet and its prior business conducted in the U.K.

We have previously ceased business in certain jurisdictions due to regulatory restrictions and, if we are forced to exit many key jurisdictions due to regulatory restrictions, it could adversely affect our business as a whole.

In the past we have ceased business in, restricted our operations in, or chosen not to begin business in, certain jurisdictions due to regulatory restrictions which render our operations impermissible, unprofitable or impractical. In addition, because we are in some cases subject to state/provincial and local regulation in addition to federal/national regulation, we may restrict or discontinue business in certain jurisdictions within countries where we are otherwise active. For example, as of December 31, 2019, we did not offer or arrange consumer loans in 10 U.S. states because we do not believe it is economically feasible to operate in those jurisdictions due to specific statutory or regulatory restrictions, such as interest rate ceilings or caps on the fees that may be charged.

The adoption of state regulatory measures cannot be predicted, but we expect that other states may propose or enact similar restrictions impacting our consumer or small business loan or financing products in the future, which could affect our operations in such states. Legislation or regulations targeting or otherwise directly affecting our products and services have been introduced or adopted in a number of states over the last few years, and we regularly monitor proposed legislation or regulations that could affect our business. For more information, see “Regulation and Legal Proceedings—U.S. State Regulation.”

If we are forced to exit many key jurisdictions due to such concerns, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to find suitably attractive additional business opportunities elsewhere, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our access to payment processing systems to disburse and collect loan and financing proceeds and repayments, including the Automated Clearing House, is critical to our business, and any interruption or limitation on our ability to utilize any of the available means of processing deposits or payments could materially adversely affect our business.

When making loans and providing financing in the United States, we use several means of depositing proceeds into and collecting repayments from our customers’ bank accounts, including the use of ACH. Our business, including loans made through the CSO programs, depends on payment processing systems to collect amounts due by repayments from our customers’ bank accounts when we have obtained authorization to do so from the customer. Our transactions are processed by banks, and if these banks cease to provide any of the available means of payment processing services, we would have to materially alter, or possibly discontinue, some or all of our business if alternative processing methods are not as effective or not available.

Previous heightened regulatory scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other regulators, in an action referred to as Operation Choke Point, caused banks and ACH payment processors to cease doing business with certain short-term consumer lenders who were operating legally, without regard to whether those lenders were complying with applicable laws, simply to avoid the risk of heightened scrutiny or even litigation.

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Our access to payment processing systems could be impaired as a result of actions by regulators to cut off the access to payment processing systems to payday lenders or by rule changes by the National Automated Clearinghouse Association (“NACHA”), which oversees the ACH network. The limited number of financial institutions we depend on may choose to discontinue providing ACH processing, remotely created check processing and similar services to us. If our access to any of these means of payment processing is impaired, we may find it difficult or impossible to continue some or all of our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. If we are unable to maintain access to needed services on favorable terms, we would have to materially alter, or possibly discontinue, some or all of our business if alternative processors are not available.

The failure to comply with debt collection regulations could subject us to fines and other liabilities, which could harm our reputation and business.

The FDCPA regulates persons who regularly collect or attempt to collect, directly or indirectly, consumer debts owed or asserted to be owed to another person. Many states impose additional requirements on persons collecting or attempting to collect consumer debts owed to them and on debt collection communications, and some of those requirements may be more stringent than the federal requirements. Moreover, regulations governing debt collection are subject to changing interpretations that differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

On May 7, 2019, the CFPB issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking under the FDCPA (the “Proposed Debt Collection Rule”) which would apply to third-party debt collectors covered by the FDCPA, including our attempts to collect certain debt originated by other lenders such as under our CSO program. The Proposed Debt Collection Rule would not apply to our attempts to collect debt that we originate; however, the CFPB previously announced its intent to separately address consumer protection issues involving first-party debt collectors. The CFPB has not defined a date for issuance of the final rule or the ultimate implementation date. We cannot currently assess the likelihood that the CFPB will make additional changes to the Proposed Debt Collection Rule, nor when the Proposed Debt Collection Rule will become effective. Restrictions on our third-party debt collectors or that apply to our attempts to collect debt originated by other lenders, may have an adverse impact on our U.S. products and services.

Non-U.S. jurisdictions also regulate debt collection. We could be subject to fines, written orders or other penalties if we, or parties working on our behalf, are determined to have violated the FDCPA or analogous state or international laws, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We use lead providers and marketing affiliates to assist us in obtaining new customers, and if lead providers or marketing affiliates do not comply with an increasing number of applicable laws and regulations, or if our ability to use such lead providers or marketing affiliates is otherwise impaired, it could adversely affect our business.

We are dependent on third parties, referred to as lead providers (or lead generators) and marketing affiliates, as a source of new customers. Our marketing affiliates place our advertisements on their websites that direct potential customers to our websites. Generally, lead providers operate, and also work with their own marketing affiliates who operate, separate websites to attract prospective customers and then sell those “leads” to online lenders. As a result, the success of our business depends substantially on the willingness and ability of lead providers or marketing affiliates to provide us customer leads at acceptable prices.

If regulatory oversight of lead providers or marketing affiliates is increased, through the implementation of new laws or regulations or the interpretation of existing laws or regulations, our ability to use lead providers or marketing affiliates could be restricted or eliminated. For example, the CFPB has indicated its intention to examine compliance with federal laws and regulations by lead providers and to scrutinize the flow of non-public, private consumer information between lead providers and lead buyers, such as us. Over the past few years, several states have taken actions that have caused us to discontinue the use of lead providers in those states. While these discontinuations did not have a material adverse effect on us, other states may propose or enact similar restrictions on lead providers and potentially on marketing affiliates in the future, and if other states adopt similar restrictions, our ability to use lead providers or marketing affiliates in those states would also be interrupted.

Lead providers’ or marketing affiliates’ failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, or any changes in laws or regulations applicable to lead providers or marketing affiliates’ or changes in the interpretation or implementation of such laws or regulations, could have an adverse effect on our business and could increase negative perceptions of our business and industry. Additionally, the use of lead providers and marketing affiliates could subject us to additional regulatory cost and expense. If our ability to use lead generators or marketing affiliates were to be impaired, our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

The use of personal data for credit underwriting is highly regulated.

In the United States, the FCRA regulates the collection, dissemination and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. Compliance with the FCRA and related laws and regulations concerning consumer reports has recently been under regulatory scrutiny. The FCRA requires us to provide a Notice of Adverse Action to a consumer loan applicant when we deny an

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application for credit, which, among other things, informs the applicant of the action taken regarding the credit application and the specific reasons for the denial of credit. The FCRA also requires us to promptly update any credit information reported to a consumer reporting agency about a consumer and to allow a process by which consumers may inquire about credit information furnished by us to a consumer reporting agency. Historically, the FTC has played a key role in the implementation, oversight, enforcement and interpretation of the FCRA. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB has primary supervisory, regulatory and enforcement authority of FCRA issues, although the FTC also retains its enforcement role regarding the FCRA. The CFPB has taken a more active approach than the FTC, including with respect to regulation, enforcement and supervision of the FCRA. Changes in the regulation, enforcement or supervision of the FCRA may materially affect our business if new regulations or interpretations by the CFPB or the FTC require us to materially alter the manner in which we use personal data in our credit underwriting. In 2018, the State of California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which came into effect on January 1, 2020 and expands the privacy rights of California residents and regulates the sale of the consumer information of California residents. Compliance with the CCPA may increase the cost of conducting business in California and we could see increased litigation costs once the law goes into effect. Several other states have proposed legislation regarding data privacy and use, which, if passed, could create more risks and potential costs.

The oversight of the FCRA by both the CFPB and the FTC and any related investigation or enforcement activities or our failure to comply with the DPA may have a material adverse impact on our business, including our operations, our mode and manner of conducting business and our financial results.

Negative public perception of our business could cause demand for our products to significantly decrease.

In recent years, consumer advocacy groups and some media reports have advocated governmental action to prohibit or place severe restrictions on short-term and high-cost consumer loans. Such consumer advocacy groups and media reports generally focus on the annual percentage rate for this type of consumer loan, which is compared unfavorably to the interest typically charged by banks to consumers with top-tier credit histories. The fees and/or interest charged by us and others in the industry attract media publicity about the industry and can be perceived as controversial. If the negative characterization of these types of loans becomes increasingly accepted by consumers, demand for any or all of the consumer loan products that we offer could significantly decrease, which could materially affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Additionally, if the negative characterization of these types of loans is accepted by legislators and regulators, we could become subject to more restrictive laws and regulations applicable to short-term loans or other consumer loan products that we offer that could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could impair our ability to continue current operations.

In addition, our ability to attract and retain customers is highly dependent upon the external perceptions of our level of service, trustworthiness, business practices, financial condition and other subjective qualities. Negative perceptions or publicity regarding these matters—even if related to seemingly isolated incidents, or even if related to practices not specific to short-term loans, such as debt collection—could erode trust and confidence and damage our reputation among existing and potential customers, which could make it difficult for us to attract new customers and retain existing customers and could significantly decrease the demand for our products, could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could impair our ability to continue current operations.

Control of the Congress and the executive branch of the U.S. government could have a significant impact on financial services legislation passed in Congress and signed into law.

In January 2019, the Democratic party took control of the House of Representatives. We expect this may lead to a heightened degree of oversight from the House of Representatives, particularly with respect to the CFPB, and additional legislation relating to consumer financial services generated by the House of Representatives. Continued Republican control of the U.S. Senate and the Presidency makes it unlikely that any material legislation detrimental to our business will be enacted. The results of the 2020 presidential and congressional elections could have further impacts on our industry if new legislation or regulations are adopted, which may depend in part on which major political party controls the Congress or the Presidency. We are unable to predict at this time the effect of any such new legislation or regulations.

Current and future litigation or regulatory proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We have been and are currently subject to lawsuits (including purported class actions) that could cause us to incur substantial expenditures, generate adverse publicity and could significantly impair our business, force us to cease doing business in one or more jurisdictions or cause us to cease offering or alter one or more products. We are also likely to be subject to further litigation in the future. An adverse ruling in or a settlement of any current or future litigation against us or another provider or loans or financings could cause us to have to refund fees and/or interest collected, forego collection of the principal amount of loans or the delivery of purchased receivables, pay treble or other multiple damages, pay monetary penalties and/or modify or terminate our operations in particular jurisdictions.

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Defense of any lawsuit, even if successful, could require substantial time and attention of our management and could require the expenditure of significant amounts for legal fees and other related costs. We and others are also subject to regulatory proceedings, and we could suffer losses as a result of interpretations of applicable laws, rules and regulations in those regulatory proceedings, even if we are not a party to those proceedings. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could impair our ability to continue current operations.

Judicial decisions, CFPB rulemaking or amendments to the Federal Arbitration Act could render the arbitration agreements we use illegal or unenforceable.

We include arbitration provisions in our consumer and business loan and financing agreements. These provisions are designed to allow us to resolve any customer disputes through individual arbitration rather than in court and explicitly provide that all arbitrations will be conducted on an individual and not on a class basis. Thus, our arbitration agreements, if enforced, have the effect of shielding us from class action liability. Our arbitration agreements do not generally have any impact on regulatory enforcement proceedings. We take the position that the arbitration provisions in loan and financing agreements, including class action waivers, are valid and enforceable; however, the enforceability of arbitration provisions is often challenged in court. If those challenges are successful, our arbitration and class action waiver provisions could be unenforceable, which could subject us to additional litigation, including additional class action litigation.

In addition, the U.S. Congress has considered legislation that would generally limit or prohibit mandatory arbitration agreements in consumer contracts and has enacted legislation with such a prohibition with respect to certain mortgage loan agreements and also certain consumer loan agreements to members of the military on active duty and their dependents. Further, the Dodd-Frank Act directed the CFPB to study consumer arbitration and report to the U.S. Congress, and it authorized the CFPB to adopt rules limiting or prohibiting consumer arbitration, consistent with the results of its study.

The CFPB did issue a final rule on arbitration, which would have prohibited class action waivers in certain consumer financial services contracts. However, the House and Senate each passed a resolution of disapproval of the rule, pursuant to their powers under the Congressional Review Act, and the President signed the bill. Because the rule was disapproved, it cannot be reissued in substantially the same form, and the CFPB cannot issue a substantially similar rule unless the new rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of the joint resolution disapproving the original rule.

Any judicial decisions, legislation or other rules or regulations that impair our ability to enter into and enforce consumer arbitration agreements and class action waivers will increase our exposure to class action litigation as well as litigation in plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions, which would be costly and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

The failure of third parties who provide products, services or support to us to maintain their products, services or support could disrupt our operations or result in a loss of revenue.

A portion of our short-term consumer loan and installment loan revenue depends in part on the willingness and ability of unaffiliated third-party lenders, through the CSO program, to make loans to customers. We also utilize many other third parties to provide services to facilitate our lending and financing, including in our underwriting and payment processing. In addition, we rely on a third party lender in connection with our lending business in Brazil. The loss of the relationship with any of these third parties, and an inability to replace them or the failure of these third parties to maintain quality and consistency in their programs or services or to have the ability to provide their products and services, could cause us to lose customers and substantially decrease the revenue and earnings of our business. Our revenue and earnings could also be adversely affected if any of those third-party providers make material changes to the products or services that we rely on. We also use third parties to support and maintain certain of our communication systems and information systems. If a third-party provider fails to provide its products or services, makes material changes to such products and services, does not maintain its quality and consistency or fails to have the ability to provide its products and services, our operations could be disrupted. Any of these events could result in a loss of revenue and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our business depends on the uninterrupted operation of our systems and business functions, including our information technology and other business systems, as well as the ability of such systems to support compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Our business is highly dependent upon our employees’ ability to perform, in an efficient and uninterrupted fashion, necessary business functions, such as internet support, contact center activities, and processing and servicing of our loans and receivables purchase agreements. A shut-down of or inability to access the facilities in which our internet operations and other technology infrastructure are based, such as a power outage, a failure of one or more of our information technology, telecommunications or other systems, or sustained or repeated disruptions of such systems could significantly impair our ability to perform such functions on a timely basis and could result in a deterioration of our ability to underwrite, approve and process loans and finance receivables, provide customer

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service, perform collections activities, or perform other necessary business functions. Any such interruption could have a materially adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

In addition, our systems and those of third parties on whom we rely must consistently be capable of compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements and timely modification to comply with new or amended requirements. Any such systems problems going forward could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial conditions and cash flows and could impair or prohibit our ability to continue current operations.

Decreased demand for our products and specialty financial services and our failure to adapt to such decrease could result in a loss of revenue and could have a material adverse effect on us.

The demand for a particular product or service may decrease due to a variety of factors, such as regulatory restrictions that reduce customer access to particular products, the availability of competing or alternative products or changes in customers’ financial conditions. Should we fail to adapt to a significant change in our customers’ demand for, or access to, our products, our revenue could decrease significantly. Even if we make adaptations or introduce new products to fulfill customer demand, customers may resist or may reject products whose adaptations make them less attractive or less available. In any event, the effect of any product change on the results of our business may not be fully ascertainable until the change has been in effect for some time. In particular, we have changed, and will continue to change, some of our operations and the products we offer. Any of these events could result in a loss of revenue and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Potential union activities could have an adverse effect on our relationship with our workforce.

None of our employees are currently covered by a collective bargaining agreement or represented by an employee union. Occasionally we experience union organizing activities. If our employees become represented by an employee union or become subject to a collective bargaining agreement, it may make it more difficult for us to manage our business and to attract and retain new employees and may increase our cost of doing business. Having our employees become represented by an employee union, having a collective bargaining agreement or having additional requirements related to our employees imposed on us could result in work stoppages and higher employee costs and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could impair our ability to continue current operations.

If our allowance for losses on loans and finance receivables and liability for estimated losses on third-party lender-owned consumer loans is not adequate or if we do not successfully manage our credit risk, our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows may be adversely affected.

As more fully described under Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 included in Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data in this report, we utilize a variety of underwriting criteria, monitor the performance of our loan portfolios and maintain either an allowance or liability for estimated losses on loans (including fees and interest) at a level estimated to be adequate to absorb credit losses inherent in the receivables portfolio and expected losses from loans guaranteed under the CSO programs. The allowance deducted from the carrying value of loans and finance receivables was $176.9 million at December 31, 2019, and the liability for estimated losses on third-party lender-owned consumer loans was $1.5 million at December 31, 2019. These reserves are estimates, and if actual loan losses or losses on our receivables purchase agreements are materially greater than our reserves, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. In addition, if we do not successfully manage credit risk for our unsecured loans and receivables purchase agreements through our underwriting, we could incur substantial credit losses due to customers being unable to repay their loans or financings. Any failure to manage credit risk could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We are subject to impairment risk.

At December 31, 2019, we had goodwill totaling $267.0 million on our consolidated balance sheets, all of which represents assets capitalized in connection with acquisitions and business combinations. Accounting for goodwill requires significant management estimates and judgment. Events may occur in the future, and we may not realize the value of our goodwill. Management performs periodic reviews of the carrying values of our goodwill to determine whether events and circumstances indicate that impairment in value may have occurred. A variety of factors could cause the carrying value of goodwill or an intangible asset to become impaired. Should a review indicate impairment, a write-down of the carrying value of the goodwill or intangible asset would occur, resulting in a non-cash charge, which could adversely affect our results of operations and could also lead to our inability to comply with certain covenants in our financing documents, which could cause a default under those agreements.

We are subject to anticorruption laws including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, anti-money laundering laws and economic sanctions laws, and our failure to comply therewith, particularly as we continue to expand internationally, could result

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in penalties that could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Anticorruption Laws. We are subject to the FCPA, which generally prohibits companies and their agents or intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business and/or other benefits. Although we have policies and procedures designed to ensure that we, our employees, agents and intermediaries comply with the FCPA and other anticorruption laws, such policies or procedures may not work effectively all of the time or protect us against liability for actions taken by our employees, agents and intermediaries with respect to our business or any businesses that we may acquire. In the event that we believe, or have reason to believe, that our employees, agents or intermediaries have or may have violated applicable anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA, we may be required to investigate or have a third party investigate the relevant facts and circumstances, which can be expensive and require significant time and attention from senior management. Our continued operation and expansion outside the United States could increase the risk of such violations in the future.

Other countries in which we operate or have operated, including Brazil and other countries where we intend to operate also have anticorruption laws, which we are, have been or will be subject to.

If we are not in compliance with the FCPA and other laws governing the conduct of business with government entities (including local laws), we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties and other remedial measures, which could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition. Any investigation of any potential violations of the FCPA or other anticorruption laws by U.S. or foreign authorities could harm our reputation and could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Anti–Money Laundering Laws. We are also subject to anti-money laundering laws and related compliance obligations in the United States and other jurisdictions in which we do business. In the United States, the USA PATRIOT Act and the Bank Secrecy Act require us to maintain an anti-money laundering compliance program covering certain of our business activities. The program must include: (1) the development of internal policies, procedures and controls; (2) designation of a compliance officer; (3) an ongoing employee training program; and (4) an independent audit function to test the program. If we are not in compliance with U.S. or other anti-money laundering laws, we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties and other remedial measures, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Any investigation of any potential violations of anti-money laundering laws by U.S. or international authorities could harm our reputation and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Economic Sanctions Laws. The United States has imposed economic sanctions that affect transactions with designated foreign countries, nationals and others. In particular, the United States prohibits U.S. persons from engaging with individuals and entities identified as “Specially Designated Nationals,” such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers. These prohibitions are administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). OFAC rules prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in financial transactions with or relating to the prohibited individual, entity or country, require the blocking of assets in which the individual, entity or country has an interest. Blocked assets (e.g., property or bank deposits) cannot be paid out, withdrawn, set off or transferred in any manner without a license from OFAC. Other countries in which we operate also maintain economic and financial sanctions regimes. In the event that we believe, or have reason to believe, that our employees, agents or intermediaries have or may have violated applicable laws or regulations, we may be required to investigate or have a third party investigate the relevant facts and circumstances, which can be expensive and require significant time and attention from senior management. If we are not in compliance with OFAC regulations and other economic and financial sanctions regulations, we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties and other remedial measures, which could have an adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Any investigation of any potential violations of OFAC regulations or other economic sanctions by U.S. or foreign authorities could harm our reputation and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our continued international expansion could increase the risk of violations of FCPA, anti-money laundering laws, OFAC regulations, or similar applicable laws and regulations in the future.

Increased competition from banks, credit card companies, other consumer lenders, and other entities offering similar financial products and services could adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We have many competitors. Our principal competitors are consumer loan and finance companies, CSOs, online lenders, credit card companies, consumer finance companies, pawnshops and other financial institutions that offer similar financial services. Many other financial institutions or other businesses that do not now offer products or services directed toward our traditional customer base, many of whom may be much larger than us, could begin doing so. Significant increases in the number and size of competitors for our business could result in a decrease in the number of loans that we fund, resulting in lower levels of revenue and earnings in these categories.

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Competitors of our business may operate, or begin to operate, under business models less focused on legal and regulatory compliance, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage. Some of our U.S. competitors operate using other business models, including a “tribal model” where the lender follows the laws of a Native American tribe regardless of the state in which the customer resides. Competitors using these models may be able to lend in jurisdictions where we do not and may have higher revenue per customer and significantly less burdensome compliance requirements, among other advantages. Additionally, negative perceptions about these models could cause legislators or regulators to pursue additional industry restrictions that could affect the business model under which we operate. To the extent that these models or other new lending models gain acceptance among consumers, small businesses and investors or that they face less onerous regulatory restrictions than we do, we may be unable to replicate their business practices or otherwise compete with them effectively, which could cause demand for our products to decline substantially. We may be unable to compete successfully against any or all of our current or future competitors. As a result, we could lose market share and our revenue could decline, thereby affecting our ability to generate sufficient cash flow to service our indebtedness and fund our operations. Any such changes in our competition could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our success is dependent, in part, upon our officers, and if we are not able to attract and retain qualified officers, our business could be materially adversely affected.

Our success depends, in part, on our officers, which are a relatively small group of individuals. Many members of the senior management team have significant industry experience, and we believe that our senior management would be difficult to replace, if necessary. Because the market for qualified individuals is highly competitive, we may not be able to attract and retain qualified officers or candidates. In addition, increasing regulations on and negative publicity about the consumer financial services industry could affect our ability to attract and retain qualified officers. If we are unable to attract or retain qualified officers, it could materially adversely affect our business.

Our international operations subject us to foreign exchange risk.

We are subject to the risk of unexpected changes in foreign currency exchange rates by virtue of our loans to residents of Brazil. In 2019, 1.8% of our total revenue was derived from our international operations. Our results of operations and certain of our intercompany balances associated with our Brazil business are denominated in their respective currencies and are, as a result, exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations. Upon consolidation, as exchange rates vary, gross profit and other operating results may differ materially from expectations, and we may record significant gains or losses on the remeasurement of intercompany balances.

A sustained deterioration in the economy could reduce demand for our products and services and result in reduced earnings.

A sustained deterioration in the economy could cause deterioration in the performance of our loan and finance receivables portfolios. An economic slowdown could result in a decreased number of loans and financing being made to customers due to higher unemployment or an increase in defaults in our products. During an economic slowdown, we could be required to tighten our underwriting standards, which would likely reduce loan and finance receivable balances, and we could face more difficulty in collecting defaulted receivables, which could lead to an increase in losses.

We may be unable to protect our proprietary technology and analytics or keep up with that of our competitors.

The success of our business depends to a significant degree upon the protection of our software, fraud defenses, underwriting algorithms and other proprietary intellectual property rights. We may be unable to deter misappropriation of our proprietary information, detect unauthorized use or take appropriate steps to enforce our intellectual property rights. In addition, competitors could, without violating our proprietary rights, develop technologies that are as good as or better than our technology. Our failure to protect our software and other proprietary intellectual property rights or to develop technologies that are as good as our competitors’ could put us at a disadvantage relative to our competitors. Any such failures could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may be subject to intellectual property disputes, which are costly to defend and could harm our business and operating results.

From time to time, we face, and we expect to face in the future, allegations that we have infringed the trademarks, copyrights, patents or other intellectual property rights of third parties, including from our competitors or non-practicing entities. Patent and other intellectual property litigation may be protracted and expensive, and the results are difficult to predict and may require us to stop offering certain products or product features, acquire licenses, which may not be available at a commercially reasonable price or at all, or modify our products, product features, processes or websites while we develop non-infringing substitutes.

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In addition, we use open source software in our technology platform and plan to use open source software in the future. From time to time, we may face claims from parties claiming ownership of, or demanding release of, the source code, potentially including our valuable proprietary code, or derivative works that were developed using such software, or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could also result in litigation, require us to purchase a costly license or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our platform, any of which could have a negative effect on our business and operating results.

We are subject to cyber security risks and security breaches and may incur increasing costs in an effort to minimize those risks and to respond to cyber incidents.

Our business involves the storage and transmission of consumers’ and businesses’ proprietary information, and security breaches could expose us to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, litigation, and potential liability. We are entirely dependent on the secure operation of our websites and systems as well as the operation of the internet generally. While we have incurred no material cyber-attacks or security breaches to date, a number of other companies have disclosed cyber-attacks and security breaches, some of which have involved intentional attacks. Attacks may be targeted at us, our customers, or both. Although we devote significant resources to maintain and regularly upgrade our systems and processes that are designed to protect the security of our computer systems, software, networks and other technology assets and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information belonging to us and our customers, our security measures may not provide absolute security. Despite our efforts to ensure the integrity of our systems, it is possible that we may not be able to anticipate or to implement effective preventive measures against all security breaches of these types, especially because the techniques used change frequently or are not recognized until launched, and because cyber-attacks can originate from a wide variety of sources, including third parties outside the company such as persons who are involved with organized crime or associated with external service providers or who may be linked to terrorist organizations or hostile foreign governments. These risks may increase in the future as we continue to increase our mobile and other internet-based product offerings and expand our internal usage of web-based products and applications or expand into new countries. If an actual or perceived breach of security occurs, customer and/or supplier perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed and could result in the loss of customers, suppliers or both. Actual or anticipated attacks and risks may cause us to incur increasing costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees, and engage third party experts and consultants.

A successful penetration or circumvention of the security of our systems could cause serious negative consequences, including significant disruption of our operations, misappropriation of our confidential information or that of our customers, or damage to our computers or systems or those of our customers and counterparties, and could result in violations of applicable privacy and other laws, financial loss to us or to our customers, loss of confidence in our security measures, customer dissatisfaction, significant litigation exposure, and harm to our reputation, all of which could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, our applicants provide sensitive information, including bank account information when applying for loans or financing. We rely on encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties to provide the security and authentication to effectively secure transmission of confidential information, including customer bank account and other personal information. Advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other developments may result in the technology used by us to protect transaction data being breached or compromised. Data breaches can also occur as a result of non-technical issues. In addition, federal and some state regulators are considering rules and standards to address cybersecurity risks and many U.S. states have already enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of data security breaches involving their personal data. These mandatory disclosures regarding a security breach are costly to implement and may lead to widespread negative publicity, which may cause customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures.

Our servers are also vulnerable to computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, and similar disruptions, including denial-of-service attacks. We may need to expend significant resources to protect against security breaches or to address problems caused by breaches. Security breaches, including any breach of our systems or by persons with whom we have commercial relationships that result in the unauthorized release of consumers’ personal information or businesses’ proprietary information, could damage our reputation and expose us to a risk of loss or litigation and possible liability. In addition, many of the third parties who provide products, services or support to us could also experience any of the above cyber risks or security breaches, which could impact our customers and our business and could result in a loss of customers, suppliers or revenue.

Any of these events could result in a loss of revenue and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our ability to collect payment on loans and maintain the accuracy of accounts may be adversely affected by computer viruses, electronic break-ins, technical errors and similar disruptions.

The accessibility and automated nature of our platform may make for an attractive target for hacking, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions. Despite efforts to ensure the integrity of our platform, it is possible that we may not be able to anticipate or to implement effective preventive measures against all security breaches of these types, in which case there would be an increased risk of fraud or identity theft, and we may experience losses on, or delays in the collection of amounts owed on, a

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fraudulently induced loan. In addition, the software that we have developed is highly complex and may contain undetected technical errors that could cause our computer systems to fail. Because each loan and financing provided involves our proprietary underwriting and fraud scoring models, and the applications are highly automated, any failure of our computer systems involving our proprietary credit and fraud scoring models and any technical or other errors contained in the software pertaining to our proprietary underwriting and fraud scoring models could compromise the ability to accurately evaluate potential customers, which would negatively impact our results of operations. Furthermore, any failure of our computer systems could cause an interruption in operations that may result in disruptions or reductions in the amount of collections from the loans and financings we provide to customers. If any of these risks were to materialize, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

If internet search engine providers change their methodologies for organic rankings or paid search results, or our organic rankings or paid search results decline for other reasons, our new customer growth or volume from returning customers could decline.

Our new customer acquisition marketing and our returning customer relationship management is partly dependent on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo! to direct a significant amount of traffic to our desktop and mobile websites via organic ranking and paid search advertising. Our competitors’ paid search activities, pay per click or search engine marketing may result in their sites receiving higher paid search results than ours and significantly increasing the cost of such advertising for us.

Our paid search activities may not produce (and in the past have not always produced) the desired results. Internet search engines often revise their methodologies, which could adversely affect our organic rankings or paid search results, resulting in a decline in our new customer growth or existing customer retention, difficulty for our customers in using our web and mobile sites, more successful organic rankings, paid search results or tactical execution efforts for our competitors than for us, a slowdown in overall growth in our customer base and the loss of existing customers, and higher costs for acquiring returning customers, which could adversely impact our business. In addition, search engines could implement policies that restrict the ability of consumer finance companies such as us to advertise their services and products, which could preclude companies in our industry from appearing in a favorable location or any location in the organic rankings or paid search results when certain search terms are used by the consumer. For example, in 2016, Google implemented a new policy that prohibits lenders, lead providers and affiliates from advertising certain financial products on Google AdWords. Advertisements for personal loans that require repayment within 60 days, or U.S. loans with an APR of 36 percent or more, are no longer allowed on Google paid search advertising. In addition, Google requires that advertisements for personal loans contain or link to information about the features, fees, risks and benefits of the advertised loan product. 

Our online marketing efforts are also susceptible to actions by third parties that could negatively impact our search results. Our sites have experienced meaningful fluctuations in organic rankings and paid search results in the past, and we anticipate similar fluctuations in the future. Any reduction in the number of consumers or small businesses directed to our web and mobile sites could harm our business and operating results.

Our operations could be subject to natural disasters and other business disruptions, which could adversely impact our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

Our services and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods, power losses, telecommunications failures, terrorist attacks, acts of war, human errors and similar events. A significant natural disaster, such as a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, fire or flood, could have a material adverse impact on our ability to conduct business, and our insurance coverage may be insufficient to compensate for losses that may occur. Acts of terrorism, war, civil unrest, violence or human error could cause disruptions to our business or the economy as a whole. Any of these events could cause consumer and small business confidence to decrease, which could result in a decreased number of loans and financing being made to customers. Any of these occurrences could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Failure to keep up with the rapid changes in e-commerce and the uses and regulation of the internet could harm our business.

The business of providing products and services such as ours over the internet is dynamic and relatively new. We must keep pace with rapid technological change, consumer and small business use habits, internet security risks, risks of system failure or inadequacy, and governmental regulation and taxation, and each of these factors could adversely impact our business. In addition, concerns about fraud, computer security and privacy and/or other problems may discourage additional consumers and small businesses from adopting or continuing to use the internet as a medium of commerce. In countries such as the United States, where e-commerce generally has been available for some time and the level of market penetration of our online financial services is relatively high, acquiring new customers for our services may be more difficult and costly than it has been in the past. In order to expand our customer base, we must appeal to and acquire customers who historically have used traditional means of commerce to conduct their financial services transactions. If these customers prove to be less profitable than our previous customers, and we are unable to gain efficiencies in our operating costs, including our cost of acquiring new customers, our business could be adversely impacted.

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Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and international laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.

Our business is subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and internationally that involve user privacy issues, data protection, advertising, marketing, disclosures, distribution, electronic contracts and other communications, consumer protection and online payment services. The introduction of new products or expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions may subject us to additional laws and regulations. In addition, international data protection, privacy, and other laws and regulations can be more restrictive than those in the United States. U.S. federal and state and international laws and regulations, which can be enforced by private parties or government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, and the U.S. government, including the FTC and the Commerce Department, has announced that it is reviewing the need for greater regulation of the collection of information concerning consumer behavior on the internet, including regulation aimed at restricting certain targeted advertising practices. In addition, the application and interpretation of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving e-commerce industry in which we operate, and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current or past policies and practices. A number of proposals are pending before federal, state, and international legislative and regulatory bodies that could significantly affect our business. There have been a number of recent legislative proposals in the United States, at both the federal and state level, that could impose new obligations in areas such as privacy. In addition, some countries are considering legislation requiring local storage and processing of data that, if enacted, would increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services. These existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly to comply with and can delay or impede the development of new products, the expansion into new markets, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, require significant management time and attention, and subject us to inquiries or investigations, claims or other remedies, including demands that we modify or cease existing business practices or pay fines, penalties or other damages.

Growth may place significant demands on our management and our infrastructure and could be costly.

We have experienced substantial growth in our business. This growth has placed and may continue to place significant demands on our management and our operational and financial infrastructure. Expanding our products or entering into new jurisdictions with new or existing products can be costly and require significant management time and attention. Additionally, as our operations grow in size, scope and complexity and our product offerings increase, we will need to enhance and upgrade our systems and infrastructure to offer an increasing number of enhanced solutions, features and functionality. The expansion of our systems and infrastructure will require us to commit substantial financial, operational and technical resources in advance of an increase in the volume of business, with no assurance that the volume of business will increase. Continued growth could also strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our customers, develop and improve our operational, financial and management controls, develop and enhance our legal and compliance controls and processes, enhance our reporting systems and procedures and recruit, train and retain highly skilled personnel. Competition for these personnel is intense and is particularly intense for technology and analytics professionals. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining qualified personnel. We have from time to time in the past experienced, and we expect to experience in the future, difficulty in hiring and retaining highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources or more attractive compensation mixes than we have had. Managing our growth will require significant expenditures and allocation of valuable management resources. Failure to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could impair our ability to continue current operations.

New top-level domain names may allow the entrance of new competitors or dilution of our brands, which may reduce the value of our domain name assets.

We have invested heavily in promoting our brands, including our website addresses. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the entity responsible for administering internet protocol addresses, has introduced additional new domain name suffixes in different formats, many of which may be more attractive than the formats held by us and which may allow the entrance of new competitors at limited cost. It may also permit other operators to register websites with addresses similar to ours, causing customer confusion and dilution of our brands, which could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Any defensive domain registration strategy or attempts to protect our trademarks or brands could become a large and recurring expense and may not be successful.

Future acquisitions could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition and operating results.

Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to expand our product and service offerings and markets and grow our business in response to changing customer demands, regulatory environments, technologies and competitive pressures. In some circumstances, we may expand our offerings through the acquisition of complementary businesses, solutions or technologies rather than through internal development. The identification of suitable acquisition candidates can be difficult, time-consuming and costly, and we may not be able to successfully complete identified acquisitions. Furthermore, even if we successfully complete an acquisition, we may not be able to

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successfully assimilate and integrate the business, technologies, solutions, personnel or operations of the business that we acquire, particularly if key personnel of an acquired company decide not to work for us. In addition, we may issue equity securities to complete an acquisition, which would dilute our stockholders’ ownership and could adversely affect the price of our common stock. Acquisitions may also involve the entry into geographic or business markets in which we have little or no prior experience or may expose us to additional material liabilities. Consequently, we may not achieve anticipated benefits of the acquisitions, which could harm our operating results.

We may incur property, casualty or other losses not covered by insurance.

We maintain a program of insurance coverage for various types of property, casualty and other risks. The types and amounts of insurance that we obtain will vary from time to time, depending on availability, cost and management’s decisions with respect to risk retention. The policies are subject to deductibles and exclusions that could result in our retention of a level of risk on a self-insurance basis. Losses not covered by insurance could be substantial and may increase our expenses, which could harm our results of operations and financial condition.

The preparation of our financial statements and certain tax positions taken by us require the judgment of management, and we could be subject to risks associated with these judgments or could be adversely affected by the implementation of new, or changes in the interpretation of existing, accounting principles, financial reporting requirements or tax rules.

The preparation of our financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, at the dates of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting periods.

As disclosed in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, we plan on utilizing the fair value option for our loan and finance receivables portfolio effective January 1, 2020. The fair values of our loans and finance receivables are determined using Level 3 inputs for which changes could significantly impact our fair value measurements. Valuations are highly dependent upon the reasonableness of our assumptions and the predictability of the relationships that drive the results of our valuation methodologies. A variety of factors including, but not limited to, estimated customer default rates, the timing of expected payments, estimated costs to service the portfolio, interest rates, and valuations of comparable portfolios may ultimately affect the fair values of our loans and finance receivables. Modifications to our assumptions due to the passage of time and more information becoming available could result in material changes to our fair value calculations.

Management’s judgment is required in determining the provision for income taxes, the deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance recorded against deferred tax assets. Management’s judgment is also required in evaluating whether tax benefits meet the more-likely-than-not threshold for recognition under Accounting Standards Codification 740-10-25, Income Taxes. Upon audit, if the ultimate determination of the taxes owed by us is for an amount in excess of amounts previously accrued, we could be required to make certain additional tax payments, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive Federal tax legislation commonly referred to as the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Act”). The Tax Act made changes to the corporate tax rate, business-related deductions, among other items, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”), the Company included certain adjustments, related to the finalization of computations related to the Tax Act, in income tax expense as of December 31, 2018. As of December 22, 2018, the Company considers the one-year period provided for under SAB 118 to be closed. Although our accounting for the effects of the Tax Act is finalized under SAB 118, there may be future adjustments based on potential changes in the interpretation of the Tax Act, related regulations, or any subsequent guidance that may be issued. While U.S. tax reform has reduced our effective tax rate, additional guidance or interpretations of the Tax Act could negatively impact our financial results.

In addition, we prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and its interpretations are subject to change over time. If new rules or interpretations of existing rules require us to change our financial reporting, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected, and we could be required to restate historical financial reporting.

Our U.S. consumer loan businesses are seasonal in nature, which causes our revenue and earnings to fluctuate.

Our U.S. consumer loan businesses are affected by fluctuating demand for our products and services and fluctuating collection rates throughout the year. Demand for our consumer loan products in the United States has historically been highest in the third and fourth quarters of each year, corresponding to the holiday season, and lowest in the first quarter of each year, corresponding to our customers’ receipt of income tax refunds. Typically, our cost of revenue for our consumer loan products in the United States, which represents our loan loss provision, is lowest as a percentage of revenue in the first quarter of each year, corresponding to our customers’ receipt of income tax refunds, and increases as a percentage of revenue for the remainder of each year. This seasonality requires us to manage our cash flows over the course of the year. If our revenue or collections were to fall substantially below what we

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would normally expect during certain periods, our ability to service debt and meet our other liquidity requirements may be adversely affected, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, and financial condition.

Risks Related to the Spin-Off

Enova International, Inc. was formed on September 7, 2011. Prior to November 13, 2014, we were a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cash America. Since 2011, we have owned all of the assets and incurred all of the liabilities related to Cash America’s e-commerce business, with some limited exceptions, in which case such assets were transferred to us and such liabilities were assumed by us pursuant to a separation and distribution agreement (the “Separation and Distribution Agreement”) upon completion of a tax-free spin-off (the “Spin-off”), which occurred on November 13, 2014. Following the Spin-off, we became an independent, publicly traded company, and our shares of common stock are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ENVA.” On September 1, 2016, Cash America merged with First Cash Financial Services, Inc. and is now known as FirstCash, Inc. (“First Cash”).

In connection with our Spin-off from Cash America, we and Cash America (and our successors) agreed to indemnify each other for certain liabilities. If we are required to act on our indemnities, we may need to divert cash to meet those obligations, and Cash America’s (or its successors) indemnity could be insufficient or Cash America (or its successors) could be unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations.

Pursuant to the Separation and Distribution Agreement and other agreements with Cash America, Cash America (and any successor) agreed to indemnify us for certain liabilities related to tax, regulatory, litigation or other liabilities, and we agreed to indemnify Cash America (and any successor) for certain similar liabilities, in each case for uncapped amounts. Indemnities that we may be required to provide Cash America (and any successor) are not subject to any cap, may be significant and could negatively impact our business, particularly indemnities relating to our actions that could impact the tax-free nature of the distribution. Third parties could also seek to hold us responsible for any of the liabilities that Cash America (and any successor) agreed to retain. Further, the indemnity from Cash America (and any successor) could be insufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities, or Cash America (and any successor) may be unable to fully satisfy its indemnification obligations. Moreover, even if we ultimately succeed in recovering from Cash America (and any successor) any amounts for which we are held liable, we may be temporarily required to bear these losses ourselves and could suffer reputational risks if the losses are related to regulatory, litigation or other matters. Each of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

The Spin-off may expose us to potential liabilities arising out of state and federal fraudulent conveyance laws and legal distribution requirements.

The Spin-off could be challenged under various state and federal fraudulent conveyance laws. An unpaid creditor or an entity vested with the power of such creditor (such as a trustee or debtor-in-possession in a bankruptcy) could claim that the distribution left Cash America insolvent or with unreasonably small capital or that Cash America intended or believed it would incur debts beyond its ability to pay such debts as they mature and that Cash America did not receive fair consideration or reasonably equivalent value in the Spin-off. If a court were to agree with such a claim, then such court could void the distribution as a fraudulent transfer and could impose a number of different remedies, including without limitation, returning our assets or the distributed shares of our stock to Cash America, voiding our liens and claims against Cash America, or providing Cash America with a claim for money damages against us in an amount equal to the difference between the consideration received by Cash America and the fair market value of our Company at the time of the distribution.

The measure of insolvency for purposes of the fraudulent conveyance laws will vary depending on which jurisdiction’s law is applied. Generally, however, an entity would be considered insolvent if either the fair saleable value of its assets is less than the amount of its liabilities (including the probable amount of contingent liabilities), or it is unlikely to be able to pay its liabilities as they become due. We do not know what standard a court would apply to determine insolvency. Further, a court could determine that Cash America was insolvent at the time of or after giving effect to the distribution of Enova common stock.

Under the Separation and Distribution Agreement, we are responsible for the debts, liabilities and other obligations related to the business or businesses which we own and operate. Although we do not expect to be liable for any obligations not expressly assumed by us pursuant to the Separation and Distribution Agreement, it is possible that we could be required to assume responsibility for certain obligations retained by Cash America should Cash America (or its successor) fail to pay or perform its retained obligations.

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Risks Related to our Indebtedness

We have incurred significant indebtedness, which could adversely affect our financial condition and prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under anticipated agreements governing our indebtedness.

As of December 31, 2019 we had approximately $991.2 million of total debt outstanding. Interest expense on our indebtedness totaled $76.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2019. Our level of debt could have important consequences to our stockholders, including:

We and our subsidiaries may incur significant additional indebtedness in the future. If new indebtedness is added to our current indebtedness levels, the related risks that we face would increase.

The terms of the agreements governing our indebtedness restrict our current and future operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes or to take certain actions, which could harm our long-term interests.

The agreements governing our indebtedness (including the indenture governing the 2024 Senior Notes, the 2025 Senior Notes and the 2017 Credit Agreement, as defined under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” in Part II, Item 7 of this report) contain various restrictive covenants and, in the case of the 2017 Credit Agreement, require that we maintain certain financial ratios that impose operating and financial restrictions on us and limit our ability to engage in actions that may be in our long-term best interests. These restrictive covenants, among other things, restrict our ability to:

As a result of all of these covenants and restrictions, we may be:

Any failure to comply with any of these financial and other affirmative and negative covenants could constitute an event of default under our debt agreements, entitling the lenders to, among other things, terminate future credit availability under our 2017 Credit Agreement, and/or increase the interest rate on outstanding debt, and/or accelerate the maturity of outstanding obligations under our debt agreements. Any such default could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could impair our ability to continue current operations. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial

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Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” in Part II, Item 7 of this report for additional information concerning our indebtedness.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or refinance our debt obligations will depend on our financial condition and operating performance and our ability to enter into other debt financings, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to financial, business, legislative, regulatory, capital markets and other factors beyond our control. We might not be able to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness. For information regarding the risks to our business that could impair our ability to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry.” If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and could be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures or to dispose of material assets or operations, seek additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. We may not be able to affect any such alternative measures on commercially reasonable terms or at all and, even if successful, those alternative actions may not allow us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. If we cannot make scheduled payments on our debt, we will be in default, and lenders could declare all outstanding principal and interest to be due and payable, the lenders under our 2017 Credit Agreement could terminate their commitments to loan money and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. The agreements governing our indebtedness restrict our ability to dispose of assets and use the proceeds from those dispositions and also restrict our ability to raise debt or equity capital to be used to repay other indebtedness when it becomes due. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or to obtain proceeds in an amount sufficient to meet any debt service obligations then due. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flows to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all, would materially and adversely affect our financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and cash flows and our ability to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness.

Changes in our financial condition or a potential disruption in the capital markets could reduce available capital.

If funds are not available from our operations and any excess cash or from our 2017 Credit Agreement, we may be required to access the banking and credit markets to meet our financial commitments and short-term liquidity needs. We also expect to periodically access the debt capital markets to obtain capital to finance growth. Efficient access to the debt capital markets will be critical to our ongoing financial success; however, our future access to the debt capital markets could become restricted due to a variety of factors, including a deterioration of our earnings, cash flows, balance sheet quality, or overall business or industry prospects, adverse regulatory changes, a disruption to or deterioration in the state of the capital markets or a negative bias toward our industry by market participants. Disruptions and volatility in the capital markets may cause banks and other credit providers to restrict availability of new credit. Due to the negative bias toward our industry, commercial banks and other lenders have restricted access to available credit to participants in our industry, and we may have more limited access to commercial bank lending than other businesses. Our ability to obtain additional financing in the future will depend in part upon prevailing capital market conditions, and a potential disruption in the capital markets may adversely affect our efforts to arrange additional financing on terms that are satisfactory to us, if at all. If adequate funds are not available, or are not available on acceptable terms, we may not have sufficient liquidity to fund our operations, make future investments, take advantage of acquisitions or other opportunities, or respond to competitive challenges and this, in turn, could adversely affect our ability to advance our strategic plans. Additionally, if the capital and credit markets experience volatility, and the availability of funds is limited, third parties with whom we do business may incur increased costs or business disruption and this could adversely affect our business relationships with such third parties.

Risks Related to our Common Stock and the Securities Market

Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law may discourage takeovers.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock and to determine the designations, powers, preferences, and relative, participating, optional, or other special rights, if any, and the qualifications, limitations, or restrictions of our preferred stock, including the number of shares, in any series, without any further vote or action by the stockholders. The rights of the holders of our common stock will be subject to the rights of the holders of any preferred stock that may be issued in the future. The issuance of preferred stock could delay, deter, or prevent a change in control and could adversely affect the voting power or economic value of our stock.

In addition, some provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us, even if the change of control would be beneficial to our stockholders, including:

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The market price of our shares may fluctuate widely.

The market price of our common stock may be influenced by many factors, some of which are beyond our control, including, among other things:

The stock markets have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market price of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. These broad market fluctuations, as well as general economic, systemic, political, and market conditions, such as recessions, loss of investor confidence or interest rate changes, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock.

If securities or industry analysts publish research that is unfavorable about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We currently have a limited number of analysts who are publishing research about us. In the event that one or more of our analysts downgrades our stock or publishes misleading or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company, demand for our stock may decrease, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

We do not anticipate paying any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. As a result, stockholders will need to sell their shares of common stock to receive any income or realize a return on their investment.

We do not anticipate paying any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any declaration and payment of future dividends to holders of our common stock may be limited by the provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) and are limited by the terms of the 2017 Credit Agreement, 2024 Senior Notes, 2025 Senior Notes and our consumer loan securitizations. The future payment of dividends, if permitted, will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on many factors, including our earnings, capital requirements, financial condition, and other considerations that our Board of Directors deem relevant. As a result, to receive any income or realize a return on their investment, our stockholders will need to sell their shares of common stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed to us or our stockholders by any of our directors, officers, employees or agents, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising under the DGCL or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our stockholders are deemed to have notice of and have consented to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of

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incorporation related to choice of forum. The choice of forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

None.

We lease our corporate headquarters, which is located in Chicago, Illinois. We maintain a leased office in Gurnee, Illinois for one of our contact center operations, Blue Ash, Ohio for The Business Backer operations and São Paulo, for our Brazilian operations. We also operate a leased office out of South Jordan, Utah focusing on consumer application intake and support functions. We believe that our leased facilities are adequate to support our operations and that, as needed, we will be able to obtain suitable additional facilities on commercially reasonable terms.

Information concerning legal proceedings is incorporated herein by reference to Note 10, “Commitments and Contingencies,” to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Not Applicable.

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PART II

Principal Market

The principal market for our common stock is the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), and our shares of common stock are listed under the symbol “ENVA.”

Stockholders

There were 297 registered stockholders of record of Enova common stock as of February 24, 2020.

Dividends

We do not anticipate paying any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. The declaration and amount of any future dividends, however, will be determined by our Board of Directors and will depend on our financial condition, earnings and capital requirements, covenants associated with our debt obligations and any other factors that our Board of Directors believes are relevant. There can be no assurance, however, that we will pay any cash dividends on our common stock in the future. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” in Part II, Item 7 of this report.

Performance Graph

The following graph shows a comparison of the cumulative total shareholder return for our common stock to the total shareholder return for the S&P SmallCap 600® Index and with our peer group from December 31, 2014 through December 31, 2019. This data assumes an investment of $100 in each of our common stock and the two indices on December 31, 2014 and that all dividends were reinvested. Our peer group index is comprised of CoreLogic, Inc., Envestnet, Inc., Fair Isaac Corporation, Green Dot Corporation, Groupon, Inc., Grubhub, Inc., LendingClub Corporation, Morningstar, Inc. Nelnet, Inc., On Deck Capital, Inc., OneMain Holdings, Inc., Regional Management Corp., SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc., and World Acceptance Corp.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

We did not sell any unregistered securities during the three years ended December 31, 2019.

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Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table provides the information with respect to purchases made by us of shares of our common stock.

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RECENT REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

California AB 539

On October 10, 2019, the Governor of California signed into law Assembly Bill 539 (“AB 539”), which amends several aspects of the California Finance Lenders Law. Specifically, on loans of $2,500 or more but less than $10,000, AB 539 caps interest rates at 36% plus the federal funds rate and requires loan terms to be at least 12 months. On loans of at least $3,000 but less than $10,000, AB 539 prohibits loan terms from exceeding 60 months and 15 days. The law became effective on January 1, 2020.

Brazil General Data Privacy Law

On August 14, 2018, Brazil adopted the General Data Privacy Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais or “LGPD”). The key provisions of LGPD are quite similar to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation in that it grants certain rights to data subjects, imposes obligations on companies with regard to the processing of data, and allows authorities to impose substantial fines on companies that violate the law. LGPD was originally anticipated to go into effect on February 15, 2020; however, several amendments to LGPD have been proposed, one of which could delay the effective date of the legislation to August 2020. Compliance with LGPD may increase the cost of conducting business in Brazil, and we could see regulatory compliance costs and enforcement activity once the law goes into effect.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2019 (“2019”) are summarized below.

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The following tables reflect our results of operations for the periods indicated, both in dollars and as a percentage of total revenue (dollars in thousands, except per share data):