FlexShopper, Inc. - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ________ to ________

Commission File Number: 001-37945

FLEXSHOPPER, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (855) 353-9289

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 mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 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 period 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 the 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 has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

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 the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, as of the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $11,240,000 (based on the price at which the Registrant’s common stock was last sold on June 30, 2022 of $0.90 per share).

The number of shares outstanding of the Registrant’s common stock, as of April 24, 2023, was 21,752,304.

Documents incorporated by reference: The Registrant intends to file a definitive proxy statement pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 with respect to the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. Portions of such proxy statement are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K.

Table of Contents

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by that section. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “project,” “estimate,” “anticipate” “strategy,” “future,” “likely” or other comparable terms and references to future periods. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K regarding our strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding the expansion of our consumer offerings, including our lease-to-own program and loan program, expectations concerning our arrangements with retailers, marketing efforts, investments in and the success of our underwriting technology and risk analytics platform, our ability to collect payments due from customers, expected future operating results, and expectations concerning our business strategy.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following:

Risks Related to our Businesses, Regulatory Environment and Industry

Any forward-looking statement made by us in this Annual Report is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

PART I

Item 1. Business.

Unless otherwise indicated or unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and similar expressions are references to FlexShopper, Inc. (“FlexShopper”) and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Company Overview

FlexShopper is a financial technology company that provides transparent and competitive payment options to consumers. FlexShopper has a single operating segment that provides a variety of funding options via lease-purchase solutions and loans. Many of our customers fall within the near-prime or subprime Fair Isaac and Company (“FICO”) score categories and may have difficulty purchasing durable goods or services. We have several channels with which we generate payment options for customers. FlexShopper enables consumers utilizing our e-commerce marketplace to shop for brand name electronics, home furnishings and other durable goods on a lease-to-own (LTO) basis. We effect these transactions by first approving consumers through our proprietary, risk analytics-powered underwriting model. After receiving a signed consumer lease, we purchase the item from our drop-ship partners and lease it to our customer. Some of these goods are purchased on a retail basis while others are sourced from distributors or directly from manufacturers. We then collect payments from consumers under the consumer lease. We hold several registered patents and patent applications on aspects of our on-line marketplace LTO system. In addition, we partner with leading traditional and e-commerce retailers (whom we refer to as our point-of sale partners, “POS partners,” or “retail partners”). In these instances, through a variety of methods, we blend with the retailers to provide transparent and competitive lease payment options along with flexible terms that are designed to help customers achieve merchandise ownership, including through low initial payments and early buyout options.

We believe that our LTO programs, which are designed to improve the quality of life of our customers by providing them the ability to obtain ownership of high-quality durable products under an affordable payment arrangement, support broad untapped expansion opportunities for us within the U.S. consumer retail and e-commerce marketplaces. Central to our business model is our LTO Engine, the proprietary technology that we developed and use to automate the online process for consumers to receive payment terms and spending limits and to enter into leases for durable goods, all within minutes. The LTO Engine allows us to operate through three strategic sales channels: (i) selling directly to consumers via our online FlexShopper.com LTO Marketplace featuring thousands of durable goods, (ii) utilizing our LTO payment method at check-out on our merchant partners’ e-commerce sites and (iii) facilitating LTO transactions with retailers in their physical locations both through their in-store terminals and FlexShopper applications accessed via the Internet. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we generated approximately $106 million in net lease revenues and fees.

In 2021, we began a test to market an unsecured, consumer loan product for our bank partner that would augment our LTO solution in retailer sales channels. In 2022, based upon the success of this testing, the marketing of our bank partner’s loans became a strategic solution that we offer to many of our current customers and through our retailer partners. In the bank partner origination model, applicants who apply and obtain a loan through our online platform are underwritten, approved, and funded by the bank partner. Similar to our LTO option, the product provides flexibility to offer loans in retailer channels that provide services in addition to durable goods (e.g., tire retailers that provide car repair services) or in states which do not have lease purchase agreement regulations in-line with the majority of other states. FlexShopper’s bank lending product leverages its marketing and servicing expertise and its partner bank’s broad national presence to enable improved credit access to consumers. This model has been tested in the credit card and mortgage industries and is a key growth enabler for the business. We manage many aspects of the loan life cycle on behalf of its bank partner, including customer acquisition, underwriting and loan servicing. This relationship allows FlexShopper’s bank partner to leverage our customer acquisition channel, underwriting and service capabilities, which they would otherwise need to develop in-house. The bank partner uses their own capital to originate loans. The bank partner retains approval rights on all aspects of the program and are primarily responsible for regulatory and compliance oversight. Under the bank partner model, FlexShopper is compensated by the bank partner as a service provider for our role in delivering the technology and services to the bank partner to facilitate origination and servicing of loans throughout each loan’s lifecycle. FlexShopper’s bank partner holds loans originated on our platform. FlexShopper acquires participation rights in such loans ranging from 95 to 100% of the loan. FlexShopper is able to repurpose its technology as well as marketing, underwriting and servicing experience gained from the LTO business to facilitate bank partner originations. In 2022, FlexShopper purchased $31 million in loan participations and recognized $15 million in interest income in 2022.

In late 2022, FlexShopper purchased the assets of Revolution Financial, Inc. (“Revolution”). This purchase facilitated the creation of a direct origination model for consumers in 11 states. In the direct origination model, applicants who apply and obtain a loan through our platform are underwritten, approved, and funded directly by FlexShopper. Also acquired in the purchase were the customers, the loan portfolio and the leases for 22 store brick and mortar locations, as well as program agreements with 78 additional brick and mortar locations that share net revenue of the loans originated in those locations. In addition, there was also an agreement to be the exclusive provider of non-prime loans to consumers in Liberty Tax corporate and franchisee locations nationwide. Furthermore, FlexShopper also gained a portfolio of current customers and information on previous customers in order to market consumer products. FlexShopper is able to repurpose its technology as well as marketing, underwriting and servicing experience gained from the LTO business to facilitate loan originations in these locations.

Our Market Opportunity

The non-prime consumer lease and finance industry offers consumers an alternative to traditional methods of obtaining both durable goods via the LTO platform in a lease purchase transaction, goods and services from retailers via the bank partner model in an installment loan and provides consumers cash for discretionary purchases via the storefront direct origination model in a state-licensed loan. FlexShopper’s customers typically do not have sufficient cash or credit for these purchases, so they find the short-term nature and affordable payments of our products attractive.

The Lease-Purchase Transaction

A lease-purchase transaction is a flexible alternative for consumers to obtain merchandise with no long-term obligation. Key features of our lease-purchase transactions include:

Brand name merchandise. FlexShopper offers well-known brands such as LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio home electronics; Frigidaire, General Electric, LG, Samsung and Whirlpool appliances; Acer, Apple, Asus, Samsung and Toshiba computers and/or tablets; Samsung and Apple smartphones; and Ashley, Powell and Standard furniture, among other brands.

Convenient payment options. Our customers make payments primarily on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Payments are automatically deducted from the customer’s authorized checking account or debit card. Additionally, customers may make additional payments or exercise early payment options, which enable them to save money.

No long-term commitment. A customer may terminate a lease-purchase agreement at any time with no long-term obligation by becoming current on amounts due under the lease-purchase agreement and returning the leased item to FlexShopper.

Applying has no impact on credit or FICO score. We do not use FICO scores to determine customers’ spending limits, so our underwriting does not impact consumers’ credit with the three main credit bureaus.

Flexible options to obtain ownership. Ownership of the merchandise generally transfers to the customer if the customer makes all payments during the lease term, which is 52 weeks, or exercises the early payment options.

The Loan Transaction

A loan transaction facilitates consumers purchases of goods and services. Key features of our loan transactions include:

Flexible APRs. FlexShopper offers loan products with an APR as low as 62% and with an average APR of approximately 150%. The weekly payments for the customers, on average, are in-line with the lease purchase transaction.

Convenient payment options. Our customers primarily make payments on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Payments are automatically deducted from the customer’s authorized checking account or debit card. Additionally, customers may make additional principal payments which enable them to save money.

No long-term commitment. A customer may pre-pay at anytime.

Applying has no impact on credit or FICO score. We do not use FICO scores to determine customers’ spending limits, so our underwriting does not impact customer’ credit with the three main credit bureaus.

Key Trends Driving the Industry

An estimated 14.1% of U.S. households were “underbanked” in 2021, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Recently, demographic and socioeconomic trends have driven demand from these underbanked consumers, including a decline a purchasing power as inflation surpassed wage growth and credit card balances reaching record highs. As a result, the number of consumers with unsecured personal loans increased over 13% in the last year. Technology advances have enabled “instant” underwriting both in-store and online. Non-prime consumers recognize that they have more convenient options to acquire the liquidity for goods and services. In addition, leading retailers are continuing to embrace “save the sale” financing.

Our Growth and Expansion Strategy

Like many industries, the internet and other technology is transforming the sub-prime leasing and finance industry. FlexShopper has positioned itself to take advantage of this transformation by focusing on the expansion online and into mainstream retail and e-tail. Through its strategic sales channels, FlexShopper believes it can expand its originations. FlexShopper’s proprietary technology automates the process of consumers receiving spending limits and originating leases or loans within minutes. FlexShopper’s primary sales channels, which include B2C and B2B channels are illustrated below:

We believe we have created a unique platform in which our B2B and B2C sales channels complement each other. For our B2C channels, we directly market to our consumers LTO opportunities at FlexShopper.com, where they can choose from more than 100,000 of the latest products shipped directly to them by some of the nation’s largest retailers, distributors, and manufacturers. This generates sales for our retail partners, which encourages them to incorporate our B2B solutions into their online and in-store sales channels. The lease originations by our retail partners using our B2B channels, which have low customer acquisition cost to us, subsidize our B2C customer acquisition costs. Meanwhile, our B2C marketing promotes FlexShopper.com, which provides incremental sales for our retail partners, as well as benefitting our FlexShopper.com business.

To achieve our goal of being the preeminent “pure play” virtual LTO leader, we intend to execute the following strategies:

Continue to grow FlexShopper into a dominant brand. Given strong consumer demand and organic growth potential for our liquidity solutions, we believe that significant opportunities exist to expand our presence within current markets via existing marketing channels. As non-prime consumers become increasingly familiar and comfortable with our retail partnerships, online marketplace and mobile solutions, we plan to capture the new business generated as they migrate away from less convenient, legacy options.

Expand the range of customers served. We continue to evaluate new product and market opportunities that fit into our overall strategic objective of delivering next-generation retail, online and mobile platforms that span the non-prime/near-prime credit spectrum. For example, we are evaluating risk-based pricing products to expand our approval rates. By improving our analytics to effectively underwrite and serve consumers within those segments of the non-prime credit spectrum that we do not currently reach, we lower our acquisition cost while maintaining asset quality. We believe the current generation of our underwriting model is performing well and will continue to improve over time as its data set expands.

Pursue additional strategic retail partnerships. We intend to continue targeting regional and national retailers to expand our B2B sales channels. As illustrated in the diagram above, we believe we have the best omnichannel solution for retailers to “save the sale”. In retail, the phrase “save the sale” means offering consumers other liquidity options when they do not qualify for traditional credit. We expect these partnerships to provide us with access to a broad range of potential new customers, with low customer acquisition costs.

Pursue additional liquidity partnerships. We have partnered with other providers of sub-prime consumer liquidity both through direct integrations and through other technology partners to increase approval rates and conversion rates. These partners have appetite for providing consumers purchasing power based on different product types, amounts and consumer risk at different price points. By providing our applicants access to these other liquidity providers, we increase the total conversion rate while also providing our retailer partners with increased sales.

Expand our relationships with existing customers and retail partners. Customer acquisition costs represent one of the most significant expenses for us due to our high percentage of online customers. In comparison, much lower acquisition costs are incurred for customers acquired through our retail partnerships. We will seek to expand our strong relationships with existing customers by providing qualified customers with increased spending limits or offering other products and services to them, as well as seek to grow our retail partnerships to reduce our overall acquisition cost. In addition by encouraging additional repeat customers, we lower our acquisition cost for each new lease or loan and increase our lifetime value of each customer.

Continue to optimize marketing across all channels. Since we began marketing our services to consumers in 2014, we have made significant progress in targeting our customers and lowering our digital customer acquisition costs. Our efforts have been across different media including direct response television and digital channels such as social media, email and search engines.

Expand our liquidity offerings for consumers. The addition of the bank partner loan product is expanding FlexShopper’s reach beyond providers of durable goods to also include traditional and online retailers that provide non-durable goods and services. This significantly increases the total addressable market for our products. More recently, FlexShopper is now providing loans directly to consumers without the retailer component in order to find further ways to increase originations.

Competition and our Competitive Strengths

Providing liquidity to the non-prime consumer industry is highly competitive. Our operation competes with other national, regional and local LTO and consumer finance businesses, as well as with rental stores that do not offer their customers a purchase option. Some of these companies have, or may develop, systems that enable consumers to obtain through online facilities both leases and loans, in a manner similar to that provided by FlexShopper’s proprietary technology. We believe the following competitive strengths differentiate us:

Underwriting and Risk Management

Specialized technology and proprietary risk analytics optimized for the online non-prime credit market. We have made substantial investments in our underwriting technology and analytics platforms to support rapid scaling, innovation and regulatory compliance. Our team of data scientists and risk analysts uses our risk infrastructure to build and test strategies across the entire underwriting process, using alternative credit data, device authentication, identity verification and many more data elements. We believe our real-time proprietary technology and risk analytics platform is better than those of our competitors in underwriting online consumers and consumer electronics because of the significant historical data we have acquired since 2014. Most of our peers focus on in-store consumers that acquire furniture and appliances, which we believe are easier to underwrite, based on our own experience. Additionally, all of our applications are processed instantly with approvals and spending limits provided within seconds of submission.

LTO Products for Consumers and Retailers

Expansive online LTO marketplace. We have made substantial investments in our custom e-commerce platform to provide consumers the greatest selection of popular brands delivered by many of the nation’s largest retailers, including Best Buy, Amazon and Walmart. Our platform is custom-built for online LTO transactions, which include underwriting our consumers, serving them LTO leases, syncing and communicating with our partners to fulfill orders and all front- and back-end customer relationship management functions, including collections and billing. The result is a comprehensive technology platform that manages all facets of our business and enables us to scale with hundreds of thousands of visitors and products.

Wholesale Initiatives. We have made substantial inroads creating relationships with distributors and manufacturers to increase the amount of retail margin on our marketplace while still maintaining drop-ship capabilities and maintaining our zero-inventory policy. Offering brand name goods that provide us with both the lease economics as well as the retailer economics should increase gross profit margins.

Omnichannel “save the sale” product for retailers. In retail, the phrase “save the sale” means offering consumers other finance options when they do not qualify for traditional credit. We believe that we have the best omnichannel solution for retailers to “save the sale” with LTO options. We believe no competitor has a LTO marketplace that provides retailers incremental sales with no acquisition cost. Additionally, compared to our peers, our product for consumers requires no money down and typically fewer application fields. We believe this leads to more in-store and online sales. Furthermore, by partnering with other liquidity providers, we are creating more sales and greater conversion rate for our retailer partners.

Providing LTO consumers an “endless aisle” of products for lease-to-own. If customers want products that are not available on our marketplace, they may use our “personal shopper” service and simply complete a form with a link to the webpage of the desired durable good. We will then facilitate their purchase by providing an LTO arrangement. We also offer consumers the ability to acquire durable goods with our FlexShopper Wallet smartphone application available on Apple and Android devices. With FlexShopper Wallet, consumers may apply for a spending limit and take a picture of a qualifying item in any major retail store and we will fill the order for them. With our B2C channels, we believe we are providing LTO consumers with a superior LTO experience and fulfilling our mission to help improve their quality of life by shopping for what they want and where they want.

Scalable Model

Our online presence and our instant underwriting process for all consumer channels allows us to scale easily. We can onboard new retailers and our retailer partners can onboard new locations without meaningful additional resources.

Sales and Marketing

B2C Channels

We use a multi-channel, analytics-powered approach to marketing our products and services, with both broad-reach and highly targeted channels, including television, digital, telemarketing and marketing affiliates. The goal of our marketing is to promote our brand and primarily to directly acquire new customers at a targeted acquisition cost. Our marketing strategies include the following:

Direct response television advertising. We use television advertising supported by our internal analytics and media buys from a key agency to drive and optimize website traffic and lease originations.

Digital acquisition. Our online marketing efforts include pay-per-click, keyword advertising, search engine optimization, marketing affiliate partnerships, social media programs and mobile advertising integrated with our operating systems and technology from vendors that allow us to optimize customer acquisition tactics within the daily operations cycle.

User experience and conversion. We measure and monitor website visitor usage metrics and regularly test website design strategies to improve customer experience and conversion rates.

B2B Channels

We use internal business development personnel and outside consultants that focus on engaging retailers and e-tailers to use our services. This includes promoting FlexShopper at key trade shows and conferences.

Information Systems

We use computer-based management information systems to facilitate our entire business model, including underwriting, processing transactions through our sales channels, managing collections and monitoring leased inventory and loan portfolio. In addition, we have a customer service and call center to facilitate inbound and outbound calls. Through the use of our proprietary software developed in-house, each of our retail partners uses our online merchant portal that automates the process of consumers receiving spending limits and entering into leases for durable goods or loans within minutes. The management information system generates reports that enable us to meet our financial reporting requirements.

Government Regulations

Our business is extensively regulated by and subject to the requirements of various federal, state and local laws and regulations. Violations of these laws and regulations may subject us to government investigations and significant monetary penalties, remediation expenses and compliance-related burdens. Federal regulatory authorities are increasingly focused on alternative consumer financial services and products that our business provides. We expect applicable federal regulatory agencies will continue their increased focus on alternative consumer financial services and products, and, as a result, businesses such as ours may be held to higher standards of monitoring, disclosure and reporting, regardless of whether new laws or regulations governing our industry are adopted. In addition to federal regulatory oversight, currently, nearly every state specifically regulates lease-to-own transactions via state statutes, and are holding businesses like FlexShopper to higher standards of training, monitoring and compliance. Most state lease purchase laws require lease-to-own companies to disclose to their customers the total number of payments, total amount and timing of all payments to acquire ownership of any item, any other charges that may be imposed and miscellaneous other items. The more restrictive state lease purchase laws limit the retail price for an item, limit the total amount that a customer may be charged for an item, or regulate the “cost-of-rental” amount that lease-to-own companies may charge on lease-to-own transactions. With respect to the regulation of the “cost-of-rental” amount, such laws generally define “cost-of-rental” as lease fees paid in excess of the “retail” price of the goods. Our long-established policy in all states is to disclose the terms of its lease purchase transactions as a matter of good business ethics and customer service. From time to time, state attorneys general have directed investigations, regulatory initiatives and/or legal actions toward our industry, or certain companies within the industry. The consumer finance and LTO.

See “Risk Factors” below for more information with respect to governmental laws and regulations and their effect on our business.

Intellectual Property

FlexShopper has been granted U.S. Patent Nos. 10,089,682, 10,282,778 and 10,891,687 (see page 13 for additional disclosures) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”) since 2018. These patents are for a range of systems, including one that enables e-commerce servers to complete LTO transactions through their e-commerce websites and one that enables retailer devices to complete LTO transactions through their retailer web pages, as well as systems that further enable consumer devices to modify received retailer web pages to indicate LTO payments in association with transaction-eligible products as part of LTO transactions through the retailer web pages. FlexShopper may file additional patent applications in the future. We can provide no assurance that FlexShopper will be granted any additional patents by the USPTO. We believe certain proprietary information, including our underwriting model, and our patented and patent-pending systems are central to our business model and we believe they give us a key competitive advantage. We also rely on trademark and copyright law, trade secret protection, and confidentiality, license and work product agreements with our employees, customers, and others to protect our proprietary rights.

While we rely on intellectual property and proprietary rights, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as contractual protections, in our business, we also seek to preserve the confidentiality of our intellectual property through appropriate restrictions, such as physical and electronic security measures. We believe that the technological and creative skills of our personnel and frequent enhancements to our systems are essential to establishing and maintaining our competitive position.

See “Risk Factors” below for more information on and risks associated with respect to our intellectual property.

Human Capital

In order to innovate, compete and succeed in our highly competitive market, it is crucial that we continue to attract and retain experienced employees. As part of these efforts, we strive to offer competitive compensation and benefits program. In addition to their base salary, we also offer employees a wide array of benefits such as life and health (medical, dental and vision) insurance, paid time off and retirement benefits. We also provide free emotional well-being services as part of our employee assistance program.

As of December 31, 2022, we had 118 full-time employees, including 81 individuals in our corporate office and 37 individuals in operations center. As of that date, none of our employees were governed by collective bargaining agreements or were members of a union. We foster an environment that is sustainably safe, respectful, fair and inclusive of everyone and promotes diversity, equity and inclusion inside and outside of our business.

Corporate Organization and Information

FlexShopper was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in 2006. FlexShopper is a holding corporation that conducts its lease-to-own business through its wholly-owned subsidiary, FlexShopper, LLC, a limited liability company organized under the laws of North Carolina in 2013 and conducts its lending business through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, FlexLending, LLC, a limited liability company organized under the laws of Delaware in 2019 and Flex Revolution, LLC, a limited liability company organized under the laws of Delaware in October 2022. FlexShopper, LLC wholly owns, directly or indirectly, two Delaware subsidiaries, FlexShopper 1, LLC and FlexShopper 2, LLC.

Our executive offices are located at 901 Yamato Road, Suite 260, Boca Raton, Florida 33431, and our telephone number is (855) 353-9289. We maintain a corporate website at https://www.flexshopper.com. Our Annual Report, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, including exhibits, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, are available free of charge on our website, as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our SEC reports and other filings can be accessed through the investors section of our website, or through https://www.sec.gov. Information on our website does not constitute part of this Annual Report or any other report we file or furnish with the SEC.

Investors and others should note that we use social media to communicate with our customers, retailer network and the public about our company, our services, new product developments and other matters. Any information that we consider to be material to an investor’s evaluation of our company will be included in filings accessible through the SEC website and may also be disseminated using our investor relations website (https://flexshopper.com) and press releases. However, we encourage investors, the media and others interested in our company to also review our social media channels @flexshopper on Twitter and FlexShopper on Facebook and Instagram. The information contained in these social media channels is not part of, and is not incorporated into or included in, this Annual Report.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information presented in this Form 10-K, in evaluating us and our business. Any of the following risks, as well as other risks and uncertainties, could harm our business and financial results and cause the value of our securities to decline.

Risks Related to Our Business, Operations and Technology

Our business liquidity and capital resources are dependent upon our Credit Agreement with an institutional lender and our compliance with the terms of that agreement. FlexShopper, through FlexShopper 2, LLC (the “Borrower”), is party to a credit agreement (as amended, the “Credit Agreement”) with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, various lenders from time to time party thereto and WE 2014-1, LLC (the “Lender”). Under the terms of the Credit Agreement, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, the Borrower may borrow up to $110,000,000 from the Lender, based on the Borrower’s cash on hand and Amortized Order Value of its Eligible Leases (as such terms are defined in the Credit Agreement). The Commitment Termination Date of the Credit Agreement is April 1, 2024; the maturity date is April 1, 2025. The Lender was granted a security interest in certain leases as collateral under the Credit Agreement and the interest rate charged on amounts borrowed was set at SOFR plus 11% per annum. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance under the Credit Agreement was $81,200,000.

Failure to effectively manage our costs could have a material adverse effect on our profitability. Certain elements of our cost structure are largely fixed in nature while consumer spending remains uncertain, which makes it challenging for us to maintain or increase our operating income. The competitiveness in our industry and increasing price transparency mean that the need to achieve efficient operations is greater than ever. As a result, we must continuously focus on managing our cost structure. Failure to manage our labor and benefit rates, advertising and marketing expenses, operating leases, charge-offs or indirect spending could materially adversely affect our profitability.

Our business depends on the success of our third-party retail partners and our continued relationships with them. Our revenues depend in part on the relationships we have with third-party retailers we work with to offer our services. We have entered a variety of such arrangements and expect to seek additional such relationships in the future. If our retail partners do not satisfy their obligations to us, we are unable to meet our retail partners’ expectations and demands or we are unable to reach agreements with additional suitable retail partners, we may fail to meet our business objectives. The terms of any additional retail partnerships or other strategic arrangements that we establish may not be favorable to us. Our inability to successfully implement retail partnerships and strategic arrangements could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, in most cases, our agreements with such third-party retailers may be terminated at the retailer’s election. There can be no assurance that we will be able to continue our relationships with our retail partners on the same or more favorable terms in future periods or that these relationships will continue beyond the terms of our existing contracts with our retail partners. The failure of our third-party retail partners to maintain quality and consistency in their operations and their ability to continue to provide products and services, or the loss of the relationship with any of these third-party retailers and an inability to replace them, could cause our business to lose customers, substantially decreasing our revenues and earnings growth.

If our existing bank partner were to cease or limit operations with us, or if we are unable to attract and onboard new bank partners, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. In the year ended December 31, 2022, approximately 85% of our net loan originations were generated from loans originated by our bank partner and facilitated by our platform. If our bank partner were to suspend, limit, or cease their operations or otherwise terminate its relationship with us, the number of loans facilitated through our platform could decrease and our revenue and revenue growth rates could be adversely affected. Our sales and onboarding process with a new bank partner can be long and unpredictable. If we are unable to timely onboard our bank partner, our results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, regulators may require that our bank partner terminate or otherwise limit its business with us; impose regulatory pressure limiting its ability to do business with us; or directly examine and assess our records, risk controls and compliance programs as they relate to our interactions with the bank partner (and thereafter limit or prohibit future business between that bank partner and us). We could in the future have disagreements or disputes with our bank partner, which could negatively impact or threaten our relationship with them. In our agreement with our bank partner, we make certain representations and warranties and covenants concerning our compliance with specific policies of a bank partner, our compliance with certain procedures and guidelines related to laws and regulations applicable to our bank partner, as well as the services to be provided by us. If those representations and warranties were not accurate when made or if we fail to perform a covenant, we may be liable for any resulting damages, including potentially any losses associated with impacted loans, and our reputation and ability to continue to attract new bank partners would be adversely affected. Additionally, our bank partner may engage in mergers, acquisitions or consolidations with each other, our competitors or with third parties, any of which could be disruptive to our existing and prospective relationships with our bank partner.

Our customer base presents significant risk of default for non-payment. We bear the risk of non-payment or late payments by our customers. The nature of our customer base makes it sensitive to adverse economic conditions and, in the event of an economic downturn, less likely to meet our prevailing underwriting standards, which may be more restrictive in an adverse economic environment. As a result, during such periods we may experience decreases in the growth of new customers, and we may curtail spending limits to existing customers, which may adversely affect our net revenue and potential profitability.

Our growth will depend on our ability to develop our brands, and these efforts may be costly. Our ability to develop the FlexShopper brand will be critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our services and will require a continued focus on active marketing efforts. We will need to continue to spend substantial amounts of money on, and devote substantial resources to, advertising, marketing, and other efforts to create and maintain brand loyalty among our customers. If we fail to promote and maintain our brand, or if we incur substantial expenses in an unsuccessful attempt to do so, our business would be harmed.

Our business depends on the continued growth of online and mobile commerce. The business of selling goods over the internet and mobile networks is dynamic and relatively new. Concerns about fraud, privacy and other problems or lack of access may discourage additional consumers from adopting the internet or mobile devices as modes of commerce or may prompt consumers to offline channels. In order to expand our user base, we must appeal to and acquire consumers who historically have used traditional means of commerce to purchase goods and may prefer internet analogues to such traditional retail means, such as the retailer’s own website, to our offerings. If these consumers prove to be less active than we expect due to lower levels of willingness or ability to use the internet or mobile devices for commerce for any reason, including lack of access to high-speed communications equipment, traffic congestion on the internet or mobile network outages or delays, disruptions or other damage to users’ computers or mobile devices, and we are unable to gain efficiencies in our operating costs, including our cost of acquiring new users, our business could be adversely impacted.

Failure to successfully manage and grow our FlexShopper.com e-commerce platform could materially adversely affect our business and prospects. Our FlexShopper.com e-commerce platform provides customers the ability to apply, shop, review our product offerings and prices and enter into lease agreements as well as make payments on existing leases from the comfort of their homes and on their mobile devices. Our e-commerce platform is a significant and essential component of our strategic plan and we believe will drive future growth of our business. In order to promote our products and services and allow customers to transact online and reach new customers, we must effectively maintain, improve and grow our e-commerce platform. There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain, improve or grow our e-commerce platform in a profitable manner.

The success of our business is dependent on factors affecting consumer spending that are not under our control. Consumer spending is affected by general economic conditions and other factors including levels of employment, disposable consumer income, prevailing interest rates, consumer debt and availability of credit, inflation, recession and fears of recession, tax rates and rate increases, timing of receipt of tax refunds, consumer confidence in future economic conditions and political conditions, and consumer perceptions of personal well-being and security. Unfavorable changes in factors affecting discretionary spending could reduce demand for our products and services, such as consumer electronics and residential furniture, resulting in lower revenue and negatively impacting our business and its financial results.

Our customers can return merchandise without penalty. When our customers acquire merchandise through the FlexShopper LTO program, we purchase the merchandise from the retailer and enter the lease-to-own relationship with the customer. Because our customers can return merchandise without penalty, there is risk that we may end up owning a significant amount of merchandise that is difficult to monetize. While we have factored customer returns into our business model, customer return volume may exceed the levels we expect, which could adversely impact our collections, revenues and our financial performance. Returns totaled less than 3% of leased merchandise for the year ended December 31, 2022.

We rely on third-party credit/debit card and ACH (automated clearing house) processors to process collections from customers on a weekly basis. Our ability to collect from customers could be impaired if these processors do not work with us. These third-party payment processors may consider our business a high risk since our customer base has a high incidence of insufficient funds and rejected payments. This could cause a processor to discontinue its services to us, and we may not be able to find a replacement processor. If this occurs, we would have to collect from our customers using less efficient methods, which would adversely impact our collections, revenues and our financial performance.

We rely on internal models to manage risk, to provide accounting estimates and to make other business decisions. Our results could be adversely affected if those models do not provide reliable estimates or predictions of future activity. The accurate modeling of risks is critical to our business, particularly with respect to managing underwriting and spending limits for our customers. Our expectations regarding customer repayment levels, as well as our allowances for doubtful accounts and other accounting estimates, are based in large part on internal modeling. We also rely heavily on internal models in making a variety of other decisions crucial to the successful operation of our business. It is therefore important that our models are accurate, and any failure in this regard could have a material adverse effect on our results. However, models are inherently imperfect predictors of actual results because they are based on historical data available to us and our assumptions about factors such as demand, payment rates, default rates, delinquency rates and other factors that may overstate or understate future experience. Our models could produce unreliable results for a number of reasons, including the limitations or lack of historical data to predict results, invalid or incorrect underlying assumptions or data, the need for manual adjustments in response to rapid changes in economic conditions, incorrect coding of the models or inappropriate application of a model to products or events outside of the model’s intended use. In particular, models are less dependable when the economic environment is outside of historical experience, as has been the case recently. Due to the factors described above, resulting unanticipated and excessive default and charge-off experience can adversely affect our profitability and financial condition, breach covenants in our Credit Agreement, limit our ability to secure a future credit facility and adversely affect our ability to finance our business.

In deciding whether to provide a spending limit to customers, we rely on the accuracy and completeness of information furnished to us by or on behalf of our customers. If we and our systems are unable to detect any misrepresentations in this information, this could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. In deciding whether to provide a customer with a spending amount, we rely heavily on information furnished to us by or on behalf of our customers and our ability to validate such information through third-party services, including personal financial information. If a significant percentage of our customers intentionally or negligently misrepresent any of this information, and we or our systems do not or did not detect such misrepresentations, it could have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively manage our risk, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We have substantial investment in the creditworthiness and financial condition of our customers. One of the largest current assets on our balance sheet is the lease receivable balance from our customers. Deterioration in the financial condition of a significant component of our customer base could hinder our ability to collect amounts due from our customers. Potential causes of such declines include national or local economic downturns, inflation, pandemics, reduction in government subsidies and consumer confidence declines.

If we fail to timely contact delinquent customers, then the number of delinquent customer receivables eventually being charged off could increase. We contact customers with delinquent account balances soon after the account becomes delinquent. During periods of increased delinquencies, it is important that we are proactive in dealing with these customers rather than simply allowing customer receivables to go to charge-off. During periods of increased delinquencies, it becomes extremely important that we are properly staffed and trained to assist customers in bringing the delinquent balance current and ultimately avoiding charge-off. If we do not properly staff and train our collections personnel, or if we incur any downtime or other issues with our information systems that assist us with our collection efforts, then the number of accounts in a delinquent status or charged-off could increase. In addition, managing a substantially higher volume of delinquent customer receivables typically increases our operational costs. A rise in delinquencies or charge-offs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.

Our operations are regulated by and subject to the requirements of various Federal and state laws and regulations. These laws and regulations, which may be amended or supplemented or interpreted by courts from time to time, could expose us to significant compliance costs or burdens or force us to change our business practices in a manner that may be materially adverse to our operations, prospects or financial condition. Currently, nearly every state and the District of Columbia specifically regulate LTO transactions. At the present time, no federal law specifically regulates the LTO industry, although federal legislation to regulate the industry has been proposed from time to time. Any adverse changes in existing laws, or the passage of new adverse legislation by states or the Federal government could materially increase both our costs of complying with laws and the risk that we could be sued or be subject to government sanctions if we are not in compliance. In addition, new burdensome legislation might force us to change our business model and might reduce the economic potential of our sales and lease ownership operations. Most of the states that regulate LTO transactions have enacted disclosure laws that require LTO companies to disclose to their customers the total number of payments, the total amount and timing of all payments to acquire ownership of any item, any other charges that may be imposed and miscellaneous other items. In addition, certain restrictive state lease purchase laws limit the total amount that a customer may be charged for an item or regulate the “cost-of-rental” amount that LTO companies may charge on LTO transactions, generally defining “cost-of-rental” as lease fees paid in excess of the “retail” price of the goods. There has been increased legislative attention in the United States, at both the Federal and state levels, on consumer debt transactions in general, which may result in an increase in legislative regulatory efforts directed at the LTO industry. We cannot guarantee that the Federal government or states will not enact additional or different legislation that would be disadvantageous or otherwise materially adverse to us. In addition to the risk of lawsuits related to the laws that regulate LTO transactions, we could be subject to lawsuits alleging violations of Federal and/or state laws and regulations relating to consumer tort law, including fraud, consumer protection, information security and privacy. A large judgment against us could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, an adverse outcome from a lawsuit, even one against one of our competitors, could result in changes in the way we and others in the industry do business, possibly leading to significant costs or decreased revenues or profitability.

In addition, a number of participants in the consumer financial services industry have been the subject of putative class action lawsuits, state attorney general actions and other state regulatory actions and federal regulatory enforcement actions, including actions relating to alleged unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, violations of state licensing and lending laws, including state usury and disclosure laws and allegations of noncompliance with various state and federal laws and regulations relating to originating, servicing and collecting consumer finance loans and other consumer financial services and products. The current regulatory environment has increased regulatory compliance efforts and enhanced regulatory enforcement. There is no assurance that these regulatory matters or other factors will not, in the future, affect how we conduct our business and, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our business. In particular, legal proceedings brought under state consumer protection statutes or under several of the various federal consumer financial protection statutes may result in a separate fine assessed for each statutory and regulatory violation or substantial damages from class action lawsuits, potentially in excess of the amounts we earned from the underlying activities. Some of our agreements used in the course of our business include arbitration clauses. If our arbitration agreements were to become unenforceable for any reason, we could experience an increase to our consumer litigation costs and exposure to potentially damaging class action lawsuits, with a potential material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our virtual LTO business differs in some potentially significant respects from the risks of a typical LTO brick-and-mortar store business, which implies certain additional regulatory risks. We offer LTO products directly to consumers through our e-commerce marketplace and through the stores and e-commerce sites of third-party retailers. This novel business model implicates certain regulatory risk including, among others:

Any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on FlexShopper’s business.

Changes in regulations or customer concerns, in particular as they relate to privacy and protection of customer data, could adversely affect our business. Our business is subject to laws relating to the collection, use, retention, security and transfer of personally identifiable information about our customers. The interpretation and application of privacy and customer data protection laws are in a state of flux and may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. These laws may be interpreted and applied inconsistently, and our current data protection policies and practices may not be consistent with those interpretations and applications. Complying with these varying requirements could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a manner adverse to our business. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our own privacy policies or with any regulatory requirements or orders or other privacy or consumer protection related laws and regulations could result in proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others, subject us to significant penalties and negative publicity and adversely affect our operating results.

The transactions offered to consumers by our businesses may be negatively characterized by consumer advocacy groups, the media and certain Federal, state and local government officials, and if those negative characterizations become increasingly accepted by consumers and/or FlexShopper’s retail partners, demand for our goods and the transactions we offer could decrease and our business could be materially adversely affected. Certain consumer advocacy groups, media reports and federal and state legislators have asserted that laws and regulations should be broader and more restrictive regarding LTO transactions. The consumer advocacy groups and media reports generally focus on the total cost to a consumer to acquire an item, which is often alleged to be higher than the interest typically charged by banks or similar lending institutions to consumers with better credit histories. This “cost-of-rental” amount, which is generally defined as lease fees paid in excess of the “retail” price of the goods, is from time to time characterized by consumer advocacy groups and media reports as predatory or abusive without discussing benefits associated with LTO programs or the lack of viable alternatives for our customers’ needs. If the negative characterization of these types of LTO transactions becomes increasingly accepted by consumers or FlexShopper’s retail and merchant partners, demand for our products and services could significantly decrease, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, if the negative characterization of these types of transactions is accepted by legislators and regulators, we could become subject to more restrictive laws and regulations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The vast expansion and reach of technology, including social media platforms, has increased the risk that our reputation could be significantly impacted by these negative characterizations in a relatively short amount of time. If we are unable to quickly and effectively respond to such characterizations, we may experience declines in customer loyalty and traffic and our relationships with our retail partners may suffer, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The loss of any of our key personnel could harm our business. Our future financial performance will depend to a significant extent on our ability to motivate and retain key management personnel. Competition for qualified management personnel is intense, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to hire additional qualified management on terms satisfactory to us. Further, in the event we experience turnover in our senior management positions, we cannot assure you that we will be able to recruit suitable replacements. We must also successfully integrate all new management and other key positions within our organization to achieve our operating objectives. Even if we are successful, turnover in key management positions may temporarily harm our financial performance and results of operations until new management becomes familiar with our business. At present, we do not maintain key-man life insurance on any of our executive officers. Although we have entered employment contracts with H. Russell Heiser, Jr., our Chief Executive Officer, and John Davis, our Chief Operating Officer, we cannot guarantee that they will be available. Our Board of Directors is responsible for approval of all future employment contracts with our executive officers. We can provide no assurances that said future employment contracts and/or their current compensation is or will be on commercially reasonable terms to us in order to retain our key personnel. The loss of any of our key personnel could harm our business. Although Richard House, Jr, our former Chief Executive Officer, passed away on March 16, 2023, the Company believes that Mr. Heiser, who has been designated Chief Executive Officer of the Company as of March 20, 2023 has demonstrated extensive knowledge and skills to fill the Chief Executive Officer’s position.

If we are unable to continue to improve our artificial intelligence (“AI”) models or if our AI models contain errors or are otherwise ineffective, our growth prospects, business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected. Our ability to attract customers to our platform and increase the number of loans facilitated on our platform will depend in large part on our ability to effectively evaluate a borrower’s creditworthiness and likelihood of default and, based on that evaluation, offer competitively priced leases and loans and higher approval rates. Further, our overall operating efficiency and margins will depend in large part on our ability to maintain a high degree of automation in the loan application process and achieve incremental improvements in the degree of automation. If our models fail to adequately predict the creditworthiness of borrowers due to the design of our models or programming or other errors, and our models do not detect and account for such errors, or any of the other components of our credit decision process fails, we and our bank partner may experience higher than forecasted losses. Any of the foregoing could result in sub-optimally priced leases and loans, incorrect approvals or denials of leases and loans, or higher than expected lease and loan losses, which in turn could adversely affect our ability to attract new borrowers and bank partner to our platform, increase the number of leases and loans facilitated on our platform or maintain or increase the average size of leases and loans facilitated on our platform. Our models also target and optimize other aspects of the lending process, such as borrower acquisition cost, fraud detection, and stacking. However, such applications of our models may prove to be less predictive than we expect, or than they have been in the past, for a variety of reasons, including inaccurate assumptions or other errors made in constructing such models, incorrect interpretations of the results of such models and failure to timely update model assumptions and parameters. Additionally, such models may not be able to effectively account for matters that are inherently difficult to predict and beyond our control, such as macroeconomic conditions, credit market volatility and interest rate fluctuations, which often involve complex interactions between several dependent and independent variables and factors. Material errors or inaccuracies in such models could lead us to make inaccurate or sub-optimal operational or strategic decisions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Additionally, errors or inaccuracies in our models could result in any person exposed to the credit risk of loans facilitated on our platform, whether it be us, our bank partner or our sources of capital, experiencing higher than expected losses or lower than desired returns, which could impair our ability to retain existing or attract new bank partner and sources of capital, reduce the number, or limit the types, of loans bank partner and sources of capital are willing to fund, and limit our ability to increase commitments under our credit facilities. Any of these circumstances could reduce the number of loans facilitated on the platform and harm our ability to maintain diverse and robust sources of capital and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on hiring an adequate number of hourly employees to run our business and are subject to government regulations concerning these and our other employees, including wage and hour regulations. Our workforce has a significant portion of employees who work on an hourly basis. To grow our operations and meet the needs and expectations of our customers, we must attract, train, and retain a large number of hourly associates, while at the same time controlling labor costs. These positions have historically had high turnover rates, which can lead to increased training, retention and other costs. In certain areas where we operate, there is significant competition for employees, including from retailers and the restaurant industries. The lack of availability of an adequate number of hourly employees, or our inability to attract and retain them, or an increase in wages and benefits to current employees could adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. We are subject to applicable rules and regulations relating to our relationship with our employees, including wage and hour regulations, health benefits, unemployment and payroll taxes, overtime and working conditions and immigration status. Accordingly, federal, state or local legislated increases in the minimum wage, as well as increases in additional labor cost components such as employee benefit costs, workers’ compensation insurance rates, compliance costs and fines, would increase our labor costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

Employee misconduct or misconduct by third parties acting on our behalf could harm us by subjecting us to monetary loss, significant legal liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational harm. Our reputation is critical to maintaining and developing relationships with our existing and potential customers and third parties with whom we do business. There is a risk that our employees or the employees of a third-party retailer with whom we partner could engage in misconduct that adversely affects our reputation and business. For example, if an employee or a third party associated with our business were to engage in, or be accused of engaging in, illegal or suspicious activities including fraud or theft of our customers’ information, we could suffer direct losses from the activity and, in addition, we could be subject to regulatory sanctions and suffer serious harm to our reputation, financial condition, customer relationships and ability to attract future customers. Employee or third-party misconduct could prompt regulators to allege or to determine based upon such misconduct that we have not established adequate supervisory systems and procedures to inform employees of applicable rules or to detect violations of such rules. The precautions that we take to detect and prevent misconduct may not be effective in all cases. Misconduct by our employees or third-party contractors, or even unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct, could result in a material adverse effect on our reputation and our business. Our operations are subject to certain laws generally prohibiting companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions. Our employees, contractors or agents may violate the policies and procedures we have implemented to ensure compliance with these laws. Any such improper actions could subject us to civil or criminal investigations, could lead to substantial civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties, and related shareholder lawsuits, could cause us to incur significant legal fees, and could damage our reputation.

Competition in the LTO business is intense. The LTO industry is highly competitive. Our operation competes with other national, regional and local LTO businesses, as well as with rental stores that do not offer their customers a purchase option. Some of these companies have, or may develop, systems that enable consumers to obtain through online facilities spending limits and payment terms and to enter into leases in a manner similar to that provided by our proprietary technology. Greater financial resources may allow our competitors to grow faster than us, including through acquisitions. This in turn may enable them to enter new markets before we can, which may decrease our opportunities in those markets. Greater name recognition, or better public perception of a competitor’s reputation, may help them divert market share away from us, even in our established markets. Some competitors may be willing to offer competing products on an unprofitable basis in an effort to gain market share, which could compel us to match their pricing strategy or lose business. With respect to customers desiring to purchase merchandise for cash or on credit, we also compete with retail stores. Competition is based primarily on store location, product selection and availability, customer service and lease rates and terms. We believe we do not currently have significant competition for our online LTO marketplace and patent pending LTO payment method. However, such competition is likely to develop over time, and we may be unable to successfully compete in our target markets. We can provide no assurances that we will be able to successfully compete in the LTO industry.

Continuation or worsening of current economic conditions faced by a portion of our customer base could result in decreased revenues. The geographic concentration of our retail partners may magnify the impact of conditions in a particular region, including economic downturns and other occurrences. Although we believe an economic downturn can result in increased business in the LTO market as consumers increasingly find it difficult to purchase home furnishings, electronics and appliances from traditional retailers on store installment credit, it is possible that if the conditions continue for a significant period, or get worse, consumers may curtail spending on all or some of the types of merchandise we offer, in which event our revenues may suffer.

Much of our customer base continues to experience prolonged economic uncertainty and, in certain areas, unfavorable economic conditions. We believe that the extended duration of that economic uncertainty and unfavorable economic conditions may be resulting in our customers curtailing purchases of the types of merchandise we offer, or entering into agreements that generate smaller amounts of revenue for us (i.e., a 90-day same-as-cash option), resulting in decreased revenues for us. Any increases in unemployment or underemployment within our customer base may result in increased defaults on lease payments, resulting in increased merchandise return costs and merchandise losses. In addition, our retail partners as well as our online customer base are subject to the effects of adverse acts of nature, such as winter storms, hurricanes, hail storms, strong winds, earthquakes and tornadoes, which have in the past caused damage such as flooding and other damage to our retail partners and online customers.

We have developed and may develop in the future new loan products and services offerings, and if we are unable to manage the related risks, our growth prospects, business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. We recently purchased the assets of a store-based lender and may continue to grow that business through partnerships with other brick and mortar locations. New initiatives are inherently risky, as each involves unproven business strategies, new regulatory requirements and new financial products and services with which we, and in some cases our bank partner, have limited or no prior development or operating experience. Launching new products can be capital intensive, and it can take time to determine both an appropriate market fit and profitable unit. New products, once launched, may never achieve scale in a target market or achieve significant profitability. We cannot be sure that we will be able to develop, commercially market and achieve market acceptance of any new products and services that we may offer. In addition, our investment of resources to develop new products and services may either be insufficient or result in expenses that are excessive in light of revenue actually derived from these new products and services. If the profile or behavior of applicants using any new products and services is different from that of those currently served by our existing products, our AI models may not be able to accurately evaluate the credit risk of such borrowers, and our bank partner and capital sources may in turn experience higher levels of delinquencies or defaults. Failure to accurately predict demand or growth with respect to our new products and services could have an adverse impact on our reputation and business, and there is always risk that new products and services will be unprofitable, will increase our costs, decrease operating margins or take longer than anticipated to achieve target margins. In addition, any new products or services may raise new and potentially complex regulatory compliance obligations, which would increase our costs and may cause us to change our business in unexpected ways. Further, our development efforts with respect to these initiatives could distract management from current operations and will divert capital and other resources from our existing business. We may also have difficulty with securing adequate funding for any such new loan products and services, and if we are unable to do so, our ability to develop and grow these new offerings and services will be impaired. If we are unable to effectively manage the foregoing risks, our growth prospects, business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We are subject to sales, income and other taxes, which can be difficult and complex to calculate due to the nature of our business. A failure to correctly calculate and pay such taxes could result in substantial tax liabilities and a material adverse effect on our results of operations. The application of indirect taxes, such as sales tax, is a complex and evolving issue, particularly with respect to the LTO industry generally and our virtual LTO business more specifically. Many of the fundamental statutes and regulations that impose these taxes were established before the growth of the LTO industry and e-commerce and, therefore, in many cases it is not clear how existing statutes apply to our various businesses. In addition, governments are increasingly looking for ways to increase revenues, which has resulted in discussions about tax reform and other legislative action to increase tax revenues, including through indirect taxes. This also could result in other adverse changes in or interpretations of existing sales, income and other tax regulations. For example, from time to time, some taxing authorities in the United States have notified us that they believe we owe them certain taxes imposed on transactions with our customers. Although these notifications have not resulted in material tax liabilities to date, there is a risk that one or more jurisdictions may be successful in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

System interruption and the lack of integration and redundancy in our order entry and online systems may adversely affect our net sales. Customer access to our customer service center and websites is key to the continued flow of new orders. Anything that would hamper or interrupt such access could adversely affect our net sales, operating results and customer satisfaction. Examples of risks that could affect access include problems with the internet or telecommunication infrastructure, limited web access by our customers, local or more systemic impairment of computer systems due to viruses or malware, or impaired access due to breaches of internet security or denial of service attacks. Changes in the policies of service providers or others that increase the cost of telephone or internet access could inhibit our ability to market our products or transact orders with customers. In addition, our ability to operate our business from day-to-day largely depends on the efficient operation of our computer hardware and software systems and communications systems. Our computer and communications systems and operations could be damaged or interrupted by fire, flood, power loss, telecommunications failure, earthquakes, acts of war or terrorism, acts of God, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins or denial of service attacks, improper operation by employees and similar events or disruptions. Any of these events could cause system interruption, delays and loss of critical data and could prevent us from accepting and fulfilling customer orders and providing services, which would impair our operations. Certain of our systems are not redundant, and we have not fully implemented a disaster recovery plan. In addition, we may have inadequate insurance coverage to compensate us for any related losses. Interruptions to customer ordering, particularly if prolonged, could damage our reputation and be expensive to remedy and have significant adverse effects on our financial results.

We face risks related to the strength of our operational, technological and organizational infrastructure. We are exposed to operational risks that can be manifested in many ways, such as errors related to failed or inadequate processes, faulty or disabled computer systems, fraud by employees, contractors or third parties and exposure to external events. In addition, we are heavily dependent on the strength and capability of our technology systems that we use to manage our internal financial, credit and other systems, interface with our customers and develop and implement effective marketing campaigns. Our ability to operate our business to meet the needs of our existing customers and attract new ones and to run our business in compliance with applicable laws and regulations depends on the functionality of our operational and technology systems. Any disruptions or failures of our operational and technology systems, including those associated with improvements or modifications to such systems, could cause us to be unable to market and manage our products and services and to report our financial results in a timely and accurate manner, all of which could have a negative impact on our results of operations. In some cases, we outsource delivery, maintenance and development of our operational and technological functionality to third parties. These third parties may experience errors or disruptions that could adversely impact us and over which we may have limited control. Any increase in the amount of our infrastructure that we outsource to third parties may increase our exposure to these risks.

If we do not respond to technological changes, our services could become obsolete, and we could lose customers. To remain competitive, we must continue to enhance and improve the functionality and features of our e-commerce websites and other technologies. We may face material delays in introducing new products and enhancements. If this happens, our customers may forego the use of our websites and use those of our competitors. The internet and the online commerce industry are rapidly changing. If competitors introduce new products and services using new technologies or if new industry standards and practices emerge, our existing websites and our proprietary technology and systems may become obsolete. Our failure to respond to technological change or to adequately maintain, upgrade and develop our computer network and the systems used to process customers’ orders and payments could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or may be accused of infringing intellectual property rights of third parties. We have been granted a patent for our system that enables e-commerce servers to complete LTO transactions through their e-commerce websites and for additional systems that enable retailer devices to complete LTO transactions through their retailer web pages, as well as systems that further enable consumer devices to modify received retailer web pages to indicate LTO payments in association with transaction-eligible products as part of LTO transactions through the retailer web pages. However, we can provide no assurances that we will be granted any additional patents by the USPTO. We believe certain proprietary information, including but not limited to our underwriting model, and patented and patent-pending systems are central to our business model, and we believe give us a key competitive advantage. We rely on trademark and copyright law, trade secret protection, and confidentiality, license and work product agreements with our employees, customers and others to protect our proprietary rights. We may be unable to prevent third parties from acquiring trademarks, service marks and domain names that are similar to, infringe upon, or diminish the value of our trademarks and other proprietary rights. Failure to protect our domain names could affect adversely our reputation and brand and make it more difficult for users to find our website. We may be unable to discover or determine the extent of any unauthorized use of our proprietary rights. The protection of our intellectual property may require the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. In addition, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may not adequately protect our rights or prevent parties from infringing or misappropriating our proprietary rights. We can be at risk that others will independently develop or acquire equivalent or superior technology or other intellectual property rights. The use of our technology or similar technology by others could reduce or eliminate any competitive advantage we have developed, cause us to lose sales or otherwise harm our business. We cannot be certain that the intellectual property used in our business does not and will not infringe the intellectual property rights of others, and we are from time to time subject to third party infringement claims. Due to changes in patent law, we face the risk of a temporary increase in patent litigation due to new restrictions on including unrelated defendants in patent infringement lawsuits in the future particularly from entities that own patents but that do not make products or services covered by the patents. Any third-party infringement claims against us, whether or not meritorious, may result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources, injunctions against us or the payment of damages. Moreover, should we be found liable for infringement, we may be required to seek to enter into licensing agreements, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all.

Product safety and quality control issues, including product recalls, could harm our reputation, divert resources, reduce sales and increase costs. The products we lease are subject to regulation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and similar state regulatory authorities. Such products could be subject to recalls and other actions by these authorities. Product safety or quality concerns may require us to voluntarily remove selected products from our e-commerce site, or from our customers’ homes. Such recalls and voluntary removal of products can result in, among other things, lost sales, diverted resources, potential harm to our reputation and increased customer service costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. In addition, given the terms of our lease agreements with our customers, in the event of such a product quality or safety issue, our customers who have leased the defective merchandise from us could terminate their lease agreements for that merchandise and/or not renew those lease arrangements, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition if we are unable to recover those losses from the vendor who supplied us with the defective merchandise.

Our management information systems may not be adequate to meet our evolving business and emerging regulatory needs and the failure to successfully implement them could negatively impact the business and its financial results. We are investing significant capital in new information technology systems to support our growth plan. These investments include redundancies and acquiring new systems and hardware with updated functionality. We are taking appropriate actions to ensure the successful implementation of these initiatives, including the testing of new systems, with minimal disruptions to the business. These efforts may take longer and may require greater financial and other resources than anticipated, may cause distraction of key personnel, may cause disruptions to our systems and our business, and may not provide the anticipated benefits. The disruption in our information technology systems, or our inability to improve, integrate or expand our systems to meet our evolving business and emerging regulatory requirements, could impair our ability to achieve critical strategic initiatives and could adversely impact our sales, collections efforts, cash flows and financial condition.

If we do not maintain the privacy and security of customer, retail partner, employee or other confidential information, due to cybersecurity-related “hacking” attacks, intrusions into our systems by unauthorized parties or otherwise, we could incur significant costs, litigation, regulatory enforcement actions and damage to our reputation, any one of which could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Our business involves the collection, processing, transmission and storage of customers’ personal and confidential information, including dates of birth, banking information, credit and debit card information, data we receive from consumer reporting companies, including credit report information, as well as confidential information about our retail partners and employees, among others. Much of this data constitutes confidential personally identifiable information (“PII”) which, if unlawfully accessed, either through a “hacking” attack or otherwise, could subject us to significant liabilities as further discussed below. Companies like us that possess significant amounts of PII and/or other confidential information have experienced a significant increase in cyber security risks in recent years from increasingly aggressive and sophisticated cyberattacks, including hacking, computer viruses, malicious or destructive code, ransomware, social engineering attacks (including phishing and impersonation), denial-of-service attacks and other attacks and similar disruptions from the unauthorized use of or access to information technology (“IT”) systems. Our IT systems are subject to constant attempts to gain unauthorized access in order to disrupt our business operations and capture, destroy or manipulate various types of information that we rely on, including PII and/or other confidential information. In addition, various third parties, including employees, contractors or others with whom we do business may attempt to circumvent our security measures in order to obtain such information, or inadvertently cause a breach involving such information. Any significant compromise or breach of our data security, whether external or internal, or misuse of PII and/or other confidential information may result in significant costs, litigation and regulatory enforcement actions and, therefore, may have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Further, if any such compromise, breach or misuse is not detected quickly, the effect could be compounded. While we have implemented network security systems and processes to protect against unauthorized access to or use of secured data and to prevent data loss and theft, there is no guarantee that these procedures are adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches or misuse of the data. We maintain private liability insurance intended to help mitigate the financial risks of such incidents, but there can be no guarantee that insurance will be sufficient to cover all losses related to such incidents, and our exposure resulting from any serious unauthorized access to, or use of, secured data, or serious data loss or theft, could far exceed the limits of our insurance coverage for such events. Further, a significant compromise of PII and/or other confidential information could result in regulatory penalties and harm our reputation with our customers, retail partners and others, potentially resulting in a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. The regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy is increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, and compliance with those requirements could result in additional costs. We also believe successful data breaches or cybersecurity incidents at other companies, whether or not we are involved, could lead to a general loss of customer confidence that could negatively affect us, including harming the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures or financial technology in general. We believe our exposure to this risk will increase as we expand our use of financial technology to communicate with our customers and retail partners and as we increase the number of retail partners with whom we work.

If we fail to maintain adequate systems and processes to detect and prevent fraudulent activity, our business could be adversely impacted. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities such as paper instrument counterfeiting, fraudulent payment or refund schemes and identity theft. As we make more of our services available over the internet and other media, we subject ourselves to consumer fraud risk. We use a variety of tools to protect against fraud; however, these tools may not always be successful.

Our failure to maintain an effective system of internal controls could result in inaccurate reporting of financial results and harm our business. We are required to comply with a variety of reporting, accounting and other rules and regulations. As a public reporting company subject to the rules and regulations established from time to time by the SEC and the Nasdaq Capital Market, we are required to, among other things, establish and periodically evaluate procedures with respect to our disclosure controls and procedures. In addition, as a public company, we are required to document and test our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 so that our management can certify, on an annual basis, that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. As such, we maintain a system of internal control over financial reporting, but there are limitations inherent in internal control systems. A control system can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. In addition, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and the benefit of controls must be appropriate relative to their costs. Furthermore, compliance with existing requirements is expensive and we may need to implement additional finance and accounting and other systems, procedures and controls to satisfy our reporting requirements. If our internal control over financial reporting is determined to be ineffective, such failure could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, negatively affect the market price of our common stock, subject us to regulatory investigations and penalties, and adversely impact our business and financial condition.

Risks Relating to our Stock

Because of their significant stock ownership and ability to select a nominee to our Board of Directors, certain beneficial owners of our stock, as well as our executive officers and directors, will be able to exert control over the Company and significant corporate decisions. B2 FIE V LLC (“B2 FIE”), a holder of series 2 convertible preferred stock and a seat on our Board, beneficially owns 21.0% of the voting power of our outstanding stock as of March 31, 2023. Our secured lender beneficially owns 5.9% of the voting power of our outstanding stock as of February 28, 2023. Also, our executive officers and other directors beneficially own an additional 26.6% of the voting power of our outstanding stock as of the same date. In the event that they act in concert on future stockholder matters, such persons may have the ability to affect the election of all of our directors and the outcome of all issues submitted to our stockholders. Such concentration of ownership could limit the price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of common stock and could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or of discouraging a third party from attempting to acquire, control of us. Additionally, pursuant to the Investor Rights Agreement entered into in connection with its investment in the Company, B2 FIE currently has the right to designate one nominee on our Board of Directors. As a result, the presence of directors on our Board of Directors nominated by these investors enables such investors to influence and impact future actions taken by our Board of Directors.

The price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly and is likely to continue to do so. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, the closing price for our common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market ranged from $0.86 to $3.01 per share. The market price for our common stock can fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, including the factors listed in this Risk Factors section, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include: actual or anticipated variations in quarterly operating results; announcements of new services by our competitors or us; announcements relating to strategic relationships or acquisitions; dilution caused by additional equity issuances; our ability to meet market expectations with respect to the growth and profitability; quarterly variations in our competitors’ results of operations; state or federal legislative or regulatory proposals, initiatives, actions or changes that are, or are perceived to be, adverse to our operations; changes in financial estimates or other statements by securities analysts; and other changes in general economic conditions. Because of this, we may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of our stockholders or others, and the market price for our common stock could fluctuate as a result. In addition, the securities markets have from time-to-time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

If we cannot continue to satisfy The Nasdaq Capital Market continued listing standards and other Nasdaq rules, our common stock could be delisted, which would harm our business, the trading price of our common stock, our ability to raise additional capital and the liquidity of the market for our common stock. Our common stock is currently listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market. To maintain the listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market, we are required to meet certain listing requirements, including, among others: (i) a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, a market value of publicly held shares (excluding shares held by our executive officers, directors and 10% or more stockholders) of at least $1.0 million and stockholders’ equity of at least $2.5 million; (ii) a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, a market value of publicly held shares (excluding shares held by our executive officers, directors and 10% or more stockholders) of at least $1 million and a market value of all listed securities of at lease $35.0 million; or (iii) a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, a market value of publicly held shares (excluding shares held by our executives officers, directors and 10% or more stockholders) of at least $1.0 million and net income from continuing operations of at least $500,000 (in the latest fiscal year or in two of the last three fiscal years).

There is no assurance that we will be able to maintain compliance with the minimum closing price requirement. On April 21, 2023, the Company received a letter (the “Notice”) from The Nasdaq Stock Market notifying the Company that, because the closing bid price for its common stock has been below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, it no longer complies with the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. The Notice has no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market. The Company has been provided an initial compliance period of 180 calendar days to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement. During the compliance period, the Company’s shares of common stock will continue to be listed and traded on The Nasdaq Capital Market. To regain compliance, the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock must meet or exceed $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days during the 180 calendar day grace period. The Company intends to actively monitor the bid price for its common stock and will consider available options to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement.

If our common stock were to be delisted from Nasdaq and was not eligible for quotation or listing on another market or exchange, trading of our common stock could be conducted only in the over-the-counter market such as the OTC Markets Group DTCQB. In such event, it could become more difficult to dispose of, or obtain accurate price quotations for, our common stock, and there would likely also be a reduction in our coverage by securities analysts and the news media, which could cause the price of our common stock to decline further.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. Any future determination to pay cash dividends will be dependent upon our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements, applicable contractual restrictions and other such factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant. We are additionally restricted under our Credit Agreement from declaring or making any dividends in cash or stock, subject to certain limited permitted dividend payments assuming we have positive net income and there is no existing default or event of default thereunder.

Increased costs associated with corporate governance compliance may significantly impact our results of operations. Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance, public disclosure and compliance practices, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and new SEC regulations, may create difficulties for companies such as ours in understanding and complying with these laws and regulations. As a result of these difficulties and other factors, devoting the necessary resources to comply with evolving corporate governance and public disclosure standards has resulted in and may in the future result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention to compliance activities. We also expect these developments to increase our legal compliance and financial reporting costs. In addition, these developments may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. Moreover, we may be unable to comply with these new laws and regulations on a timely basis. These developments could make it more difficult for us to retain qualified members of our Board of Directors, or qualified executive officers. We are presently evaluating and monitoring regulatory developments and cannot estimate the timing or magnitude of additional costs we may incur as a result. To the extent these costs are significant, our general and administrative expenses are likely to increase.

If we sell shares of our common stock or securities convertible into our common stock in future financings, the ownership interest of existing shareholders will be diluted and, as a result, our stock price may go down. We may from time to time issue additional shares of common stock, possibly at a discount from the current trading price of our common stock, or securities convertible into our common stock. As a result, our existing shareholders will experience immediate dilution upon the purchase of any shares of our Common Stock sold at a discount. If we issue common stock or securities convertible into common stock, our shareholders will experience dilution and this dilution will be greater if we find it necessary to sell securities at a discount to prevailing market prices.

Our certificate of incorporation allows for our Board of Directors to create new series of preferred stock without further approval by our stockholders, which could adversely affect the rights of the holders of our common stock. Our Board of Directors has the authority to fix and determine the relative rights and preferences of preferred stock and to issue up to 500,000 shares of our preferred stock (of which 250,000 shares have been designated as series 1 convertible preferred stock and 25,000 shares have been designated as series 2 convertible preferred stock) without further stockholder approval. As a result, our Board of Directors could authorize the issuance of additional series of preferred stock that would grant to holders the preferred right to our assets upon liquidation, the right to receive dividend payments before dividends are distributed to the holders of common stock and the right to the redemption of the shares, together with a premium, prior to the redemption of our common stock. In addition, our Board of Directors could authorize the issuance of additional series of preferred stock that has greater voting power than our common stock or that is convertible into our common stock, which could decrease the relative voting power of our common stock or result in dilution to our existing stockholders. Although we have no present intention to issue any additional shares of preferred stock or to create any additional series of preferred stock, we may decide to issue such shares in the future.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None

Item 2. Properties.

Our principal executive office is located in Boca Raton, Florida, where we currently lease 21,622 square feet of office space to accommodate our business and employees. The monthly rent for this space is approximately $31,500 with annual 3% increases throughout the lease term on the anniversary of the commencement date throughout the initial 108-month term. Our lease extends through June 30, 2028.

We had a lease for storefront space in West Palm Beach, Florida to accommodate our repossession retail sales operation. The monthly base rent including operating expenses was approximately $2,000 throughout December 30, 2021. In March 2021, FlexShopper and the lessor agreed on the early termination of the lease for this property.

In September 2021, FlexShopper entered into a twelve-month lease for an office space for approximately 18 people at the Battery at SunTrust Park at Georgia, Atlanta mainly to expand the sales team. This lease was renewed for another twelve-month period with a monthly rent of approximately $8,800 per month.

As part of the Revolution Transaction (See Note 14 in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements), 22 storefront lease agreements were acquired by FlexShopper. Some of those stores were closed or transferred to franchisees after the Revolution Transaction. As of December 31, 2022, 19 storefront lease agreements belong to FlexShopper. The stores are located in Alabama, Michigan, Nevada, and Oklahoma and are used to offer finance products to customers. The monthly average rent for these stores is approximately $1,700 per month.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

There are no material pending legal proceedings against our company. We may, however, be subject to various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business from time to time.

For further information, see Note 11 in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “FPAY.”

Holders of Record

As of March 31, 2023, there were 124 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividend Policy

We have not paid or declared any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain any earnings for future growth and, therefore, do not expect to pay cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon various factors, including our results of operations, financial condition, capital requirements, investment opportunities and other factors that our Board of Directors deems relevant. Our Credit Agreement restricts our ability to declare or make, or agree to pay or make, directly or indirectly, any dividends in cash or stock, or incur any obligation to do so, subject to certain limited permitted dividend payments assuming we have positive net income and there is no existing default or event of default thereunder.

Our series 2 convertible preferred stock accrues dividends on its $1,000 stated value at an annual rate of 10% compounded annually. Cumulative accrued dividends on our series 2 convertible preferred stock, as of December 31, 2022, totaled $19,084,376 (see Note 8 in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements).

Item 6. Reserved

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

Overview

Since December 2013, we have developed a business that focuses on improving the quality of life of our customers  by providing them the opportunity to obtain ownership of high-quality durable products, such as consumer electronics, home appliances, computers (including tablets and wearables), smartphones, tires, jewelry and furniture (including accessories), under affordable payment lease-to-own (“LTO”) purchase agreements with no long-term obligation. We believe that the introduction of FlexShopper’s LTO programs support broad untapped expansion opportunities within the U.S. consumer e-commerce and retail marketplaces. We have successfully developed and are currently processing LTO transactions using FlexShopper’s proprietary technology that automates the process of consumers receiving spending limits and entering into leases for durable goods within seconds. FlexShopper’s primary LTO sales channels, which include business to consumer (“B2C”) and business to business (“B2B”) channels. Our B2C customers can acquire well-known brands such as Samsung, Frigidaire, Hewlett-Packard, LG, Whirlpool, Ashley and Apple at flexshopper.com. Concurrently, e-tailers and retailers FlexShopper’s may increase their sales by utilizing FlexShopper’s B2B channel to connect with consumers that want to acquire products on an LTO basis. FlexShopper’s LTO sales channels include (1) selling directly to consumers via the online FlexShopper.com LTO Marketplace featuring thousands of durable goods, (2) utilizing our LTO payment method at check-out on our partners’ e-commerce sites and (3) facilitating LTO transactions with retailers in their physical locations both through their in-store terminals and FlexShopper applications accessed via the Internet.

In 2021, we began a test to market an unsecured, consumer loan product for our bank partner that would augment our LTO solution in retailer sales channels. In 2022, based upon the success of this testing, the marketing of our bank partner’s loans became a strategic solution that we offer to many of our current customers and through our retailer partners. In the bank partner origination model, applicants who apply and obtain a loan through our online platform and are underwritten, approved, and funded by the bank partner. The product provides flexibility for FlexShopper to offer loans in retailer channels that provide services in addition to durable goods (e.g., tire retailers that provide car repair services) or in states which do not have lease purchase agreement regulations. FlexShopper’s bank lending product leverages its marketing and servicing expertise and its partner bank’s national presence to enable improved credit access to consumers. We manage many aspects of the loan life cycle on behalf of its bank partner, including customer acquisition, underwriting and loan servicing. This relationship allows FlexShopper’s bank partner to leverage our customer acquisition channel, underwriting and service capabilities, which they would otherwise need to develop in-house. The bank partner uses their own capital to originate loans. The bank partner retains approval rights on all aspects of the program and are primarily responsible for regulatory and compliance oversight. Under the bank partner model, FlexShopper is compensated by the bank partner as a service provider for our role in delivering the technology and services to the bank partner to facilitate origination and servicing of loans throughout each loan’s lifecycle. FlexShopper’s bank partners hold loans originated on our platform. FlexShopper acquires participation rights in such loans ranging from 95 to 100% of the loan. FlexShopper is able to repurpose its technology as well as marketing, underwriting and servicing experience gained from the LTO business to facilitate bank partner originations. In 2022, FlexShopper purchased $31 million in participations, and recognized $15 million in interest income in 2022.

In late 2022, FlexShopper purchased the assets of Revolution Financial, Inc. (“Revolution”). This purchase facilitated the creation of a direct origination model for consumers in 11 states. In the direct origination model, applicants who apply and obtain a loan through our platform are underwritten, approved, and funded directly by FlexShopper. Also acquired in the purchase were 22 leases for Revolution operated stores, as well as program agreements with 78 additional brick and mortar locations that share net revenue of the loans originated in those locations. In addition, we entered into an agreement to be the exclusive provider of non-prime loans to consumers in Liberty Tax corporate and franchisee locations nationwide. FlexShopper also purchased a portfolio of current customers and information on previous customers in order to market consumer products. FlexShopper is able to repurpose its technology, as well as marketing, underwriting and servicing experience gained from the LTO, business to facilitate loan originations in these locations.

Summary of Critical Accounting Policies

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations discusses our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). The preparation of these financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. On an on-going basis, management evaluates its estimates and judgments, including those related to credit provisions, intangible assets, contingencies, litigation, fair value of loan receivables and income taxes. Management bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience as well as various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Management believes the following critical accounting policies, among others, reflect the more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our financial statements.

Lease Receivables and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts - FlexShopper seeks to collect amounts owed under its leases from each customer on a weekly or biweekly basis by charging their bank accounts or credit cards. Lease receivables are principally comprised of lease payments currently owed to FlexShopper which are past due, as FlexShopper has been unable to successfully collect in the manner described above. An allowance for doubtful accounts is estimated primarily based upon historical collection experience that considers both the aging of the lease and the origination channel. Other qualitative factors are considered in estimating the allowance, such as seasonality, underwriting changes and other business trends. The lease receivables balances consisted of the following as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

The allowance is a significant percentage of the balance because FlexShopper does not charge off any customer account until it has exhausted all collection efforts with respect to each account, including attempts to repossess items. Lease receivables balances charged off against the allowance were $72,044,958 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $34,777,881 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

Loan receivables at fair value – The Company elected the fair value option on its entire loan receivables portfolio. As such, loan receivables are carried at fair value on the consolidated balance sheets with changes in fair value recorded on the consolidated statements of operations. Accrued and unpaid interest and fees are included in loan receivables at fair value on the consolidated balance sheets. Management believes the reporting of these receivables at fair value more closely approximates the true economics of the loan receivables.

Interest and fees are discontinued when loans receivable become contractually 120 or more days past due. The Company charges-off loans at the earlier of when the loans are determined to be uncollectible or when the loans are 120 days contractually past due. Recoveries on loan receivables that were previously charged off are recognized when cash is received. Changes in the fair value of loan receivables include the impact of current period charge offs associated with these receivables. 

The Company estimates the fair value of the loan receivables using a discounted cash flow analysis at an individual loan level to more accurately predict future payments. The Company adjusts expected cash flows for estimated losses and servicing costs over the estimated duration of the underlying assets. These adjustments are determined using historical data and include appropriate consideration of recent trends and anticipated future performance. Future cash flows are discounted using a rate of return that the Company believes a market participant would require. Model results may be adjusted by management if the Company does not believe the output reflects the fair value of the instrument, as defined under U.S. GAAP. The models are updated at each measurement date to capture any changes in internal factors such as nature, term, volume, payment trends, remaining time to maturity, and portfolio mix, as well as changes in underwriting or observed trends expected to impact future performance.

In the bank partner origination model, applicants apply and are underwritten through our online platform and the loan is originated and funded by the bank partner. We manage many aspects of the loan life cycle on behalf of our bank partner, including customer acquisition, underwriting and loan servicing. The bank partner uses their own capital to originate loans. FlexShopper’s bank partner holds loans originated on our platform. FlexShopper acquires participation rights in such loans ranging from 95 to 100% of the loan. Loan revenues and fees is representative of the Company’s portion of participation in the loans.

Key Performance Metrics

We regularly review a number of metrics, including the following key metrics, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. Key performance metrics for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:

We refer to Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA in the above tables as we use these measures to evaluate our operating performance and make strategic decisions about the Company. Management believes that Gross Profit and Adjusted EBITDA provide relevant and useful information which is widely used by analysts, investors and competitors in our industry in assessing performance.

Gross Profit represents GAAP revenue less depreciation and impairment of lease merchandise and loans originations costs and fees. Gross Profit provides us with an understanding of the results from the primary operations of our business. We use Gross Profit to evaluate our period-over-period operating performance. This measure may be useful to an investor in evaluating the underlying operating performance of our business.

Adjusted EBITDA represents net income before interest, stock-based compensation, taxes, depreciation (other than depreciation of leased merchandise), amortization and one-time or non-recurring items. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides us with an understanding of one aspect of earnings before the impact of investing and financing charges and income taxes. Adjusted EBITDA may be useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance and liquidity because this measure:

Adjusted EBITDA is a supplemental measure of FlexShopper’s performance that is neither required by, nor presented in accordance with, GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as substitutes for GAAP metrics such as operating income/ (loss), net income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP.

Results of Operations

The following table details operating results for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

FlexShopper originated 128,100 gross leases less same day modifications and cancellations with an average origination value of $586 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 compared to 159,217 gross leases less same day modifications and cancellations with an average origination value of $524 for the comparable period last year. Net lease revenues for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $105,936,072 compared to $124,505,432 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing a decrease of $18,569,360 or 14.9%. In the year 2022, the average origination value per lease was higher compared to the year 2021 but volume has decreased due to tightening of approval rates and due to allocation of marketing resources to loan originations. The provision for doubtful accounts relative to gross lease billings and fees were 37% and 24% for twelve months ending December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Due to favorable market conditions, at the end of June 2022 FlexShopper signed an agreement with a third party to sell leases in default that were fully mature. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, FlexShopper sold leases in default that were fully mature for $9,227,937 and paid fees for $406,831 over that sale, which generated a gain on sale of lease receivables of $8,821,106.

Net loan revenues for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 for the bank partner loan model were $5,262,000 compared to $921,324 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing an increase of $4,340,676 or 471%. In  2021, we began a test for an unsecured consumer loan product with our bank partner. Our bank partner originated 26,209 loans at an average loan value of $1,235 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 compared to 3,247 loans at an average loan value of $1,165 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021. Our bank partner sold to the Company a participation interest for each loan originated in those periods. In 2022, based upon the success of this testing, we expanded the program.

Net loan revenues for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 for our state license loan model were $1,858,101 with no prior revenue for 2021 as the Company acquired this business at the end of 2022. For the state license loan model, the Company originated 13,114 loans at an average loan value of $420.87 in the year ending December 31, 2022.

Depreciation and impairment of lease merchandise for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 was $72,556,431 compared to $78,669,393 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing a decrease of $6,112,962 or 7.8%. As the Company’s lease portfolio and revenues decrease, the depreciation associated with the lease portfolio also decrease. Asset level performance within the portfolio, as well as the mix of early paid off leases, will alter the average depreciable term of the leases within the portfolio and result in increases or decreases in depreciation and impairment of lease merchandise relative to lease revenue.

Loans origination cost and fees for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 was $3,384,013 compared to $508,493 for twelve months ended Decembers 31, 2021, representing an increase of $2,875,520 or 565.5%. Loan origination cost and fees is correlated to the volume and dollar amount of loan products.

Marketing expenses in twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $11,031,695 compared to $9,129,062 in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $1,902,633 or 20.8%. Marketing expenses related to loans in twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $4,691,350 compared to $550,285 in twelve months ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $4,141,065 or 752.5%. The increase is related to the marketing of consumer loans. Marketing expenses related to leases in twelve months ended December 31, 2022, were $6,340,345 compared to $8,578,777 in twelve months ended December 31, 2021, a decrease of $2,238,432 or 26.1%. The decrease is related to allocating marketing spend to loan originations.

Salaries and benefits expense in twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $10,991,477 compared to $11,489,208 in twelve months ended December 31, 2021, a decrease of $497,731 or 4.3%. Generally, the salary and benefits expense should directionally move with the change in lease and loans originations and the overall size of the portfolios albeit at a slower rate.

Other operating expenses for the years ended December 30, 2022 and 2021 included the following:

Amortization and depreciation expenses in the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $4,769,614 compared to $2,875,902 in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing an increase of $1,893,712 or 65.8%. The majority of the increase is related to the amortization of capitalized software costs due to the preparation for new products offered by the Company and the amortization of the intangible assets acquired in the Revolution Transaction (See Note 14 in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements). The rest of the increase is related to the amortization of capitalized of data not directly used in underwriting decisions and that are probable that they will provide future economic benefit.

Computer and internet expenses in the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $4,648,892 compared to $3,329,532 in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing an increase of $1,319,360 or 39.6%. A significant portion of computer and internet expense is related to scaling both the consumer facing website and the Company’s back-end billing and collection systems. Also, some of these expenses are related to expanding the IT infrastructure in preparation for new products offered by the company.

Merchant bank fees expenses in the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $1,916,994 compared to $2,472,489 in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing a decrease of $555,495 or 22.5%. Merchant bank fee expense represents the ACH and card processing fees related to billing consumers and therefore a decrease in gross lease billings and fees and a more efficient collection process is the main driver for the decrease in merchant bank fees.

Customer verification expenses in the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $869,474 compared to $1,991,111 in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, representing a decrease of $1,121,637 or 56.3%. Customer verification expense is primarily the cost of data used for underwriting new lease and loan applicants. During the third quarter of 2021, several changes including the implementation of a more disciplined process around data procurement and storage were made by the Company. Those improvements triggered a change in the estimate of the probability of future economic benefit of a portion of the data cost. As a result of this change in the estimate regarding the portion of data costs incurred that are not directly used in underwriting decisions and that are probable that they will provide future economic benefit, the Company capitalized $1,640,883 of data costs in the year ended December 31, 2022. The underwriting and data science team continues to optimize the costs related to underwriting lease and loan applications.

Gain on bargain purchase in the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 was $14,461,274 compared to zero in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $14,461,274. This gain is related to the acquisition of the material net assets of Revolution Financial, Inc business in the last quarter of 2022, where the fair value of the net assets acquired exceed the fair value of the purchase price consideration.

Income taxes in the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 were $16,635,051 (benefit) compared to $785,310 (expense) in the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, a decrease of $17,420,361 or 2,218.3%. The variation was mainly due to the release of the $12.5 million valuation allowance of the Company’s deferred tax asset during the second quarter of 2022 as well as the taxable loss incurred in 2022.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had cash and restricted cash of $6,173,349 compared to $5,094,642 as of December 31, 2021. The increase in cash from December 31, 2021 was primarily due to the proceeds from a loan payable under the Credit Agreement, to the proceeds from a promissory notes with related parties and from cash acquired in the Revolution Transaction (see Note 14 in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements) offset by increases in lease receivables and loans receivables at fair value.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had lease receivables of $48,618,843 net of an allowance for doubtful accounts of $13,078,800 totaling $35,540,043. Lease receivables are principally comprised of past due lease payments owed to the Company. An allowance for doubtful accounts is estimated based upon historical collection and delinquency percentages.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had loan receivables at fair value of $32,932,504 which is measured at fair value. The Company primarily estimates the fair value of its loan receivables using a discounted cash flow model.

Credit Agreement

On March 6, 2015, FlexShopper, through a wholly-owned subsidiary (the “Borrower”), entered into a credit agreement (as amended from time to time and including the Fee Letter (as defined therein), the “Credit Agreement”) with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association as paying agent, various lenders from time to time party thereto and WE 2014-1, LLC, an affiliate of Waterfall Asset Management, LLC, as administrative agent and lender (the “Lender”). The Borrower is permitted to borrow funds under the Credit Agreement based on FlexShopper’s recently collected payments and the Amortized Order Value of its Eligible Leases (as such terms are defined in the Credit Agreement) less certain deductions described in the Credit Agreement. Under the terms of the Credit Agreement, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, the Borrower may currently borrow up to $82,500,000 from the Lender until the Commitment Termination Date and must repay all borrowed amounts one year thereafter, on the date that is 12 months following the Commitment Termination Date (unless such amounts become due or payable on an earlier date pursuant to the terms of the Credit Agreement). On January 29, 2021, pursuant to an amendment to the Credit Agreement, the Commitment Termination Date was extended to April 1, 2024, the Lender was granted a security interest in certain leases as collateral under the Credit Agreement and the interest rate charged on amounts borrowed was set at LIBOR plus 11% per annum.

The Credit Agreement provides that FlexShopper may not incur additional indebtedness (other than expressly permitted indebtedness) without the permission of the Lender and also prohibits dividends on common stock. Additionally, the Credit Agreement includes covenants requiring FlexShopper to maintain a minimum amount of Equity Book Value, maintain a minimum amount of cash and liquidity and maintain a certain ratio of Consolidated Total Debt to Equity Book Value (each capitalized term, as defined in the Credit Agreement). Upon a Permitted Change of Control (as defined in the Credit Agreement), FlexShopper may refinance the debt under the Credit Agreement, subject to the payment of an early termination fee.

In addition, the Lender and its affiliates have a right of first refusal on certain FlexShopper transactions involving leases or other financial products. The Credit Agreement includes customary events of default, including, among others, failures to make payment of principal and interest, breaches or defaults under the terms of the Credit Agreement and related agreements entered into with the Lender, breaches of representations, warranties or certifications made by or on behalf of the Borrower in the Credit Agreement and related documents (including certain financial and expense covenants), deficiencies in the borrowing base, certain judgments against the Borrower and bankruptcy events.

The Company borrowed under the Credit Agreement $36,455,000 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022, and $19,850,000 for twelve ended December 31, 2021. The Company repaid under the Credit Agreement $5,730,000 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022, and $6,575,000 for twelve ended December 31, 2021.

Effective September 27, 2022, WE 2014-1, LLC assigned 100% of its Commitments and all Loans to Powerscourt Investments 32, LP, an affiliate of Waterfall Asset Management, LLC.

On October 21, 2022, pursuant to Amendment No. 16 to the Credit Agreement between FlexShopper 2, LLC, as borrower, and Powerscourt Investments 32, LP, as administrative agent and lender, the Commitment Amount was increased to be up to $110,000,000. This amendment also replaced LIBOR references in the Credit Agreement with SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate), as the basis for our interest payments under the Credit Agreement. No other changes were made to the Credit Agreement.

Since October 2022, the Company has been entering into Interest Rate Cap Agreements with AXOS bank, a financial institution not related with the Lender of the Credit Agreement. These agreements cap the variable portion (one month SOFR) of the Credit Agreement interest rate to 4%, which reduced the Company’s exposure to additional increases in interest rates.

Financing Activity

On January 25, 2019, FlexShopper, LLC (the “Borrower”) entered into a subordinated debt financing letter agreement with 122 Partners, LLC, as lender, pursuant to which FlexShopper, LLC issued a subordinated promissory note to 122 Partners, LLC (the “122 Partners Note”) in the principal amount of $1,000,000. H. Russell Heiser, Jr., FlexShopper’s Chief Financial Officer, is a member of 122 Partners, LLC. Payment of the principal amount and accrued interest under the 122 Partners Note was due and payable by the borrower on April 30, 2020 and the borrower can prepay principal and interest at any time without penalty. At December 31, 2022, amounts outstanding under the 122 Partners Note bear interest at a rate of 20.45%. Obligations under the 122 Partners Note are subordinated to obligations under the Credit Agreement. The 122 Partners Note is subject to customary representations and warranties and events of default. If an event of default occurs and is continuing, the Borrower may be required to repay all amounts outstanding under the 122 Partners Note. Obligations under the 122 Partners Note are secured by substantially all of the Borrower’s assets, subject to the senior rights of the lenders under the Credit Agreement. On April 30, 2020, pursuant to an amendment to the subordinated debt financing letter agreement, the Borrower and 122 Partners, LLC agreed to extend the maturity date of the 122 Partners Note to April 30, 2021. On March 22, 2021, FlexShopper, LLC executed a second amendment to the 122 Partners Note such that the maturity date of the 122 Partners Note was extended to April 1, 2022. On March 31, 2022, FlexShopper, LLC executed a third amendment to the 122 Partners Note such that the maturity date of the 122 Partners Note was extended to April 1, 2023. On March 30, 2023, FlexShopper, LLC executed a fourth amendment to the 122 Partners Note such that the maturity date of the 122 Partners Note was extended from April 1, 2023 to October 1, 2023. No other changes were made to the 122 Partners Note. As of December 31, 2022, $1,017,826 of principal and accrued and unpaid interest was outstanding on the 122 Partners Note.

The Borrower previously entered into letter agreements with NRNS Capital Holdings LLC (“NRNS”), the manager of which is the Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors, pursuant to which the Borrower issued subordinated promissory notes to NRNS (the “NRNS Note”) in the total principal amount of $3,750,000. Payment of principal and accrued interest under the NRNS Note was due and payable by the Borrower on June 30, 2021 and FlexShopper, LLC can prepay principal and interest at any time without penalty. At December 31, 2022, amounts outstanding under the NRNS Note bear interest at a rate of 20.45%. Obligations under the NRNS Note are subordinated to obligations under the Credit Agreement. The NRNS Note is subject to customary representations and warranties and events of default. If an event of default occurs and is continuing, the Borrower may be required to repay all amounts outstanding under the NRNS Note. Obligations under the NRNS Note is secured by substantially all of the Borrower’s assets, subject to rights of the lenders under the Credit Agreement. On March 22, 2021, FlexShopper, LLC executed an amendment to the NRNS Note such that the maturity date was extended to April 1, 2022. On February 2, 2022, FlexShopper LLC executed another amendment to the NRNS Note. This last amendment extended the maturity date from April 1, 2022 to July 1, 2024 and increased the credit commitment from $3,750,000 to $11,000,000. No other changes were made to the NRNS Note. As of December 31, 2022, $10,941,629 of principal and accrued and unpaid interest was outstanding on the NRNS Note.

On June 21, 2021 we were notified that effective April 7, 2021, the U.S. Small Business Administration confirmed the waiver of FlexShopper’s repayment of a $1,914,000 Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) promissory note issued to the Company on May 4, 2020. As a result of the PPP promissory note forgiveness, the Company recognized in the year ending December 31, 2021, a gain from the extinguishment of the loan, including accrued interest, of $1,931,825.

Cash Flow Summary

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $31,236,936 for the year ended December 31, 2022 and was primarily due to the purchases of leased merchandise, participation in loans, the change in lease receivable and change in deferred income tax partially offset by the add back of provision for doubtful accounts and the add back of depreciation and impairment on leased merchandise.

Net cash used in operating activities was $11,256,031 for the year ended December 31, 2021 and was primarily due to the purchases of leased merchandise and the change in lease receivable, partially offset by the add back of provision for doubtful accounts and the add back of depreciation and impairment on leased merchandise.

Cash Flows from Investing Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used in investing activities was $5,200,645 comprised of the use of $1,257,678 for the purchase of property and equipment, $5,240,437 of capitalized software costs, and $1,640,885 of data costs. This was offset by the acquisition of $2,938,355 of cash in a business combination.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash used in investing activities was $4,949,544 comprised of $1,248,445 for the purchase of property and equipment, $2,816,939 for capitalized software costs and $884,160 for data costs.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $37,516,288 for the year ended December 31, 2022 primarily due to the funds drawn on the Credit Agreement of $36,455,000 and $7,000,00 from proceeds of promissory note offset by repayments of amounts borrowed under the Credit Agreement of $5,730,000.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $12,758,985 for the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to the funds drawn on the Credit Agreement of $19,850,000, offset by repayments of amounts borrowed under the Credit Agreement of $6,575,000.

Capital Resources and Financial Condition

To date, funds derived from the sale of FlexShopper’s common stock, warrants, Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock and Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock, proceeds from promissory notes to related parties and the Company’s ability to borrow funds against the lease and loan portfolio have provided the liquidity and capital resources necessary to fund its operations.

Management believes that liquidity needs for future growth through at least the next 12 months can be met by cash flow from operations generated by the existing portfolio and/or additional borrowings against the Credit Agreement (see Note 7).

Financial Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

As of April 24, 2023, the Company is not experiencing any material impact from the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, our business has been, and may in the future be, impacted by COVID-19 or any similar pandemic or health crisis, and this could affect our results of operations, financial condition, or cash flow in the future.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

The Company does not have any off-balance sheet arrangements.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

The information required by Item 7A is not required to be provided by issuers that satisfy the definition of “smaller reporting company” under SEC rules.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

Consolidated Financial Statements

Our Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm is Grant Thornton LLP (PCAOB ID: 248)

The reports of the Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, Consolidated Financial Statements and Schedules are set forth beginning on F-1.

FLEXSHOPPER, INC.

CONTENTS

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Board of Directors and Stockholders

Flexshopper Inc.

Opinion on the financial statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of FlexShopper, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2022, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2022, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical audit matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts on Lease Receivables

As described further in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company records an allowance on lease receivables with a corresponding reduction to lease revenue and fees. The Company determines the amount of allowance to recognize based upon historical and current customer collections as a portion of its gross customer billings.

The principal consideration for our determination that the allowance on lease receivables is a critical audit matter is the high degree of subjectivity that is involved in evaluating the reasonableness of management’s estimate, including collection rate assumptions used in the allowance model that derive the expected future customer payments.

Our audit procedures related to the allowance for doubtful accounts on lease receivables included the following, among others:

Loan Receivables at Fair Value

As described further in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company records its loan receivables at fair value on a recurring basis with changes in fair value recognized as a component of loan revenues and fees. The Company determines the fair value of loan receivables using a discounted cash flow model based on the estimated amount and timing of expected future cash flows.

The principal consideration for our determination that the fair value measurement of loan receivables is a critical audit matter is the high degree of subjectivity that is involved in evaluating the reasonableness of management’s estimate, including the discount rate, prepayment rate, default rate and loss severity assumptions.

Our audit procedures related to the fair value measurement of loan receivables included the following, among others:

Business Combination- Valuation of acquired identifiable intangible assets

As discussed in Note 14 to the consolidated financial statements, in December 2022, the Company closed a transaction pursuant to an asset purchase agreement. In consideration for the purchase of the net assets, the Company issued an adjustable promissory note primarily in return for a portfolio of consumer loans, the assumption of the credit facility financing the consumer loans, intangible assets and cash. The Company recorded a bargain purchase gain as a result of the transaction as the fair value of the net assets acquired exceeds the fair value of the purchase price consideration. We identified the valuation of the identifiable intangible assets to be a critical audit matter as the accounting estimates are subject to a high level of estimation. There is inherent uncertainty and subjectivity related to management’s judgments and assumptions regarding the future cash flows generated from the assets acquired.

The principal considerations for our determination that the valuation of acquired intangible assets is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when determining assumptions used in the fair value measurement of acquired identifiable intangible assets, (ii) the high degree of auditor judgment and subjectivity in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumptions relating to the projected forecasted information including revenue growth, discount rate and customer attrition rate and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.

Our audit procedures related to the fair value measurement of the identifiable intangible assets included the following, among others:

Income Taxes

As discussed in Note 2 and Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company records a valuation allowance to reduce the deferred tax asset when a judgment is made, that is considered more likely than not, that a tax benefit will not be realized. The ultimate realization of the deferred tax asset is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which those temporary differences will become deductible. The Company assesses the need for a valuation allowance by evaluating both positive and negative evidence that exists. We identified the realizability of the federal deferred tax asset to be a critical audit matter.

The principal consideration for our determination that the realizability of the deferred tax asset is a critical audit matter is that the forecast of future taxable income is an accounting estimate subject to a high level of estimation. There is inherent uncertainty and subjectivity related to management’s judgments and assumptions regarding the Company’s future financial performance which is complex in nature and requires significant auditor judgment.

Our audit procedures related to the realizability of the federal deferred tax asset included the following, among others:

/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2022.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

April 24, 2023

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of

FlexShopper, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of FlexShopper Inc., and Subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and the related statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year then ended and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ EisnerAmper LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor from 2014 to 2022.

EISNERAMPER LLP

Iselin, New Jersey

March 30, 2022

FLEXSHOPPER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

FLEXSHOPPER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

FLEXSHOPPER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

FLEXSHOPPER, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021

The accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements are an integral part of these statements.

FLEXSHOPPER, INC.

Notes To Consolidated Financial Statements

For the year ended December 30, 2022 and 2021

1. BUSINESS

FlexShopper, Inc. (the “Company”) is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware in 2006. The Company owns 100% of FlexShopper, LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company, owns 100% of FlexLending, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and owns 100% of Flex Revolution, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. The Company is a holding corporation with no operations except for those conducted by its subsidiaries FlexShopper, LLC, FlexLending, LLC and Flex Revolution, LLC.

In January 2015, in connection with the Credit Agreement entered in March 2015 (see Note 7), FlexShopper 1 LLC and FlexShopper 2 LLC were organized as wholly owned Delaware subsidiaries of FlexShopper LLC to conduct operations. FlexShopper Inc, together with its subsidiaries, are hereafter referred to as “FlexShopper.”

FlexShopper, LLC provides durable goods to consumers on a lease-to-own basis (“LTO”). After receiving a signed consumer lease, the Company then funds the leased item by purchasing the item from the Company’s merchant partner and leasing it to the consumer.

FlexLending, LLC participates in a consumer finance program offered by a third-party bank partner. The third-party originates unsecured consumer loans through strategic sales channels. Under this program, FlexLending, LLC purchases a participation interest in each of the loans originated by the third-party.

Flex Revolution, LLC operates a direct origination model for consumers in 11 states. In the direct origination model, applicants who apply and obtain a loan through our platform are underwritten, approved, and funded directly by the Company.

2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Principles of Consolidation - The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries after elimination of intercompany balances and transactions.

Estimates - The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Segment Information - Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is available between which resources are allocated by the chief operating decision maker. The Company’s chief operating decision maker is the chief executive officer. The Company has one operating and reportable segment that include all the Company’s financial services, which is consistent with the current organizational structure.

Cash and Cash Equivalents – The Company considers all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company maintains cash and cash equivalents with high-quality financial institutions, which at times exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance limits. While the Company monitors daily the cash balances in its operating accounts and adjusts the balances as appropriate, these balances could be impacted if one or more of the financial institutions with which the Company deposits fails or is subject to other adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets. To date, the Company has experienced no loss or lack of access to its invested cash or cash equivalents; however, no assurance can be provided that access to invested cash and cash equivalents will not be impacted by adverse conditions in the financial and credit markets. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company had no cash equivalents.

Restricted Cash – The Company classifies all cash whose use is limited by contractual provisions as restricted cash. Restricted cash as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 consists primarily of cash required by our third-party banking partner to cover obligations related to loan participation.

The reconciliation of cash and restricted cash is as follows:

Revenue Recognition - Merchandise is leased to customers pursuant to lease purchase agreements which provide for weekly lease terms with non-refundable lease payments. Generally, the customer has the right to acquire title either through a 90-day same as cash option, an early purchase option, or through completion of all required lease payments, generally 52 weeks. On any current lease, customers have the option to cancel the agreement in accordance with lease terms and return the merchandise. Customer agreements are accounted for as operating leases with lease revenues recognized in the month they are due on the accrual basis of accounting. Revenue for lease payments received prior to their due date is deferred and is recognized as revenue in the period to which the payments relate. Revenues from leases and sales are reported net of sales taxes.

Lease Receivables and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts - FlexShopper seeks to collect amounts owed under its leases from each customer on a weekly or biweekly basis by charging their bank accounts or credit cards. Lease receivables are principally comprised of lease payments currently owed to FlexShopper which are past due, as FlexShopper has been unable to successfully collect in the aforementioned manner and therefore the Company has an in-house and near-shore team to collect on the past due amounts. FlexShopper maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts, under which FlexShopper’s policy is to record an allowance for estimated uncollectible charges, primarily based on historical collection experience that considers both the aging of the lease and the origination channel. Other qualitative factors are considered in estimating the allowance, such as seasonality, underwriting changes and other business trends. We believe our allowance is adequate to absorb all expected losses. The lease receivables balances consisted of the following as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

The allowance is a significant percentage of the balance because FlexShopper does not charge off any customer account until it has exhausted all collection efforts with respect to each account, including attempts to repossess items. Lease receivables balances charged off against the allowance were $72,044,958 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022, and $34,777,881 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

Lease Merchandise, net - Until all payment obligations for ownership are satisfied under the lease agreement, the Company maintains ownership of the lease merchandise. Lease merchandise consists primarily of residential furniture, consumer electronics, computers, appliances and household accessories and is recorded at cost net of accumulated depreciation. The Company depreciates leased merchandise using the straight-line method over the applicable agreement period for a consumer to acquire ownership, generally twelve months with no salvage value. Upon transfer of ownership of merchandise to customers resulting from satisfaction of their lease obligations, the Company reflects the undepreciated portion of the lease merchandise as depreciation expense and the related cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from lease merchandise. For lease merchandise returned either voluntarily or through repossession, the Company provides an impairment reserve for the undepreciated balance of the merchandise net of any estimated salvage value with a corresponding charge to depreciation and impairment of lease merchandise. The cost, accumulated depreciation and impairment reserve related to such merchandise are written off upon determination that no salvage value is obtainable.

The net lease merchandise balances consisted of the following as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

Loan receivables at fair value – The Company elected the fair value option on its entire loan and loan participation receivables portfolio. As such, loan receivables are carried at fair value in the consolidated balance sheets with changes in fair value recorded in the consolidated statements of operations. Accrued and unpaid interest and fees are included in loan receivables at fair value in the consolidated balance sheets. Management believes the reporting of these receivables at fair value method closely approximates the true economics of the loan.

Interest and fees are discontinued when loan receivables become contractually 120 or more days past due. The Company charges-off loans at the earlier of when the loans are determined to be uncollectible or when the loans are 120 days contractually past due. Recoveries on loan receivables that were previously charged off are recognized when cash is received. Changes in the fair value of loan receivables include the impact of current period charge offs associated with these receivables. 

The Company estimates the fair value of the loan receivables using a discounted cash flow analysis at an individual loan level to more accurately predict future payments. The Company adjusts expected cash flows for estimated losses and servicing costs over the estimated duration of the underlying assets. These adjustments are determined using historical data and include appropriate consideration of recent trends and anticipated future performance. Future cash flows are discounted using a rate of return that the Company believes a market participant would require. Model results may be adjusted by management if the Company does not believe the output reflects the fair value of the instrument, as defined under U.S. GAAP. The models are updated at each measurement date to capture any changes in internal factors such as nature, term, volume, payment trends, remaining time to maturity, and portfolio mix, as well as changes in underwriting or observed trends expected to impact future performance.

Further details concerning loan receivables at fair value are presented within “Fair Value Measurement” section in this Note.

Net changes in the fair value of loan receivables included in the consolidated statements of operations in the line “loan revenues and fees, net of changes in fair value” were a loss of $9,559,979 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and a gain of $248,984 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

Lease Accounting - The Company accounts for leases in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 842 Leases (Topic 842). Under Topic 842, lessees are required to recognize leases at the commencement date as a lease liability, which is a lessee’s obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease measured on a discounted basis, and a right-to-use asset, which is an asset that represents the lessee’s right to use or control the use of a specified asset for the lease term. For more information on leases for which the Company is lessee, refer to Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements. Under the same Topic, lessors are also required to classify leases. All customer agreements are considered operating leases, and the Company currently does not have any sales-type or direct financing leases as a lessor. An operating lease with a customer results in the recognition of lease income on a straight-line basis, while the underlying leased asset remains on the lessor’s balance sheet and continues to depreciate. The breakout of lease revenues and fees, net of lessor bad debt expense, that ties to the consolidated statements of operations is shown below: 

Deferred Debt Issuance Costs - Debt issuance costs incurred in conjunction with the Credit Agreement entered into on March 6, 2015 and subsequent amendments are offset against the outstanding balance of the loan payable and are amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining term of the related debt, which approximates the effective interest method. Amortization, which is included in interest expense, was $227,568 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $213,814 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

Debt issuance costs incurred in conjunction with the subordinated Promissory Notes to related parties are offset against the outstanding balance of the loan payable and are amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining term of the related debt, which approximates the effective interest method. Amortization, which is included in interest expense, was $1,274 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $7,002 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021

Intangible Assets – Intangible assets consist of a patent on the Company’s LTO payment method at check-out for third party e-commerce sites and of assets acquired in connection with Revolution Transaction (See Note 14). The patent is stated at cost less accumulated amortization. Patent costs are amortized by using the straight-line method over the legal life, or if shorter, the useful life of the patent, which has been estimated to be ten years.

In the Revolution Transaction, the Company identified intangible assets for the franchisee contract-based agreements, the related non-compete agreements, the Liberty Loan brand, the non-contractual customer relationships associated with the corporate locations and the list of previous customers. The franchisee contract-based agreements relate to the assignment of agreements with Liberty Tax franchisees in which their locations and staff are used to assist in the origination and servicing of a loan portfolio in exchange for a share of the net revenue. In addition, there is non-compete embedded in these agreements. The Liberty Loan brand intangible asset relates to the value associated with the established brands acquired in the transaction that would otherwise need to be licensed. The non-contractual customer relationship intangible asset is the value of the customer relationships for the corporate stores acquired in the transaction. The customer list intangible asset relates to the value of valuable customers information that will be used to market additional products. The franchisee contract-based agreement, the Liberty Loan brand and the non-compete intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over the expected useful life of the assets of ten years. The non-contractual customer relationship intangible asset is amortized on a straight-line basis over a five-year estimated useful life. The customer list is amortized on a straight-line basis over a three-year estimated useful life.

For intangible assets with definite lives, tests for impairment must be performed if conditions exist that indicate the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Intangible assets amortization expense was $150,505 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $3,076 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

Property and Equipment - Property and equipment are recorded at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is recognized over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets on a straight-line basis, ranging from 2 to 7 years. Repairs and maintenance expenditures are expensed as incurred, unless such expenses extend the useful life of the asset, in which case they are capitalized. Depreciation and amortization expense for property and equipment was $4,037,936 and $2,786,109 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively

Software Costs – Costs related to developing or obtaining internal-use software incurred during the preliminary project and post-implementation stages of an internal use software project are expensed as incurred and certain costs incurred in the project’s application development stage are capitalized as property and equipment. The Company expenses costs related to the planning and operating stages of a website. Costs associated with minor enhancements and maintenance for the website are included in expenses as incurred. Direct costs incurred in the website’s development stage are capitalized as property and equipment. Capitalized software costs amounted to $5,240,437 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $2,816,939 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021. The Company wrote off $4,361 of capitalized development costs in 2021. Capitalized software amortization expense was $2,907,435 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $2,317,626 twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

Data Costs - The Company buys data from different vendors upon receipt of an application. The data costs directly used to make underwriting decisions are expensed as incurred. Certain data costs that are probable to provide future economic benefit to the Company are capitalized and amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives. The probability to provide future economic benefit of the data cost assets is estimated based upon future usage of the information in different areas and products of the Company. At the beginning of the third quarter of 2021, the Company made several changes including the implementation of a more disciplined process around data procurement and storage. Those improvements triggered a change in the estimate of the probability to provide future economic benefit of some data cost.

Capitalized data costs amounted to $1,640,885 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $884,160 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021. Capitalized data costs amortization expense was $581,173 for twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and $86,717 for twelve months ended December 31, 2021. 

Capitalized data costs net of its amortization are included in the consolidated balance sheets in other assets, net.

Operating Expenses - Operating expenses include corporate overhead expenses such as salaries, stock-based compensation, insurance, occupancy, and other administrative expenses.

Marketing Costs - Marketing costs, primarily consisting of advertising, are charged to expense as incurred. Direct acquisition costs, primarily consisting of commissions earned based on lease originations, are capitalized and amortized over the life of the lease.

Per Share Data - Per share data is computed by use of the two-class method as a result of outstanding Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock, which participates in dividends with the common stock and accordingly has participation rights in undistributed earnings as if all such earnings had been distributed during the period (see Note 8). Under such method income available to common shareholders is computed by deducting both dividends declared or, if not declared, accumulated on Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock from net income. Loss attributable to common shareholders is computed by increasing net loss by such dividends. Where the Company has a net loss, as the participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock has no contractual obligation to share in the losses of the Company, there is no loss allocation between common stock and Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock.

Basic earnings per common share is computed by dividing net income/ (loss) available to common shareholders reduced by any dividends paid or declared on common and participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock by the total of the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period.

Diluted earnings per share is based on the more dilutive of the if-converted method (which assumes conversion of the participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock as of the beginning of the period) or the two-class method (which assumes that the participating Series 1 Convertible Preferred Stock is not converted) plus the potential impact of dilutive non-participating Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock, options, performance share units and warrants. The dilutive effect of Series 2 Convertible Preferred Stock is computed using the if-converted method. The dilutive effect of options, performance share units and warrants are computed using the treasury stock method, which assumes the repurchase of common shares at the average market price during the period. Under the treasury stock method, options, performance share units and warrants will have a dilutive effect when the average price of common stock during the period exceeds the exercise price of options, performance share units or warrants. When there is a loss from continuing operations, potential common shares are not included in the computation of diluted loss per share since they have an anti-dilutive effect.

The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per common share for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

Stock-Based Compensation - The fair value of transactions in which the Company exchanges its equity instruments for employee and non-employee services (share-based payment transactions) is recognized as a compensation expense in the financial statements as services are performed.

Compensation expense for stock options is determined by reference to the fair value of an award on the date of grant and is recognized on a straight-line basis over the vesting period. The Company has elected to use the Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) pricing model to determine the fair value of all stock option awards.

Compensation expense for performance share units is recognized on an accelerated basis over the vesting period based on the Company’s projected assessment of the level of performance that will be achieved and earned. The fair value of performance share units is based on the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant (see Note 9).

Fair Value of Financial Instruments - The carrying value of certain financial instruments such as cash, lease receivable, and accounts payable approximate their fair value due to their short-term nature. The carrying value of loans payable under the Credit Agreement and the carrying value of promissory notes to related parties approximates fair value based upon their interest rates, which approximate current market interest rates.

The Company utilizes the fair value option on its entire loan receivables portfolio purchased from its bank partner and for the portfolio acquired in the Revolution Transaction (See Note 14).

Fair Value Measurements- The Company uses a hierarchical framework that prioritizes and ranks the market observability of inputs used in its fair value measurements. Market price observability is affected by a number of factors, including the type of asset or liability and the characteristics specific to the asset or liability being measured. Assets and liabilities with readily available, active, quoted market prices or for which fair value can be measured from actively quoted prices generally are deemed to have a higher degree of market price observability and a lesser degree of judgment used in measuring fair value. The Company classifies the inputs used to measure fair value into one of three levels as follows:

Observable inputs are based on market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs are based on the Company’s market assumptions. Unobservable inputs require significant management judgment or estimation.

The Company’s financial instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 is as follows:

The Company primarily estimates the fair value of its loan receivables portfolio using discounted cash flow models. The models use inputs, such as estimated losses, servicing costs and discount rates, that are unobservable but reflect the Company’s best estimates of the assumptions a market participant would use to calculate fair value. Certain unobservable inputs may, in isolation, have either a directionally consistent or opposite impact on the fair value of the financial instrument for a given change in that input. An increase to the net loss rate, servicing cost, or discount rate would decrease the fair value of the Company’s loan receivables. When multiple inputs are used within the valuation techniques for loan receivables, a change in one input in a certain direction may be offset by an opposite change from another input.

The company estimates the fair value of the promissory note related to acquisition using discounted cash flow model. The model uses inputs including estimated cash flows and a discount rate.

The following describes the primary inputs to the discounted cash flow models that require significant judgement:

For Level 3 assets carried at fair value measured on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs, the following table presents a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

For Level 3 assets carried at fair value measured on a recurring basis using significant unobservable inputs, the following table presents quantitative information about the inputs used in the fair value measurement as of December 10, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

Other relevant data as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 concerning loan receivables at fair value are as follows:

Income Taxes - Deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the estimated future tax effects of net operating loss carryforwards and temporary differences between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and their respective financial reporting amounts measured at the current enacted tax rates. The Company records a valuation allowance for its deferred tax assets when management concludes that it is not more likely than not that such assets will be recognized.

The Company recognizes a tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the consolidated financial statements from such a position are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. As of December 31, 2022, and 2021, the Company had not recorded any unrecognized tax benefits. Interest and penalties related to liabilities for uncertain tax positions will be charged to interest and operating expenses.

Reclassifications

Certain prior year balances have been reclassified to conform with the current year presentation. These reclassifications primarily include separating the prepaid expenses, right of use asset and loan revenues and fees, net of changes in fair value as separate line items.  

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-13, as amended “Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326)” revises the methodology for measuring credit losses on financial instruments and the timing of when such losses are recorded. The effective date of Topic 326 for public companies that are considered smaller reporting companies as defined by the SEC as for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is planning to adopt this standard on January 1, 2023. The Company does not expect the provisions of Topic 326 to have a material effect on its Consolidated Financial Statements as this Topic does not cover operating lease receivables.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform: Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting (“ASU 2020-04”). The standard provides temporary guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform primarily resulting from the cessation of the publication of certain tenors of the London Interbank Overnight (“LIBOR”) rate on December 31, 2021, with complete elimination of the publication of the LIBOR rate by June 30, 2023. The amendments in ASU 2020-04 are elective and apply to all entities that have contracts referencing the LIBOR rate.

On October 21, 2022, the Amendment No 16 to Credit Agreement between FlexShopper 2, LLC, as borrower, and Powerscourt Investments 32, LP, as administrative agent and lender, replaced LIBOR reference in the Credit Agreement with SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate), as the basis for the interest payments under the Credit Agreement. Therefore, there is no impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company related to the adoption of ASU 2020-04. The Company does not expect this standard to have a material effect on its Consolidated Financial Statements.

In October 2021, the FASB issued ASU 2021-08, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers (“ASU 2021-08”), which requires contract assets and contract liabilities (e.g., deferred revenue) acquired in a business combination to be recognized and measured in accordance with ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, rather than at its assumed acquisition date fair value. For public companies, this ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within those fiscal years and an early adoption is permitted. The Company does not expect this standard to have a material effect on its Consolidated Financial Statements.

3. LEASES