Cash America 2011 Annual Report Download - page 52

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from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1990 and an undergraduate degree in Marketing from Kansas State
University.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
The Company’s business and future results may be affected by a number of risks and uncertainties that should
be considered carefully in evaluating the Company. There may be additional risks and uncertainties to those listed
below that are not currently known to the Company or that management currently deems immaterial that may also
impair the Company’s business operations. The occurrence of one or more of the events listed below could have a
significant adverse affect on the Company’s business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash
flows.
Risks Related to the Company’s Business and Industry
Adverse changes in laws or regulations affecting the Company’s products and services could negatively impact the
Company’s operations.
The Company’s products and services are subject to extensive regulation and supervision under various federal,
state, local and foreign laws, ordinances and regulations. In addition, as the Company develops new products and
services, it will become subject to additional federal, state, local and foreign laws, ordinances and regulations. Failure to
comply with applicable laws and regulations could subject the Company to regulatory enforcement action that could
result in the assessment against the Company of civil, monetary or other penalties. The Company faces the risk that
restrictions or limitations resulting from the enactment, change, or interpretation of laws and regulations could
negatively affect the Company’s business activities or effectively eliminate some of the Company’s current loan
products.
In particular, consumer loans have come under increased regulatory scrutiny in the United States in recent years
that has resulted in increasingly restrictive regulations and legislation that makes offering such loans in certain states less
profitable or unattractive to the Company. Regulations adopted by some states require that all borrowers of certain
short-term loan products be listed on a database and limit the number of such loans a borrower may have outstanding.
Other regulations adversely impact the availability of the Company’s consumer loan products to active duty military
personnel and their immediate families. Legislative or regulatory activities may also limit the amount of interest and
fees to levels that do not permit the offering of consumer loans to be feasible or may limit the number of consumer loans
that customers may receive or have outstanding.
Certain consumer advocacy groups and federal and state legislators have also asserted that laws and regulations
should be tightened so as to severely limit, if not eliminate, the availability of certain short-term consumer loan products
to consumers, despite the significant demand for it. In particular, both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S.
federal government continue to receive significant pressure from consumer advocates and other industry opposition
groups, and those governmental branches have recently exhibited an increased interest in debating legislation that could
further regulate short-term consumer loan products. The U.S. Congress has debated, and may in the future adopt,
proposed legislation that could, among other things, place a cap on the effective annual percentage rate on consumer
loan transactions (which could encompass both the Company’s consumer loan and pawn businesses), place a cap on the
dollar amount of fees that may be charged for consumer loans, ban loan renewals (where the customer agrees to pay the
current finance charge on a loan for the right to make payment of the outstanding principal balance of such loan at a later
date plus an additional finance charge) or limit the number of loan renewals and the rates to be charged for loan
renewals, require the Company to offer an extended payment plan, allow for only minimal origination fees for advances,
limit renewals and the rates to be charged for renewals, require short-term lenders to be bonded or require lenders to
report consumer loan activity to databases designed to monitor or restrict consumer borrowing activity.