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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Legal Proceedings From time to time, the Company is party to various legal and regulatory proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. Some of the proceedings to which the Company is currently a party are described below. The Company believes it has meritorious defenses to all of the claims described below, and intends to vigorously defend against the claims. However, these proceedings are still developing and due to the inherent uncertainty in litigation, regulatory and similar adversarial proceedings, there can be no guarantee that the Company will ultimately be successful in these proceedings, or in others to which it is currently a party. Substantial losses from these proceedings or the costs of defending them could have a material adverse impact upon the Company’s business, financial position and results of operations. The Company establishes an accrued liability for legal and regulatory proceedings when it determines that a loss is both probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. The Company continually monitors its litigation and regulatory exposure and reviews the adequacy of its legal and regulatory reserves on a quarterly basis. The amount of any loss ultimately incurred in relation to matters for which an accrual has been established may be higher or lower than the amounts accrued for such matters. At December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company had accrued $0.1 million and $175.2 million, respectively, for pending legal and regulatory matters for which it believes losses are probable and is the Company’s best estimate of its exposure to loss. The December 31, 2019 accrual includes a $175.0 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (the "FTC") discussed in more detail below, which was recorded in accrued regulatory expenses in the consolidated balance sheet. The Company records all other liabilities related to legal matters in accounts payable and accrued expenses in the consolidated balance sheet. The Company estimates that the aggregate range of reasonably possible loss in excess of accrued liabilities for such probable loss contingencies is between zero and $0.2 million. At December 31, 2020, the Company estimated that the aggregate range of loss for all material pending legal and regulatory proceedings for which a loss is reasonably possible, but less likely than probable (i.e., excluding the contingencies described in the preceding paragraph), is immaterial. Those matters for which a reasonable estimate is not possible are not included within estimated ranges and, therefore, the estimated ranges do not represent the Company’s maximum loss exposure. The Company’s estimates for legal and regulatory accruals, aggregate probable loss amounts and reasonably possible loss amounts, are all subject to the uncertainties and variables described above. Regulatory Inquiries In July 2018, the Company received civil investigative demands ("CIDs") from the FTC regarding disclosures related to lease-to-own and other financial products offered by the Company through the Aaron's Business and Progressive Leasing and whether such disclosures violate the Federal Trade Commission Act (the "FTC Act"). Although we believe such disclosures were in compliance with the FTC Act and have not admitted to any wrongdoing, in December 2019, Progressive Leasing reached an agreement in principle with the staff of the FTC with respect to a tentative settlement to resolve the FTC inquiry, pursuant to which Progressive would pay $175.0 million to the FTC. Because Progressive reached a tentative agreement with respect to the financial terms of the settlement in December 2019, the Company recognized a charge of $179.3 million, including $4.3 million of incurred legal fees. In January 2020, Progressive and the FTC staff agreed in principle on the terms of a related consent order which, among other matters, requires Progressive to undertake certain compliance-related activities, including monitoring, disclosure and reporting requirements. The proposed consent order was approved by the FTC on April 17, 2020 and approved by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on April 22, 2020. The Company paid the $175.0 million settlement amount to the FTC on April 27, 2020. The Company recognized $0.8 million of insurance recoveries during the year ended December 31, 2020 associated with certain legal fees incurred in connection with the FTC matter. In late January 2021, the Company, along with other other lease-to-own companies, received a subpoena from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (the “DFPI”) requesting the production of documents regarding the Company’s compliance with state consumer protection laws, including new legislation that went into effect on January 1, 2021. Although the Company believes it is in compliance with all applicable consumer financial laws and regulations in California, this inquiry could lead to an enforcement action and/or a consent order, and substantial costs, including legal fees, fines, penalties, and remediation expenses. While the Company intends to preserve defenses surrounding the jurisdiction of DFPI in this matter, it anticipates cooperating with the DFPI in responding to its inquiry. Litigation Matters In Stein v. Aaron's, Inc., et. al., filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 28, 2020, the plaintiffs allege that from March 2, 2018 through February 19, 2020, the Company made certain misleading public statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. The allegations underlying the lawsuit principally relate to the FTC's inquiry into disclosures related to lease-to-own and other financial products offered by the Company through its historical Aaron's Business and Progressive Leasing segments. The Company believes the claims are without merit and intends to vigorously defend against this lawsuit. The case has been transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, where the Company has filed a motion to dismiss the case and a final briefing on that motion was filed on November 17, 2020. No ruling has been made on the motion to dismiss. Other Contingencies At December 31, 2020, the Company had non-cancelable commitments primarily related to certain consulting and information technology services agreements, software licenses, hardware and software maintenance, and minimum contractually required customer loan amounts to be originated through and acquired from Vive's third-party federally insured banks of $12.3 million. Payments under these commitments are scheduled to be $9.2 million in 2021, $1.9 million in 2022, $0.6 million in 2023, $0.3 million in 2024, and $0.3 million in 2025, with no amounts committed thereafter. Management regularly assesses the Company’s insurance deductibles, monitors the Company’s litigation and regulatory exposure with the Company’s attorneys and evaluates its loss experience. The Company also enters into various contracts in the normal course of business that may subject it to risk of financial loss if counterparties fail to perform their contractual obligations. Off-Balance Sheet Risk The Company, through its Vive segment, had unfunded lending commitments totaling $287.3 million and $225.0 million as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, that do not give rise to revenues and cash flows. These unfunded commitments arise in the ordinary course of business from credit card agreements with individual cardholders that give them the ability to borrow, against unused amounts, up to the maximum credit limit assigned to their account. While these unfunded amounts represent the total available unused lines of credit, the Company does not anticipate that all cardholders will utilize their entire available line at any given point in time. Commitments to extend unsecured credit are agreements to lend to a cardholder so long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. Prior to the January 1, 2020 adoption of CECL as discussed further in Note 1, the Company recorded a reserve for losses on unfunded loan commitments, which was approximately $0.4 million as of December 31, 2019 and was included in accounts payable and accrued expenses in the consolidated balance sheet. Upon the adoption of CECL, the Company reversed the aforementioned reserve for losses on unfunded loan commitments and recorded a corresponding pre-tax increase of $0.4 million to its January 1, 2020 retained earnings balance.

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