Elevate Credit Announces Third Quarter 2021 Earnings

ELEVATE CREDIT ANNOUNCES THIRD QUARTER 2021 RESULTS1

Strong Quarterly Revenue and Loan Growth

$25 Million Increase to Share Repurchase Program

FORT WORTH, TX - November 2, 2021 - Elevate Credit, Inc. (NYSE: ELVT) ("Elevate" or the "Company"), a leading tech-enabled provider of innovative and responsible online credit solutions for non-prime consumers, today announced results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021.

"I am very pleased by the tremendous growth on our platform over the last quarter," said Jason Harvison, Elevate CEO. "Consumer demand, combined with many of the enhancements we have made over the last year, has led to breakout loan growth for Elevate. While short-term earnings will be compressed due to growth, we are very excited for the opportunities ahead in 2022."

Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results2

• Combined loans receivable - principal: Combined loans receivable - principal totaled $512.9 million at September 30, 2021, a sequential quarter increase of 28% from $399.3 million at June 30, 2021 and an increase of $135.7 million, or 36%, from $377.2 million at September 30, 2020. The portfolio experienced growth in all three loan products during the third quarter of 2021.
• Revenues: Revenues increased 20% during the third quarter of 2021 to $112.8 million, compared to $94.2 million for the third quarter of 2020. The increase in quarterly revenue is primarily attributable to higher average combined loans receivable-principal resulting from growth in all products year over year.
• Credit quality: The combined loan loss reserve at September 30, 2021 totaled $56.2 million, or 10.5% of combined loans receivable compared to 12.8% a year ago reflecting the continued strong credit performance of the loan portfolio. The portfolio continues to perform within established credit targets.

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1Our 2021 results and comparable periods are presented on a continuing operations basis and exclude the results of discontinued operations in the UK, unless otherwise stated. Elevate exited the UK market in the second quarter of 2020.

2Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted earnings (loss), Adjusted diluted earnings per share, combined loans receivable - principal, combined loans receivable, and combined loan loss reserve are non-GAAP financial measures. These terms are defined elsewhere in this release. Please see the schedules appearing later in this release for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

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• Net income (loss) and Adjusted earnings (loss): Net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2021 totaled $(11.0) million compared to net income of $21.1 million in the third quarter of 2020. Adjusted earnings (loss) was $(9.4) million compared to $17.4 million in the third quarter of 2020. Net loss and Adjusted loss in the third quarter of 2021 resulted from the upfront costs associated with credit provisioning and direct marketing expense that are incurred with the increased loan origination volume experienced during the quarter. The third quarter of 2020 net income is reflective of minimum loan origination volume and a declining loan portfolio which was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related government stimulus. The number of new and former customer loans originated during the third quarter of 2021 totaled approximately 88,000 loans, almost four times the new and former loans originated in the prior year third quarter.
  Fully diluted earnings (loss) per share for the third quarter of 2021 totaled $(0.33), a decrease from $0.52 per fully diluted share a year ago. Adjusted fully diluted earnings (loss) per share for the third quarter of 2021 totaled $(0.28), a decrease from $0.42 per fully diluted share a year ago. See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures of adjusted earnings (loss) and adjusted diluted earnings (loss) per share.
• Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA totaled $3.0 million in the third quarter of 2021, down from $39.8 million in the third quarter of 2020. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for the third quarter of 2021 was 2.7%, down from 42.3% in the prior-year third quarter due to the compressed margins experienced with a growing loan portfolio.

Year-to-date 2021 Financial Results2

• Revenues: Revenues decreased during the nine months ended September 30, 2021 to $287.1 million, compared to $374.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. The decrease in revenue is primarily attributable to a lower average combined loans receivable-principal coupled with lower effective APRs earned on the loan portfolio.
• Net income (loss): Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 totaled $(1.3) million, down $26.0 million compared to $24.7 million in the first nine months of 2020. Fully diluted earnings (loss) per share for the first nine months of 2021 totaled $(0.04), a decrease from $0.58 per fully diluted share a year ago.
• Adjusted earnings: Adjusted earnings were $248 thousand and $45.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, down $45.5 million from the prior year period. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 totaled $0.01 compared to $1.07 for the comparative period in 2020. See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures of adjusted earnings and adjusted diluted earnings per share.
• Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA totaled $46.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, down from $120.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for the first nine months of 2021 was 16.1%, down from 32.0% in the prior-year first nine months due to the compressed margins experienced with a growing loan portfolio.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As recently announced, the Company closed on a $50 million financing facility, with an ability to increase the facility up to $100 million, to fund continued growth of the Today Card product. This new facility provides a lower cost of capital for the Today Card product, which has a stated APR between 29%-36%, while providing diversification in the Company's lending facilities.

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Interest expense in the third quarter of 2021 declined to $9.5 million compared to $11.6 million in the third quarter of 2020. The Company paid down its debt facilities by over $97 million in January 2021, while drawing down a net $84.5 million on its debt facilities to fund loan growth in the third quarter of 2021. Total debt at September 30, 2021 was $437.5 million compared to $440.6 million at September 30, 2020. With the increase in borrowings on the facilities during the recent quarter, the Company's average cost of funds on these facilities has decreased to 9.30% at September 30, 2021 as compared to 10.15% at September 30, 2020.

On October 28, 2021, the Company's Board of Directors authorized a $25 million increase to the Company's existing $55 million common stock repurchase program, providing for the repurchase of up to $80 million of the Company's common stock through July 31, 2024. In addition, the Board of Director's approved an increase in the annual fiscal limit of repurchases from $25 million to $35 million.

During the third quarter of 2021, the Company purchased $5.7 million of common shares (1.6 million common shares) under the Company's previously approved common stock repurchase program or roughly 5% of common shares outstanding at the beginning of the quarter. As of September 30, 2021, the Company has repurchased approximately 31% of all common shares issued and outstanding since August 2019 under this common stock repurchase program.

Financial Outlook

For the full year 2021, the Company previously issued year-end combined loans receivable - principal guidance of $545 million to $575 million and it reaffirms this guidance. The Company also expects total revenue of $400 million to $420 million, net loss to be $(12.5) to $(17.5) million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $40 million to $50 million for the full year 2021.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2021 financial results on Tuesday, November 2, at 4:00 pm Central Time / 5:00 pm Eastern Time. Interested parties may access the conference call live over the phone by dialing 1-877-407-0792 (domestic) or 1-201-689-8263 (international) and requesting the Elevate Credit Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. Participants are asked to dial in a few minutes prior to the call to register for the event. The conference call will also be webcast live through Elevate's Investor Relations website at https://investors.elevate.com/corporate-profile/.

An audio replay of the conference call will be available approximately three hours after the conference call until 11:59 pm ET on November 16, 2021, and can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (domestic) or 1-412-317-6671 (international), and providing the passcode 13723904, or by accessing Elevate's website.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements contain words such as "may," "will," "might," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "could," "would," "estimate," "continue," "pursue," or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, and may include (without limitation) information regarding the Company's expectations, goals or intentions regarding future performance. These statements may include words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "plan," "intend," "believe," "may," "will," "should," "likely" and other words and terms of similar meaning. The forward-looking statements include statements regarding: our expectations of future financial performance including our outlook for full fiscal year 2021 (including all statements under the heading "Financial Outlook"); our potential to drive long-term earnings growth; and the Company's targeted customer acquisition cost range of $250-$300.Forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in any such statement. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and various policies being implemented to prevent its spread on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations; the Company's limited operating history in an evolving industry; the Company's ability to grow revenue and maintain or achieve consistent profitability in the future; new laws and regulations in the consumer lending industry in many jurisdictions that could restrict the consumer lending products and services the Company offers, impose additional compliance costs on the Company, render the Company's current operations unprofitable or even prohibit the Company's current operations; scrutiny by regulators and payment processors of certain online lenders' access to the Automated Clearing House system to disburse and collect loan proceeds and repayments; a lack of sufficient debt financing at acceptable prices or disruptions in the credit markets; the impact of competition in our industry and innovation by our competitors; our ability to prevent security breaches, disruption in service and comparable events that could compromise the personal and confidential information held in our data systems, reduce the attractiveness of our platform or adversely impact our ability to service loans; and other risks related to litigation, compliance and regulation. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ are discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" and in other sections of the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and in the Company's other current and periodic reports filed from time to time with the SEC. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

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About Elevate

Elevate (NYSE: ELVT), together with the banks that license its marketing and technology services, has originated $9.5 billion in non-prime credit to more than 2.6 million non-prime consumers to date and has saved its customers more than $8.8 billion versus the cost of payday loans. Its responsible, tech-enabled online credit solutions provide immediate relief to customers today and help them build a brighter financial future. The company is committed to rewarding borrowers' good financial behavior with features like interest rates that can go down over time, free financial training and free credit monitoring. Elevate's suite of groundbreaking credit products includes RISE, Elastic and Today Card. For more information, please visit http://corporate.elevate.com.

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or

Media Inquiries:

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