choose to direct their business elsewhere. Those competitive pressures could also result in us reducing the origination fees or interest we charge to our customers. All of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future growth.
Security breaches of customers’ confidential information that we store may harm our reputation and expose us to liability.
We store our customers’ bank information, credit information, and other sensitive data. Any accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access could cause the theft and criminal use of this data. Security breaches or unauthorized access to confidential information could also expose us to liability related to the loss of the information, time-consuming and expensive litigation, and negative publicity. If security measures are breached because of employee or third-party error, malfeasance, or otherwise, or if design flaws in our software are exposed and exploited, and, as a result, a third party obtains unauthorized access to any of our customers’ data, our relationships with our customers will be severely damaged, and we could incur significant liability.
Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until they are launched against a target, we and our third-party hosting facilities may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. In addition, many states have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of data security breaches involving their personal data. These mandatory disclosures regarding a security breach are costly to implement and often lead to widespread negative publicity, which may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures. Any security breach, whether actual or perceived, could harm our reputation and cause us to lose customers.
The collection, processing, storage, use, and disclosure of personal data could give rise to liabilities as a result of governmental regulation, conflicting legal requirements, or differing views of personal privacy rights.
We receive, collect, process, transmit, store, and use a large volume of personally identifiable information and other sensitive data from customers and potential customers. There are federal, state, and foreign laws regarding privacy, recording telephone calls, and the storing, sharing, use, disclosure, and protection of personally identifiable information and sensitive data. Specifically, personally identifiable information is increasingly subject to legislation and regulations to protect the privacy of personal information that is collected, processed, and transmitted. Any violations of these laws and regulations may require us to change our business practices or operational structure, address legal claims, and sustain monetary penalties, or other harms to our business.
The regulatory framework for privacy issues in the United States and internationally is constantly evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. The interpretation and application of such laws is often uncertain, and such laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner inconsistent with other binding laws or with our current policies and practices. If either we or our third-party service providers are unable to address any privacy concerns, even if unfounded, or to comply with applicable laws and regulations, it could result in additional costs and liability, damage our reputation, and harm our business.
We rely on data centers to deliver our services. Any disruption of service at these data centers could interrupt or delay our ability to deliver our service to our customers.
We currently serve our customers from third-party data center hosting facilities. The continuous availability of our service depends on the operations of these facilities, on a variety of network service providers, on third-party vendors, and on data center operations staff. In addition, we depend on the ability of our third-party providers to protect the facilities against damage or interruption from natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, criminal acts, and similar events. If there are any lapses of service or damage to the facilities, we could experience lengthy interruptions in our service as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging new facilities and services. Even with current disaster recovery arrangements, our business could be harmed.
We designed our system infrastructure and own or lease the computer hardware used for our services. Design and mechanical errors or failure to follow operations protocols and procedures could cause our