ITEM 1    BUSINESS

OVERVIEW

Western Capital Resources, Inc. (“Western Capital Resources,” “the Company,” “we” or “us”) is a Minnesota corporation that maintains two operating segments: one provides short-term consumer loans, commonly referred to as cash advance or “payday” loans, and the other operates Cricket retail cellular wireless stores.

Payday operations are conducted under our wholly owned subsidiary Wyoming Financial Lenders, Inc. The Federal Trade Commission describes these loans as “small, short term high rate loans.” Our payday loans generally are offered and made in exchange for fees that, if treated as interest, are at a rate extraordinarily higher than prime and are made to individuals who do not typically qualify for prime rate loans. As a consequence, our loans may be considered a type of subprime loan. In Wisconsin and Colorado, the Payday division provides short-term installment loans. The installment loan product has a rate of interest significantly higher than traditional financial institutions. At December 31, 2011, we operated 52 payday lending stores in nine states, including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Our provision of payday and installment loans is typically heavily regulated by the various states in which we operate, and our payday lending and installment loan business is extremely susceptible to the adverse effects of any changes in federal or state laws and regulations that may further restrict or flatly prohibit payday lending.

Through our payday segment, we also provide title and ancillary consumer financial products and services that are complementary to our payday and installment lending business, such as check-cashing services, money transfers and money orders. Our check-cashing services involve the cashing of checks for a fee; money-transfer services involve the transfer of money by wire for a fee; and our money-orders services involve the issuing of money orders for a fee. We believe these services are complementary since customers typically come to our stores for financial reasons and to procure financial services (i.e., obtain a loan). Once the loan has been obtained, a customer may, for instance, decide to wire a payment of money or obtain a money order to satisfy a debt or other obligation. Our loans and other services are subject to state regulations (which vary from state to state), and federal and local regulations, where applicable.

Our second segment operates retail stores selling Cricket cellular phones and accessories. We are a premier Cricket dealer. Cricket phones are prepaid cellular phones that function for a period of time for a flat fee, without usage limitations and without any long-term contract or commitment required from the consumer. At December 31, 2011 we owned and operated 45 Cricket wireless retail stores in 13 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas.   While there are state regulations that affect our provision of Cricket phone products and services, our Cricket phone business is not highly susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in federal or state laws and regulations.

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, each of our major lines of business (i.e., payday and installment lending, sale of Cricket phone and accessory products and Cricket sales and service fees) generated associated revenues. In 2011, we generated approximately:

The table below summarizes our financial results and condition as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 (audited):

The above figures include an assumed preferred stock dividend relating to our Series A Convertible Preferred Stock in the amount of $2.1 million in 2011 and 2010.

Payday lending BUSINESS

General Description

The short-term consumer loans we provide are commonly referred to as “payday loans” or “cash advance” loans. Such loans are referred to as “payday loans” because they are typically made to borrowers who have no available cash and promise to repay the loan out of their next paycheck. In some cases, these same types of loans are referred to as “deferred deposit advances” because the borrowers, instead of funding repayment of the loan out of a paycheck, promise to repay the loan with their next regular fixed-income payment, such as a social security check.

When we make cash advance or “payday” loans, we provide our customers with cash in exchange for a promissory note with a maturity of generally up to four weeks that is supported by that customer’s post-dated personal check for the aggregate amount of the loan, plus a fee. During 2011, we offered payday loans typically ranging from $10 to $500, with the average loan amount being approximately $327. Approximately 75.0% of our loan transactions are made for a period of up to four weeks and approximately 25.0% of our loan transactions involve loans whose initial maturity extends beyond four weeks. To repay the payday loans, customers may pay with cash, in which case their personal check is returned to them, or allow their personal check to be presented to their bank for collection.

As part of our payday lending business, we offer short-term installment loans in Colorado and Wisconsin. In 2011 approximately 5.3% of loan revenue was derived from installment lending.

The Payday Loan Process

Customers seeking to obtain a payday loan must:

Our standard payday loan application with customers provides that we will not cash their check until the due date of the associated loan. To repay a payday loan, a customer may pay with cash, in which case their personal check is returned to them, or allow the check to be presented to the bank for collection. All of our loans are subject to state, federal, and where applicable, local regulations. State and local regulations are not uniform. Where permitted by state regulation, a customer may renew a loan after full payment in cash of the fee associated with the original loan. When applicable, a customer renewing a loan signs a new promissory note and provides us with a new check.

We require that a payday loan customer have and maintain a personal checking account for a number of reasons. First, we need to ascertain that the personal post-dated check we receive from that customer is written against a valid and existing checking account. Second, we review recent bank statements from the checking account for proof that the customer’s statements to us, and the representations made to us in the related loan agreement, relating to their employment and level of income are accurate. Third, we also review the recent bank statements for evidence of any returned checks. If an applicant had multiple returned checks on their recent bank statements, we are unlikely to extend a loan to that person.

Ordinarily, we deem items such as a recent pay stub, or a bank statement evidencing periodic deposits, as sufficient proof of current employment. We do not, however, independently verify that a borrowing customer is employed at the time of a loan. Furthermore, we do not require or request any information relating to whether a borrowing customer’s employment is on a full-time or part-time, or hourly or salaried, basis; nor do we otherwise make any independent verification regarding these kinds of employment-related facts. We make loans without proof of employment and without a recent bank statement only to repeat customers, who have not previously defaulted on loans we have made to them, in states that do not require those items as prerequisites for a loan. An employment income source is determined to be “suitable” if it appears to be valid from our review of the bank statements a borrower provides us, and any pay stubs they may also offer as evidentiary support for their employment. Generally, we do not advance a payday customer more than 25% of the monthly income that they appear to earn, based on our review of applicable documentation the customer provides to us. We apply this limitation to all of our customers and in all circumstances, including attempts to roll over loans, except for repeat customers who have had repaid all of their prior loans on time. For installment customers, we will loan up to 35% of their monthly income.

We do not undertake any formal or informal credit check of borrowers, or any review of their credit history in connection with a proposed loan transaction. When making a loan to a first-time customer, we obtain reports from a third-party vendor that summarizes recent credit requests, existing bad debt, and existing delinquencies. These reports are provided by Teletrack. If an applicant has a poor Teletrack report showing multiple recent credit requests or existing delinquencies, or more than one returned check on their recent bank statements, we are unlikely to extend a loan to that person. We do not order Teletrack reports for repeat customers.

As part of each payday loan transaction, we enter into a standardized written contract with the borrowing customer. The standardized contracts vary slightly based on differing state laws, but all of our standard contracts plainly state in simple terms the annual percentage rate (assuming the fees we charge are computed as interest) in compliance with Regulation Z, and the consequences of defaulting on the loan. We retain copies of our written contracts at the stores where the transactions are processed and also provide copies to our customers. Our standard documentation includes:

Upon completion of a loan application, the provision of proof of an existing bank account, current income, a valid driver’s license or other acceptable photo identification, and signed loan agreement and our acceptance of such agreement, the loan approval process is complete. At that point, the customer signs a promissory note and provides us with a personal post-dated check for the principal loan amount plus a specified fee. All documentation is reviewed and payday loans are approved at the store level only, barring extraordinary circumstances. Nearly all of the loans we make are “payday loans” where the borrower provides us with a personal post-dated check. All checks are drawn upon the borrower’s bank. We do not accept third-party checks in connection with a payday lending transaction. We make very few “deferred deposit advance” loans, and we estimate that fewer than one percent of our total loans during 2011 were loans of this type. In part, this is because we require reasonable proof of current employment as a condition to obtaining a loan from us.

Beyond the steps described above, we do not make any independent determination of the ability of a potential borrower to repay the loans we make to them. Instead, we rely on a borrower’s representations to us and proof regarding their employment and ownership of an active bank account, our review of their recent bank statement, and our general policy that limits payday loans to no more than 25% of a borrower’s monthly income, and 35% of an installment loan customer’s monthly income.

In general, our lending process and standards are extraordinarily different from those used by banks. To our knowledge, banks typically order and carefully review credit reports, engage in some level of analysis relating to the ability of a potential borrower to repay the loan, and will typically make independent verification of employment and earnings history through payroll deposits, phone calls, reviews of tax returns and other processes—all in an effort to minimize the risk of a loan default. As a result, we generally experience a higher default rate on our personal loans than banks do on their personal loans. At December 31, 2011, we had an aggregate of all loan types of approximately:

The Fees We Charge

The fee we charge for a payday loan varies from state to state, based on applicable regulations, and generally ranges from $15 to $22 for each whole or partial increment of $100 borrowed. We do not charge interest in connection with our payday loans but do charge interest on our short-term installment loans made in Colorado and Wisconsin. If, however, we calculate the loan fees we charge as an annual percentage rate of interest, such rate would range from 177% for a 31-day loan transacted in Kansas (on the low end) to approximately 574% for a 14-day loan in Wisconsin (on the high end), with the actual average loan amount and average actual loan fees we charge involving an imputed annual percentage rate of approximately 450% and 203% for a 14-day and 31-day loan, respectively. The term of a loan significantly affects the imputed APR of the fees we charge for our loans. For instance, when a $15 fee is charged for a two-week loan of $100, the resulting APR is 391%. When the same fee on $100 is charged for a four-week loan, the resulting APR is 195%. When our general range of payday loan fees is applied to our average 2011 loan amount of $327, the fee ranges from $46.99 to $68.92 and the APR ranges from 391% to 574% for a two-week loan and from 195% to 287% for a four-week loan. Currently, we do not charge the maximum fee permitted in all of the states where we operate. We do, however, charge a uniform fee for all transactions processed in any particular state that involve the same range of payday loan amounts and the same term.

The table below sets forth the uniform fees we charge and imputed APRs on non-interest payday loans in the states where we operated during 2011:

Of the nine states in which we presently operate, three states (South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin) do not limit the payday loan fees we may charge or the term (i.e., the length) of the loans we may offer our customers. In addition, Utah does not limit the amount we may loan to customers in a payday lending transaction.

In Colorado, we offer short-term installment loans from $100 to $500 payable in six equal monthly payments. Loan terms include a 45% annual interest rate, an origination fee of 20% on loan amounts up to $300 and 7.5% on loan amounts thereafter and a monthly maintenance fee. In 2011, we introduced a short-term installment product in Wisconsin. Wisconsin installment loans are payable over four to six months at an annual percentage rate of approximately 390%.

Many states have laws limiting the amount of fees that may be charged in connection with any lending transaction (including payday lending transactions) when calculated as an annual percentage rate or the payday lending is expressly prohibited. These limitations, combined with other limitations and restrictions, effectively prohibit us from utilizing our present business model for cash advance or “payday” lending in those jurisdictions. In addition, the federal government passed the “2007 Military Authorization Act” which prohibits lenders from offering or making payday loans (or similar lending transactions) to members of the U.S. military when the interest or fees calculated as an annual percentage rate, exceed 36%. Like the state limitations discussed above, this limitation effectively prohibits us from utilizing our present business model for cash advance or “payday” lending when dealing with members of the U.S. military. As a result of these restrictions, we do not conduct business with U.S. military personnel.

The above-described payday fees are the only fees we assess and collect from our customers for payday loans. Nevertheless, we also charge a flat fee that ranges from $15 to $30 (depending on the state) for returned checks in the event that a post-dated check we attempt to cash as repayment for our loan is returned. In 2011, we had approximately 7,200 checks returned that were assessed a fee, compared to approximately 8,300 such checks during 2010. In 2011, we collected fees on returned checks on approximately 26% of the returned checks, for a total of approximately $46,000. In 2010, we collected on approximately 34% of these returned checks, for a total of approximately $55,000.

Extensions or “Rollovers” of Payday Loans

When a customer “rolls over” or extends the term of an outstanding loan, we treat that rollover or extension as a brand new loan and we again charge the above-described loan fee for that transaction. This rollover has no effect on the imputed annual percentage rate of the loan in those cases where the extended term is equal to the initial term of the loan. For example, a $100 four-week loan that costs $20 to obtain is the APR equivalent of 261%. If a customer extends the term of that loan for an additional four-week period, the customer will have paid $40 total in fees to obtain the $100 eight-week loan—which is again the APR equivalent of 261%. In cases where a customer (1) extends or rolls over a loan for a length of time that is less than the original loan or (2) repays the extended loan prior to the expiration of the fully extended term, the imputed APR will increase. For example, if a customer who obtained an initial $100 four-week loan for $20 in loan fees (the APR equivalent of 261%) later extends the term of that loan for only two additional weeks and pays the additional $20 loan fee, that customer will have borrowed $100 for a six-week period at a total cost of $40—which is the APR equivalent of 347%. We do not charge any interest on the unpaid fee from the initial term of the loan because, as a condition to agreeing to a loan extension, we will only accept cash payment of the fee for extending the loan. In 2011, 10.2% of our total loan fee revenues were derived from loan fees charged and collected upon the extension or rollover of payday loans. Approximately 10% of payday loans are rolled over or renewed.

Most states prohibit payday lenders from extending or refinancing a payday loan. Nevertheless, four states in which we presently operate—South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin—do permit a loan to be extended or “rolled over” for a specified period. Specifically, Wisconsin and North Dakota permit only one loan extension; South Dakota permits up to four loan extensions; and Utah has no limit on the number of loan extensions but does limit the time period of extensions to 10 weeks from the origination date of the original loan.

¹ Denotes that the applicable percentage is calculated on the loan amount plus any finance charges.

Multiple Loans to Single Customers

We occasionally make multiple loans to a single customer if permitted by applicable law and regulations. Based on our outstanding payday loans as of December 31, 2011, approximately 7.3% of our customers had more than one loan outstanding. In these cases, the average number of separate loans outstanding was 2.03 and the average aggregate principal amount loaned was approximately $508.

Risks Associated With Our Loans—Default and Collection

Ordinarily, our customers approach us for a loan because they currently have insufficient funds to meet their present obligations, and so rarely if ever do our customers have sufficient funds in their checking accounts to cover the personal post-dated checks they provide us at the time of the loan transaction. The nature of our payday loan transactions present a number of risks, including the ultimate risk that the loan will not be paid back. In addition, we do not obtain security for our payday loans principally because, even assuming our customers would have potential collateral to offer as security for a payday loan, the small size of each particular lending transaction does not justify the time, effort and expense of identifying the collateral and properly obtaining a security interest in such collateral. As a consequence, all of our payday loans are unsecured. This means that, absent court or other legal action compelling a customer to repay our loans, we rely principally on the willingness and ability of our customers to repay amounts they owe us. In this regard, in many cases the costs of merely attempting to collect the amounts owed to us exceed the amounts we would seek to collect—making it impractical to take formal legal action against a defaulted borrower.

When a customer defaults on a loan, we engage in store-level collection practices that include attempts to contact the customer and obtain payment, and attempts to contact the customer’s bank in order to determine whether funds are available to satisfy their personal post-dated check. If funds are available, we present the check to the bank for repayment and an official check from the bank is obtained to pay off the item. The costs involved in these initial collection efforts are minimal as they involve some employee time and possibly a flat $15-30 bank fee to cover the cost of the cashier’s check. If funds are not available, we generally attempt to collect returned checks for up to 90 days (or up to 180 days in cases where a bank account is still active and the customer has not initiated a stop payment on the postdated check provided), principally through continued attempts to contact the customer. If our attempts remain unsuccessful after 90 (or 180) days, we assign the item to a collection agency. Assignment to a collection agency may cost us 30-40% of the amount eventually collected (if any) from the customer. Ordinarily, we do not recoup any costs of collection from our customers.

Historically, we collect approximately 58% of the amount of all returned checks, which results in approximately 2.42% of our total payday loans being uncollectible. In 2011, we made approximately 178,000 payday loan transactions, of which approximately:

Marketing Strategy

Our advertising and marketing efforts are designed to introduce customers to our services, build customer loyalty and generate repeat visits and transactions. Our principal means of advertising our payday lending services consists of Yellow Page directories used in our active markets as well as building signage visible from local arterial roadways on which we are located. For our Cricket business, we rely primarily on Cricket advertising and promotional items as well as building signage visible from local arterial roadways on which we are located. Our Cricket locations are also listed on the Cricket Wireless website and are searchable by address, city or zip code.

Industry Information

There are an estimated 20,600 cash advance loan stores in the United States, which in the aggregate provide approximately $38.5 billion in short-term credit to households experiencing cash-flow shortfalls. Industry trends indicate that there is likely to be a net decrease in total payday lending stores over the next few years due to store closings resulting from a combination of regulatory or legal changes, a slowdown in new store growth and general economic conditions.

According to the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), payday loan customers typically are middle-income or lower-middle-income, middle-educated individuals who are a part of a young family ( See Community Financial Services Association of America, citing to The Credit Research Center, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, Gregory Elliehausen and Edward C. Lawrence, “Payday Advance Credit in America: An Analysis of Customer Demand”). The CFSA is a lobbying organization for the payday loan industry. The Credit Research Center study cited by the CFSA was based upon telephone interviews of 427 borrowers of payday loans in 2000 and 2001, and the answers provided in those interviews by the borrowers were not independently verified by the study’s authors. Moreover, the authors of that study note that, of the 5,364 payday loan consumers whom they attempted to contact and interview for the study, 1,113 were not able to be reached because their phones had been disconnected and another 1,043 refused to be interviewed or else quit the interview prior to completion. We do not possess independent information that corroborates the findings of The Credit Research Center, and we do not collect demographic data about our customers.

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has submitted written comments to the Federal Trade Commission that make assertions very different from those proponed by the CFSA. For example, the CFA asserts that “payday loan borrowers are typically female, make around $25,000 a year, are renters, and more likely to be minorities than the general population. Payday lenders have clustered around military bases, in low to moderate income neighborhoods, and in predominantly minority areas.” ( See Comments To the Federal Trade Commission Regarding the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Collecting Consumer Debts: The Challenges of Change By the Consumer Federation of America, June 20, 2007). The CFA presently does not make available to the public the research data to support its claims, and as a consequence we are unable to evaluate their accuracy. However, other statistics concerning payday lending (such as default rates) that are contained in CFA website material conflict with our statistics borne out by years of involvement in the business.

Predatory Lending and Regulatory Concerns

The Federal Trade Commission has issued an FTC Consumer Alert (Federal Trade Commission, March 2008, Consumer Alert entitled “Payday Loans Equal Very Costly Cash: Consumers Urged to Consider the Alternatives”) that discourages consumers from obtaining payday loans such as the loans we offer, primarily on the basis that payday loans are very costly and consumers should consider alternatives to accepting a payday loan. For further information, you may obtain a copy of the alert at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt060.shtm .

In general, the payday lending suffers from the perception and widespread belief that payday lenders are in the nature of predatory lenders, offering loans to low income and poorly educated consumers at costs that are too high to be good for consumers. This perception and belief results in frequent efforts in the U.S. Congress and various state legislatures, often proponed by consumer advocacy groups and lobbyists for traditional financial institutions such as banks, to further regulate and restrict or prohibit payday lending outright. For example, the federal government passed the 2007 Military Authorization Act which prohibits any persons from offering or making loans to members of the military when the interest and loan fees, calculated as an annual percentage rate, exceed 36%. This limitation effectively prohibits payday lenders from making payday loans to members of the U.S. military.

In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law. Under the Act, a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will consolidate most federal regulation of financial services offered to consumers, and replace the Office of Thrift Supervision’s seat on the FDIC Board. Almost all credit providers, including mortgage lenders, providers of payday loans, other nonbank financial companies, and banks and credit unions with assets over $10 billion, will be subject to new regulations to be passed by the Bureau. While the Bureau does not appear to have authority to make rules limiting interest rates or fees charged, the scope and extent of the Bureau’s authority will nonetheless be broad, and it is expected that the Bureau will address issues such as rollovers or extensions of payday loans and compliance with federal rules and regulations. Future restrictions on the payday lending industry could have serious consequences for the Company.

During the 2010 legislative session in Colorado, House Bill 10-1351 was passed into law. This bill amended the Colorado Deferred Deposit Loan Act, the existing payday lending law. The law became effective August 11, 2010 and modified traditional payday lending by changing the single payment advance (with no minimum term) into a single or multiple payment loan with a minimum six month term. It also limited the amount and type of fees that can be charged on these loans, effectively reducing by one-half the fees that can be charged and when the fees may be realized. In 2010, we began offering an installment loan product at our store in Colorado and in 2011 at our four stores in Wisconsin.

In May 2010, new laws were enacted in Wisconsin that restrict the number of times a consumer may renew (or rollover) a payday loan. Previously, there were no limits to the number of rollovers permitted. Effective January 1, 2011, consumers in Wisconsin were only allowed to renew a payday loan once, and then lenders are required to offer a 60-day, interest free, payment plan to consumers.

In response to these changes, the Company began offering unsecured installment loans in Wisconsin in lieu of payday loans beginning in May 2011. By the fourth fiscal quarter, the Company had phased out payday loans in Wisconsin altogether. Any adverse change in present federal or state laws or regulations that govern or otherwise affect payday lending could, at any point, result in our curtailment or cessation of operations in certain jurisdictions or locations. Furthermore, any failure to comply with any applicable federal laws or regulations could result in fines, litigation, the closure of one or more store locations or negative publicity. Any such change or failure would have a corresponding impact on our results of operations and financial condition, primarily through a decrease in revenues resulting from the cessation or curtailment of operations, decrease in our operating income through increased legal expenditures or fines, and could also negatively affect our general business prospects as well if we are unable to effectively replace such revenues in a timely and efficient manner or if negative publicity effects our ability to obtain additional financing a needed.

We do not believe the payday lending is predatory, nor do we believe that our loans are too costly for consumers if they are judiciously obtained. In fact, we believe that bank overdraft fees by themselves are typically far more costly for consumers, and bouncing a check can often involve other negative consequences such as independent fees levied by the parties to whom a bad check is written, negative publicity, etc. In this regard, the FDIC released a November 2008 report called “Study of Bank Overdraft Programs.” The report indicates that the average amount obtained when bank customers overdraw their accounts is $60, and the average overdraft fee charged by the bank is $27. This equates to an APR of 1,173% and 587% for a two-week and four-week $60 bank “loan,” respectively. In sum, we believe that many of the bad perceptions about our industry are fueled primarily by:

Finally, we have become aware of continued aggressive enforcement and prosecution by the Federal Trade Commission against payday lenders using unfair and abusive lending practices in violation of the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z, including failures to properly disclose loan terms and imputed APRs. In particular, we believe that FTC regulators are expanding theories relating to “fair and adequate” disclosure loan terms. This focus includes marketing and advertising materials (specifically, the layout and presentation of such materials), and specific practices, that may detract attention from or diminish the prominence of disclosures relating to loan terms, and the costs and risks involved with payday loans. Moreover, it has come to our attention that FTC regulators are more keenly scrutinizing whether payday lending business practices match advertised claims. While we do not presently anticipate any adverse regulatory issues or outcomes relating to our business, it is possible that one or more of our store locations could come under FTC scrutiny and that any such scrutiny could negatively affect store performance and consume considerable time and attention of our management.

Seasonality

We have experienced seasonality in our payday lending operations, with the first and fourth quarters typically being our strongest periods as a result of broader economic factors, such as holiday spending habits at the end of each year and income tax refunds during the first quarter.

Effect of General Economic Conditions on our Payday Lending Business

We believe that consumer demand for our payday lending services is increasing as a result of the recent economic recovery and slowly improving employment numbers; however, we expect improving economic conditions to be partially negated by unemployment levels that remain high in the context of recent history. High unemployment levels generally reduce the pool of payday loan consumers that can meet all of our loan qualifications, particularly the employment requirement. In addition, it seems likely that the continued economic situation and higher unemployment rates could result in greater loan losses than we experienced in 2011 with unemployment rates expected to remain high for the foreseeable future. Our business experienced fluctuating changes in our provision for loan losses in recent years. For instance, our provision for loan losses totaled $1.40 million for 2011, an increase of $.12 million from our provision of $1.28 million for 2010. Our provision for loan losses as a percentage of loan fee revenue was 14.5% for 2011 and 12.1% during 2010. The less favorable loss ratio in 2011 reflected in part a more challenging collections environment as a result of an increase in bankruptcy filings, higher energy prices and increased competition in the lending industry. We believe that our new installment loan offering has also contributed to the increased loan loss percentage for 2011. We also believe that as the country moves out of recession and into recovery, our consumer base will increase as individuals are denied credit by traditional lenders because of recent unemployment, foreclosure or liquidity issues. Nevertheless, we are not certain how improving economic conditions or an increase in our consumer base will affect our loan losses for 2012.

Credit and financing available to us and our industry has been negatively impacted by the recent economic situation, recent federal and state legislation, and the overall negative perception associated with payday lending.

Future growth in our payday lending business beyond reinvestment of our current profits may be limited due to the tighter credit markets. Furthermore, we anticipate that the present condition of the financial markets and increased regulation related to payday lending currently under consideration at the federal level will make it more difficult for us to borrow money to fund the expansion of our operations through acquisitions.

CRICKET PHONE BUSINESS

General Description

We are an authorized dealer of Cricket Wireless products and services and operate Cricket retail stores in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas. Although Cricket Wireless owns a number of corporate stores, Cricket Wireless is partnering with dealers in order to reach their market-penetration goals. Authorized dealers are permitted to sell the Cricket line and generally locate their store operations in areas with a strong potential customer base where Cricket does not maintain a corporate storefront. These locations are generally within the urban core or surrounding areas of a community. We are an authorized premier Cricket dealer, and as such, we are only permitted to sell the Cricket line of prepaid cellular phones at our Cricket retail stores. In addition, each store we operate must resemble a Cricket corporate store. Once we identify an area to locate a new store, we contact Cricket Wireless to obtain approval. Once Cricket Wireless approves our recommended location, we establish the storefront.

We profit in this business through retail sales of cellular phones used with Cricket services, sales of phone accessories (e.g., face plates and phone chargers), fees charged when a customer changes services (service reactivations, adding lines, plan changes, etc), or whenever a customer pays his or her Cricket invoice at one of our store locations.

We bear no risk of non-payment because of the prepaid nature of the service and because Leap Wireless Communications provides the cell phone services. Service automatically terminates upon nonpayment, which is midnight of the date on which the payment is due if the account remains unpaid. If a customer pays their service charge within 60 days of termination, the service is reinitiated and the phone number remains unchanged. After 60 days, a customer is deemed to be a new customer and a new phone number is assigned.

Market Information and Marketing

At December 31, 2011, Cricket cellular phone service was offered in 35 states and had approximately 5.9 million customers. Leap Wireless Communications, Inc. is a Delaware public reporting corporation and the owner of Cricket Wireless. Cricket Wireless service offers customers unlimited wireless voice, data, text, Muve Music ^TM and broadband data services for a flat monthly rate. In addition, our retail stores in select markets offer Cricket PAYGo™ services, which is an unlimited prepaid wireless service. Cricket PAYGo is a daily pay-as-you-go wireless and text messaging service designed for customers who prefer the flexibility and control offered by traditional prepaid services but who are seeking greater value for their dollar.

Cricket products and services are primarily targeted to market segments that are underserved by traditional communications companies. Based on disclosures made by Leap Wireless Communications, Cricket customers tend to be younger, have lower incomes and include a greater percentage of ethnic minorities. Cricket services are designed to appeal to customers who value unlimited wireless services with predictable billing and who use the majority of those wireless services from within Cricket service areas. In contrast, the majority of wireless customers in the U.S. subscribe to post-pay services that may require credit approval and a contractual commitment from the subscriber for a period of at least one year and may include overage charges for call volumes in excess of a specified maximum. Like Leap Wireless Communications, we believe that a significant portion of the remaining growth potential in the U.S. wireless market consists of customers who are price-sensitive, who have lower credit scores or who prefer not to enter into fixed-term contracts. We believe that our authorized Cricket store business directly caters and appeals strongly to these customer segments.

We expect that consumers may wish to prepay their phone service or purchase prepaid cellular/Cricket phones:

Nevertheless, we do not formally query our customers who purchase our phone products or services as to their motivations in purchasing those products or services, and we do not have customer data indicating the extent to which our phone customers cannot obtain a service contract from a long-term contract carrier of phone service or some other phone service provider.

Market Strategy

We believe that our business model is scalable and can be expanded successfully into current adjacent and new markets as we continue to perfect our operational protocols and our administrative office functions relating to our Cricket business. We are looking to acquire additional Cricket dealerships in the midwest and launch additional stores in new Cricket markets that are currently underserved by competing service providers.

Products and Services

Our authorized Cricket retail stores offer the following products and services:

The service payment options for Cricket customers include:

Customers also have an option on the purchase of their cellular phone, including the latest in Android-based and Blackberry OS-based smartphones. The customer can either purchase a new or refurbished phone from us or purchase a used phone from a previous customer. All phones must be paid for in full because there is no contract for the monthly prepaid service. New phone prices range from $59 to high-end cellular phones at $329 before promotional rebate offers.

Seasonality

Our customer activity is influenced by seasonal effects related to traditional retail selling periods and other factors that arise from our target customer base. We generally expect new sales activity to be highest in the first and fourth quarters. Nevertheless, our revenues can be strongly affected by the launch of new markets, promotional activity and competitive actions, any of which have the ability to reduce or outweigh certain seasonal effects.

REGULATION

We are subject to regulation by federal, state and local governments that affect the products and services we provide. Generally, these regulations are designed to protect consumers who deal with us and are not designed to protect our shareholders.

Regulation of Payday Lending

In those states where we currently operate, we are licensed as a payday lender where required and are subject to various state regulations regarding the terms and conditions of our payday loans and our lending policies, procedures and operations. In some states, payday lending is referred to as “deferred presentment,” “cash advance loans”, “deferred deposit loans” or “consumer installment loans.” State regulations normally limit the amount that we may lend to any single consumer and may limit the number of loans that we may make to any consumer at one time or in the course of a single year. State regulations also limit the amount of fees that we may assess in connection with any loan transaction and may limit a customer’s ability to extend or “rollover” a loan with us. Often, state regulations also specify minimum and maximum maturity dates for payday loans and, in some cases, specify mandatory cooling-off periods between transactions.

Our payday lending practices must also comply with the disclosure requirements of the Federal Truth-In-Lending Act and Regulation Z under that Act. Our collection activities for delinquent loans are generally subject to consumer protection laws regulating debt-collection practices. Finally, our payday lending business subjects us to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

During the last few years, legislation has been introduced and passed in the U.S. Congress and in certain state legislatures proposing or effecting various restrictions or an outright prohibition on payday lending. Currently, state laws in Arizona, Montana, Oregon and Georgia have effectively eliminated the ability to conduct payday lending activities in those states. In addition, a 2007 federal law prohibits loans of any type to U.S. military personnel and their family members with charges or interest in excess of 36% per annum. In 2010, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which consolidated most federal regulation of financial services offered to consumers, and replaced the Office of Thrift Supervision’s seat on the FDIC Board. Almost all credit providers, including mortgage lenders, providers of payday loans, other nonbank financial companies, and banks and credit unions with assets over $10 billion, are now subject to new regulations to be passed by the Bureau. While the Bureau does not appear to have authority to make rules limiting interest rates or fees charged, the scope and extent of the Bureau’s authority will nonetheless be broad, and it is expected that the Bureau will address issues such as rollovers or extensions of payday loans and compliance with federal rules and regulations. Future restrictions on the payday lending industry could have serious consequences for the Company.

For more information, see “ PAYDAY LENDING BUSINESS—Predatory Lending and Regulatory Concerns ” above.

Financial Reporting Regulation

Regulations promulgated by the United States Department of the Treasury under the Bank Secrecy Act require us to report all transactions involving currency in an amount greater than $10,000. Generally, every financial institution must report each deposit, withdrawal, exchange of currency or other payment or transfer that involves an amount greater than $10,000. In addition, multiple currency transactions must be treated as a single transaction if we have knowledge that the transactions are by or on behalf of any one person and result, in a single business day, in the transfer of cash in or out totaling more than $10,000. In addition, the regulations require us to maintain information concerning sales of monetary instruments for cash in amounts from $3,000 to $10,000. The Bank Secrecy Act requires us, under certain circumstances, to file a suspicious activity report.

The Money Laundering Act of 1994 requires us, as a money service business, to register with the United States Department of the Treasury. Money services businesses include check cashers and sellers of money orders. Money services businesses must renew their registrations every two years, maintain a list of their agents, update the agent list annually, and make the agent list available for examination.

Finally, we have established various procedures designed to comply, and we continue to monitor and evaluate our business methods and procedures to ensure compliance, with the USA PATRIOT Act.

Privacy Regulation

We are subject to a variety of federal and state laws and regulations restricting the use and seeking to protect the confidentiality of customer identity and other personal nonpublic customer information. We have identified our systems that capture and maintain nonpublic personal information, as that term is understood under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and associated regulations. We disclose our public information policies to our customers as required by that law. We also have systems in place intended to safeguard this information as required by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which specifically governs certain aspects of our payday lending business.

COMPETITION

Like most other payday lenders, we believe that the primary competitive factors in our business are location and customer service. We face intense competition in an industry with relatively low barriers to entry, and we believe that the payday lending markets are becoming more competitive as the industry matures and consolidates. We compete with other payday lending and check cashing stores, and with financial service entities and retail businesses that offer payday loans or similar financial services. For example, we consider credit card companies that offer payday features, credit unions, banks that offer small loans, and creditors and loan services that can extend payment terms on outstanding loans to be our competitors. In addition, we compete in part with services offered by traditional financial institutions, most particularly with respect to the “overdraft protection” services those institutions may offer and the charges they levy for checks written with insufficient funds.

Additional areas of competition have recently arisen. Businesses now offer loans over the Internet as well as “loans by phone,” and these services compete with the services we offer. There also has been increasing penetration of electronic banking and related services into the check cashing and money transfer industry, including direct deposit of payroll checks, payroll or debit cards, stored-value cards, prepaid credit and debit cards, and electronic transfer of government benefits.

We also believe that customer service is critical to developing loyalty. In our industry, we believe that quality customer service means:

Our Cricket store business competes primarily with other actual or potential authorized sellers and distributors of Cricket products and services. The authorization to sell Cricket products and services is granted by Cricket Communications, a Delaware corporation (sometimes referred to as “Cricket Wireless, Inc.”) and wholly owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. Presently, we believe that our ability to compete with other sellers of Cricket products and services will materially depend on the success with which we operate those store locations for which we presently have authorization to operate. If we successfully manage those stores and are able to develop and maintain a strong working relationship with Cricket Communications, we expect that we may be able to effectively compete for additional store locations when and as they come available.

Competition within the cellular phone industry in general is significant. We not only compete with other suppliers of Cricket or other prepaid service providers but also with the other national cellular phone providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. It is estimated that there are in excess of 32 million wireless subscriber connections in the U.S.

With the introduction of additional prepaid phone providers such as Straight Talk service rolled out by Wal-Mart in October 2009, Wal-Mart’s Family Mobile ^TM powered by T-Mobile, which began in September 2010, that provides unlimited talk and text for 3 family members, and the increase of national retailers offering numerous prepaid phone options, such as Cricket PAYGo™ services sold at Target stores or Cricket phones sold at Best Buy or Dollar General, it is possible that current and potential new customers will purchase these or other future competing services from these national resellers because of brand recognition, location or convenience, any of which would negatively impact our sales and our ability to win authorizations for new locations to grow our Cricket business. In addition, it is possible that Cricket Communications may itself, at some point in the future, determine to become more involved in the direct operation of its retail stores and move away from an authorized distributor business model or modify its existing model by changing the compensation structure to dealers or by increasing the number of dealer locations and thus reduce traffic to existing locations. In any such event, our ability to maintain and grow our Cricket business will be negatively impacted.

Technology and Information

We maintain an integrated system of point of sale and management software applications and platforms for processing the various types of financial transactions we offer. These systems provide us with customer service, internal control mechanisms, record-keeping and reporting information. Both of our point-of-sale systems used at our payday and Cricket store locations integrate transaction data with our management information systems on a real-time basis. These systems are designed to provide summary, detailed and exception information to regional, area and store managers as well as corporate staff and are designed to collect customer information for demographic analysis.

Security

We believe the principal security risks to our operations are robbery and employee theft. We have established extensive security systems, dedicated security personnel and management information systems to address both areas of potential loss. To protect against robbery, most payday lending store employees work behind bullet-resistant glass and steel partitions, and the back office, safe and computer areas are locked and closed to customers. Our security measures in most payday lending and Cricket stores include safes, electronic alarm systems monitored by third parties, control over entry to customer service representative and inventory areas, detection of entry through perimeter openings, walls and ceilings and the tracking of all employee movement in and out of secured areas. Payday segment employees use cellular phones to ensure safety and security whenever they are outside secured areas. Additional security measures used in many stores include some combination of alarm systems, remote control over alarm systems, the arming, disarming and changing of user codes, and mechanically and electronically controlled time-delay safes.

Since we have high volumes of cash and negotiable instruments at our payday stores and inventory volumes at our Cricket stores, we believe that daily monitoring, unannounced audits and immediate responses to irregularities are critical to security and play an important role in our internal controls. Our regional managers and corporate staff perform unannounced store audits and cash counts at our stores as well as random inventory counts of cellular phones and accessories. We self-insure for employee theft and dishonesty at the store level.

EMPLOYEES

At December 31, 2011, we had approximately 260 employees, consisting of 242 store personnel (121 of whom were employed at payday loan stores and 121 of which were employed at Cricket retail stores), 12 corporate office employees and six corporate office managers. We believe our relationship with our employees is good, and we have not suffered any work stoppages or labor disputes. We do not have any employees that operate under collective-bargaining agreements.

CORPORATE INFORMATION

Our principal offices are located at 11550 “I” Street, Suite 150, Omaha, Nebraska 68137, and our telephone number at that office is (402) 551-8888.

Western Capital Resources, Inc. was originally incorporated and organized as a Minnesota corporation under the name URON Inc. in November 2001. From its incorporation until August 2006, URON was wholly owned by Multiband Corporation, a Minnesota corporation. Multiband spun off URON to Multiband’s shareholders in August 2006 and caused URON to become a public reporting corporation as part of the spinoff process. URON’s principal business was the provision of dial-up internet service to residential and commercial customers, principally in the midwestern United States, Texas, South Carolina and Florida. In December 2007, URON and Wyoming Financial Lenders, Inc., a Wyoming corporation, engaged in a merger transaction which caused URON to acquire the payday lending business we currently operate through Wyoming Financial Lenders. In July 2008, and in connection with the December 2007 merger, we changed our corporate name from URON Inc. to “Western Capital Resources, Inc.”

The Company’s year ends December 31. Neither the Company nor any of its predecessors have been in bankruptcy, receivership or any similar proceeding.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Credit Facilities

On January 26, 2011, the Company and Wyoming Financial Lenders, Inc. entered into a Loan Extension Agreement with WERCS. The Loan Extension Agreement extends the maturity date for the payment of all obligations under the Business Loan Agreement to April 1, 2012. In connection with the extension agreement, the Company made a principal payment of $1,000,000. On March 14, 2012, the Company paid the remaining principal balance and all accrued and unpaid interest.

On October 18, 2011, the Company entered into a borrowing arrangement with River City Equity, Inc. and delivered a related long-term promissory note in favor of River City Equity. The borrowing arrangement allows the Company to borrow up to $2,000,000 at an interest rate of 12% per annum, with interest payable on a monthly basis. The note matures on September 30, 2013, on which date all unpaid principal and accrued but unpaid interest thereon is due and payable. The note includes a prepayment penalty and, under certain circumstances, permits River City Equity to obtain a security interest in substantially all of the Company’s assets. As of December 31, 2011, $1,000,000 has been advanced under this arrangement.

Acquisitions

In September through December 2011, the Company acquired 17 retail storefronts: Arizona (2), Colorado (2), Idaho, (1), Illinois (4), Missouri (1), Nebraska (1), Ohio (1), Oklahoma (3), and Oregon (2), for $1,373,000. Of these storefronts, 14 were previously Cricket corporate-owned stores and three were acquired from another Cricket dealer.

In October 2011, the Company acquired one Payday store in Iowa for $48,000.