More of the same.

That is the strategy — the plan — and that sums up the results last year for Atlanta-based CompuCredit Corp.

Joey Ivansco/Staff (ENLARGE)

David G. Hanna, CompuCredit chairman and CEO: 'We think our customers are more predictable than prime customers.'

AT A GLANCE • Clickable ticker: CCRT • Headquarters: Atlanta • CEO: David G. Hanna • Employees: 3,400 • Business: Financial services provider, marketer of credit cards to consumers with non-prime credit ratings. • Online: compucredit.com REVENUE • 2005: $773.9 million • 2004: $492.7 million • 2003: $463.1 million • 2002: $235.4 million • 2001: $143.4 million NET INCOME • 2005: $171.3 million • 2004: $100.7 million • 2003: $121.7 million • 2002: $5.8 million • 2001: $2.8 million NET INCOME PER SHARE • 2005: $3.34 • 2004: $1.93 • 2003: $2.34 • 2002: 4 cents • 2001: 6 cents WANT REPRINTS? Our provider can reformat articles, with accompanying photos and graphics. Get more information on custom reprints — and custom plaques.

"Our business was founded on doing something that was different than what the rest of the credit-granting world was doing," said David G. Hanna, chairman and chief executive. "And over the last year, it's been more of the same. We are adding 120,000 to 150,000 new customers a month."

In its key categories, the company in 2005 chalked up double-digit growth from the year before: $734 million in revenue, $171.35 million in net income and earnings per share of $3.34.

The company's original mission was to provide credit, mainly through credit cards. The brands bear a different name, most commonly Aspire or Emerge.

"Aspire continues to be our fastest growth engine, as it has been from the beginning," Hanna said.

Credit cards still account for the lion's share of profits. But the company has started branching into other ventures, financing automobiles, selling life insurance and offering travel services. And it has acquired several chains that add up to 500 storefront businesses offering a range of financial services.

Still, the first business is the core business, Hanna said.

Credit cards in general have been a very lucrative industry, representing total industry profits of roughly $30 billion annually. CompuCredit, of course, is dwarfed by the likes of Citibank, but its growth curve outdoes the industry giants.

Yet there is an apparent contradiction at the heart of CompuCredit's business model: The company focuses on higher-risk consumers.

Such "non-prime" borrowers are statistically more likely to default on loans. They have spotty credit histories, or maybe no experience at all. Some are lower-income Americans. Some are immigrants.

"These are what we call the people who are underserved for consumer credit" and those who don't use banks, Hanna said.

That covers about 80 million people who, by definition, live financially close to the cliff.

Yet CompuCredit has won big betting on higher-risk households. To counterbalance the risk, non-prime customers are generally charged higher fees to hold cards and higher rates on debts carried over from month to month. How much higher depends on the customer — the less the risk, the better the deal, Hanna said.

Managing risk efficiently

The company believes it can manage the risk efficiently — in fact, better than the "prime" lenders. "We think our customers are more predictable than prime customers."

Compare, he said, a CompuCredit customer with a $1,500 credit limit to a borrower considered a much better risk. Say that prime customer has a $10,000 limit. If they both max out their cards and stop paying, the prime lender is hurt worse, he said.

Of course, the proportion of risky borrowers who default is higher than for prime lenders. But if the economy grows worse, each group probably would grow by the same proportion of defaults, Hanna said.

"So the swings between good economic times and bad economic times are going to have a greater impact on the prime lender. We believe there is less financial risk in our model than in many financial models."

The rate of growth may slow, but CompuCredit has plenty of potential, Hanna said. "The bigger the wheel, the more difficult it is to turn. That being said, we have 4 million out of the 80 million people that we think are in our potential market. We think that can grow a great deal."

Making that happen depends on technology, he said.

The company analyzes 100 terabytes of data. The idea is to find which customer is having cash-flow problems, and which is ready for more credit. Pegged to those judgments are the company's marketing decisions: when to call a customer about late payments, or when to extend higher limits to someone whose finances are on the upswing.

The better the timing, the less waste, the higher the profit, Hanna said. "If somebody gets a credit card piece from me and they don't want it, then they throw it away and I've spent 50 cents or whatever on nothing."