What American First Finance does

American First Finance, LLC ("AFF") is a consumer financial technology company founded in 2013 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that provides point-of-sale payment solutions to consumers with imperfect credit. The company operates a B2B2C model, partnering with more than 20,000 merchants across the United States in verticals including furniture, appliances, electronics, jewelry, dental services, automotive (tires and wheels), and home improvement, where eligible consumers can apply for financing at checkout and receive approval decisions within minutes. Its core technology is the proprietary "I Can" decisioning algorithm, engineered to approve as many customers as possible regardless of credit situation by evaluating factors beyond traditional credit scores, with approval amounts ranging from $300 to $5,000.

AFF generates revenue through three core product structures: (1) Retail Installment Sale Agreements, structured as biweekly or monthly installment purchases (sample APR 169.53% on a 12-month $1,000 purchase with $50 down, total repayable $1,944.81); (2) Lease-to-Own / Rent-to-Own agreements, structured as weekly rental payments with no interest but with leasing fees (sample total of $2,452.21 over 12 months on a $1,000 item); and (3) Bank Loans originated through FinWise Bank, a Utah-chartered FDIC-member bank, with AFF acting as sub-servicer. Revenue is generated from interest charges, leasing fees, processing fees, and merchant partner fees tied to incremental transaction volume and average order values.

The company has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCFS) since 2021, when it was acquired for approximately $1.17 billion. FirstCash is a $4.7 billion market-cap specialty retailer/financial services operator with $3.66 billion in 2025 revenue, providing AFF with balance-sheet scale, regulatory infrastructure, and access to over 3,000 pawn locations across the U.S., Latin America, and the U.K. AFF maintains an executive team led by Chairman Doug Rippel, CTO Reggie Britt, CFO J Douglas Maxwell, and COO Thomas Nusspickel, and operates as NMLS ID 1757007.

Name

American First Finance

Legal name

American First Finance, LLC

Website

https://americanfirstfinance.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

American First Finance is a Dallas-based consumer fintech founded in 2013 that provides point-of-sale financing and lease-to-own solutions to credit-challenged consumers through a network of 20,000+ U.S. merchant partners, using a proprietary decisioning algorithm to approve applicants typically declined by traditional lenders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Consumer Lending (Point-of-Sale Financing)

NAICS

Sales Financing (52222), Sales Financing (522220), Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (522)

SIC

Personal Credit Institutions (6141), Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)

akta.pro primary industry

Omnichannel POS Financing (Unified Online + In-Store) (FSAKAFAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Consumer Electronics & Appliance Financing (FSAKAFAL), Retail Credit (Closed-End) & Promotional Financing (0%/Deferred Interest) (FSAKAFAF)

Keywords

• Consumer lending
• Point-of-sale financing
• Lease-to-own services
• Retail installment lending
• Bad credit financing

Headquarters

HQ city

Dallas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Point-of-Sale Financing Revenue: Revenue generated from financing arrangements at point of sale through merchant partnerships, including interest charges on installment loans and fees from retail installment sale agreements.
2. Lease-to-Own Payments: Rental-purchase agreements where customers make periodic (weekly or monthly) rental payments toward ownership, with leasing fees instead of interest.
3. Merchant Partner Fees: Fees earned from merchant partners for providing payment solutions that help generate more transactions and higher average order values.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

American First Finance provides point-of-sale consumer financing products — installment loans (originated by partner FinWise Bank), retail installment sale agreements, and lease-to-own/rent-to-own contracts — to U.S. consumers with poor, fair, or no credit, delivered at checkout through a network of 20,000+ merchant partners. Approvals are generated by a proprietary decisioning algorithm on the I Can Platform, with approval amounts ranging from $300 to $5,000 across retail categories such as furniture, appliances, electronics, jewelry, dental, automotive, and home improvement.

Product overview

American First Finance is a point-of-sale financing platform offering payment solutions to consumers with imperfect credit. The company operates three core product lines: (1) Bad Credit Personal Loans - installment loans originated by FinWise Bank for consumers with low or no credit; (2) Bad Credit Financing and Lease-to-Own/Rent-to-Own options - allowing customers to lease or finance products through merchant partners with flexible payment arrangements; and (3) Retail Installment Sale Agreements - retail installment purchasing without traditional loan structures. The I Can Platform serves as the core decisioning engine powering approvals across the network of 20,000+ merchant partners. Products cover categories including furniture, appliances, electronics, jewelry, dental services, automotive (tires/wheels), home improvement (roofing, carpet, hot tubs), and lawn equipment, with approval amounts typically ranging from $300 to $5,000.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bad Credit Personal Loans Personal installment loans for consumers with low or no credit scores, originated through FinWise Bank (a Utah-chartered bank, Member FDIC), offering fixed interest rates with fixed monthly repayment installments. The loan may be funded by the bank directly to a merchant for the consumer's purchase, or to the consumer's checking account for personal use (e.g., returning customers).
• Bad Credit Financing (Point-of-Sale Financing) Point-of-sale financing solutions enabling consumers with poor or no credit to purchase products and services through installment payment plans at 20,000+ partner retailers across the United States. Approved amounts range from $300 to $5,000.
• Lease-to-Own / Rent-to-Own Rental-purchase (lease-to-own / rent-to-own) agreements allowing customers to take items home while making periodic (weekly or monthly) rental payments toward ownership. AFF retains ownership until the item is paid for plus rental fees. Example: a $1,000 item with a $50 processing fee results in 52 weekly rental payments of $46.11 and total lease payments of $2,452.21 over 12 months. Customers may cancel at any time without penalty.
• Retail Installment Sale Agreement Retail installment sale agreements enabling customers to purchase items through scheduled biweekly or monthly payments without requiring a loan. AFF may purchase the agreement from the merchant. Example: $1,000 purchase with $50 down payment at 169.53% APR over a 12-month term results in 25 biweekly payments of $74.79 and 1 biweekly payment of $75.06, with total repayable of $1,944.81.
• I Can Platform The signature approval platform powering AFF's point-of-sale financing. Features an exclusive decisioning algorithm engineered to approve as many customers as possible regardless of credit situation by considering factors beyond credit scores. Provides approval amounts from $300 to $5,000 to eligible customers through the merchant partner network.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20,000 businesses have experienced AFF's I Can payment solutions since 2013
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• FinWise BankcoreTechnology or IntegrationFinWise Bank, a Utah-chartered bank, Member FDIC, originates consumer installment loans that are sub-serviced by American First Finance. The bank provides loan funding directly to merchants for customer purchases or directly to customers' checking accounts for personal use.
• 20,000+ Merchant PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAmerican First Finance partners with thousands of merchants across North America including furniture stores, appliance retailers, electronics stores, jewelry stores, dental offices, automotive shops, and home improvement retailers. These merchants offer AFF's payment solutions at point of sale.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Bread Financial: Bread Financial (formerly Alliance Data) provides branded credit cards, installment lending, and BNPL products to retail and travel partners. It competes with AFF on the merchant POS financing axis, but serves a credit spectrum that skews more prime.
• Klarna: Klarna is a global BNPL provider offering pay-in-4 and longer-term installment plans at checkout. While Klarna historically targeted prime shoppers, its Pay in 30 and financing products increasingly overlap with AFF's e-commerce installment offerings.
• Synchrony Financial: Synchrony is a large consumer financial services company offering private label credit cards and installment lending through major retailers. It is a broad incumbent in retail POS financing, but its underwriting focuses on prime consumers, making it adjacent rather than direct to AFF.

Emerging players

• Sunbit: Sunbit provides point-of-sale financing for everyday and elective purchases (auto repair, dental, veterinary, home services) with near-prime approval rates. It overlaps with AFF in retail/service verticals and in serving credit-constrained consumers, though its underwriting band differs.
• Wisetack: Wisetack offers embedded point-of-sale installment lending for service-based businesses (auto, home services, healthcare). It competes with AFF in the POS financing space, particularly where merchants want flexible in-house payment options for consumers.

Direct peers

• OneMain Financial: OneMain is the largest U.S. installment lender to non-prime consumers, offering personal loans through a nationwide branch and digital network. It is comparable to AFF's bad-credit personal loan product line, although OneMain's loans are direct-to-consumer rather than merchant-funded.
• Snap Finance: Snap Finance provides lease-to-own and installment financing at the point of sale to consumers with poor or no credit through a national merchant network. It is the closest direct competitor to AFF, targeting the same thin-file customer and merchant verticals (furniture, appliances, tires, dental).
• Acima Leasing: Acima (now part of Rent-A-Center) offers lease-to-own solutions at point of sale for non-prime consumers through a merchant partner network. Its product structure, target customer, and merchant categories closely mirror AFF's lease-to-own business.
• Affirm: Affirm is a leading buy-now-pay-later provider offering point-of-sale installment financing across online and in-store retail. While Affirm primarily serves prime and near-prime borrowers, its expansion into longer-term, higher-ticket POS financing makes it a key competitive overlap for AFF.
• Progressive Leasing: Progressive Leasing, a subsidiary of Aaron's Holdings, is a leading virtual lease-to-own provider at retail point of sale. It is directly comparable to AFF's lease-to-own product line, serving non-prime consumers across furniture, electronics, jewelry and automotive accessories.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about American First Finance