Cash America

What Cash America does

Cash America operates as FirstCash, Inc., the leading international operator of pawn stores, headquartered at 1600 West 7th Street, Fort Worth, Texas. The company runs over 3,300 retail pawn and consumer lending locations spanning 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, the United Kingdom, and Latin America (all Mexican states, Guatemala, Colombia, and El Salvador). Its core business is making small non-recourse pawn loans secured by pledged personal property — typically jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments — and selling merchandise that customers either pledged and did not redeem or that the company purchased outright.

The underlying technology stack is intentionally lean: physical retail operations supported by a Store Locator, an online Inventory Search tool, and iOS/Android mobile applications branded under the Cash America name. No proprietary underwriting platform, AI-based pricing engine, or data flywheel is disclosed. Revenue is generated through four streams — pawn loan interest and fees, retail merchandise sales, scrap gold and precious metals purchases, and layaway service fees (the last requiring a 10% down payment). The company is publicly traded, included in the S&P MidCap 400 Index and Russell 2000 Index, and has grown historically through both greenfield expansion and acquisitions such as Pawnmart in 2013. Cash America is now consolidated under the FirstCash corporate umbrella following a rebrand.

Go-to-market is direct-to-consumer through physical storefronts, targeting cash- and credit-constrained individuals who need immediate liquidity or who buy and sell pre-owned valuable items. Digital channels (store locator, inventory search, mobile app) serve as pre-visit merchandising and convenience tools rather than as a substitute for in-store transactions. The business model relies on collateralized, short-duration, high-touch lending combined with retail resale of unclaimed property, and is materially dependent on physical presence in markets where the target customer base is concentrated.

Name

Cash America

Legal name

FirstCash, Inc.

Website

https://cashamerica.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Cash America, operating as FirstCash, Inc., is the leading international pawn store operator running 3,300+ retail locations across the U.S., U.K., and Latin America, serving cash- and credit-constrained consumers with secured pawn loans, retail merchandise sales, gold buying, and layaway services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pawn Shop Services and Consumer Lending

NAICS

Jewelry Retailers (458310), Used Merchandise Retailers (45951)

SIC

Retail-Jewelry Stores (5944)

akta.pro primary industry

Traditional Pawn Loans (Pawnbrokers) (FSAKALAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Pawn & Collateral-based Jewelry Retail (CRAKAGAL), Luxury Pawn & Collateral Lending (Watches/Jewelry) (CRAKAKAG), General Merchandise Collateral Loans (FSAKALAE)

Keywords

• Retail pawn services
• Consumer lending
• Second-hand retail
• Gold buying services
• Layaway services

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Worth

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Pawn Loan Interest and Fees: Revenue from small non-recourse pawn loans secured by pledged personal property. Customers receive cash in exchange for leaving collateral, with the loan repaid with interest to retrieve items.
2. Retail Merchandise Sales: Revenue from selling merchandise that has been pawned and not redeemed, including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments.
3. Scrap Gold and Precious Metals Sales: Revenue from purchasing and reselling gold, silver, and platinum items acquired through pawn operations.
4. Layaway Service Fees: Revenue from layaway services allowing customers to purchase items with a 10% down payment plan.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Cash America / FirstCash operates retail pawn stores that make small non-recourse pawn loans secured by pledged personal property such as jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments. The company also sells unredeemed pawned merchandise to consumers, purchases gold, silver, and platinum items for immediate cash, and offers a layaway payment plan requiring a 10% down payment to reserve merchandise.

Product overview

Cash America (operating as FirstCash, Inc.) is a pawn shop retail and consumer lending company offering a unified suite of services centered around pawn transactions. The core offering consists of Pawn Loans (small secured loans against personal property), complemented by Retail Sales of pledged and purchased merchandise. Additional services include Gold and Precious Metals purchasing, and Layaway payment plans. The company operates over 3,300 retail pawn and consumer lending locations across 29 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and El Salvador. Digital channels include a Store Locator, Inventory Search tool, and mobile applications for iOS and Android.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pawn Loans

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• FirstCash Holdings: FirstCash Holdings is the parent corporate entity of the Cash America brand and the largest international pawn operator. It is effectively the operating entity referenced throughout the provided data, including 3,300+ locations across the U.S., UK, and Latin America.
• EZCORP: EZCORP is a publicly traded pawn lending and consumer lending operator with stores across the U.S. and Latin America. It is the closest direct competitor to FirstCash/Cash America in pawn loan origination, retail resale of pre-owned merchandise, and gold buying.
• World Acceptance Corporation: World Acceptance is a publicly traded installment lender serving credit-constrained consumers through a U.S. branch network. It overlaps with FirstCash's customer segment and small-dollar consumer lending model, differing primarily in collateral structure (unsecured vs. collateralized).

Emerging players

• Regional Acceptance Corporation: Regional Acceptance is a subprime auto-focused consumer lender operating branches in the U.S. Southeast. While narrower in product scope, it serves a similar credit-constrained customer profile through a physical retail branch model analogous to FirstCash's pawn store footprint.

Regional players

• Borro Private Finance: Borro is a UK-based online pawn and luxury asset-backed lender offering secured loans against high-value assets including watches, jewelry, and fine art. It overlaps with FirstCash's UK pawn operations and its gold/precious metals buying vertical.
• Pawn America: Pawn America is a privately held regional pawn operator with a multi-state U.S. footprint focused on pawn loans and resale of pre-owned merchandise. It competes with FirstCash in Midwest and other regional markets with similar product offerings.
• Mister Money: Mister Money Holdings is a regional pawn operator with locations primarily in the South-Central U.S. offering pawn loans and resale merchandise. It is a smaller-scale, regionally focused competitor to FirstCash's pawn and resale operations.

Broad incumbents

• PROG Holdings: PROG Holdings (parent of Progressive Leasing) is a publicly traded lease-to-own consumer finance provider serving credit-constrained customers through retail partnerships. It targets a similar end customer with an alternative small-ticket credit product and competes for the same borrower wallet share.
• H&R Block: H&R Block is a publicly traded retail financial services provider serving mass-market U.S. consumers through a large physical branch network. It shares FirstCash's strategy of monetizing cash-constrained consumers via high-street retail, though in tax preparation rather than lending.
• Upbound Group (formerly Rent-A-Center): Upbound Group operates Rent-A-Center, the largest U.S. lease-to-own retailer, and Acima, a virtual lease-to-own provider. Like FirstCash, it serves subprime and credit-constrained consumers seeking access to merchandise through alternative financing structures.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cashamerica
• Facebookfacebook.com/cashamerica
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cash-america

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A1 record

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Cash America