Acima

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Contacts

• Official website: https://www.acima.com/
• Customer support (Mon–Fri 6am–7pm MT, Sat 7am–4pm MT): 801-297-1982
• Main number listed on BBB: 801-297-1980
• Retailer partners: 801-297-1984

Locations

Leasing through Acima? What to check before and after you sign

Acima is a lease-to-own (also called rent-to-own, or what a 2024 CFPB lawsuit called "virtual rent-to-own") provider that partners with retailers and online stores so shoppers can get merchandise by leasing it instead of paying for it outright or borrowing to buy it. Acima's own website states, in the footer of every page, that "Acima offers lease-to-own transactions. This is not a loan, credit, or financing" and that "Acquiring ownership by leasing costs more than the retailer's cash price." Acima says it is not available in Minnesota, New Jersey, or Wisconsin, and that a maximum lease amount of $5,000 may require an in-store application; not all applicants are approved.

According to Acima's own "How It Works" page, approval amounts range from $300 to $5,000, and applicants generally need an active checking account with at least $750 of income per month, three months of income history with their current source of income, and a government-issued photo ID with a Social Security number or Taxpayer Identification Number. Acima says it provides a lease agreement "for you to review and sign that explains how the lease renews and your available options," and that after an initial payment a customer can "lease it until you own it or purchase early at a discount," saving more the sooner they buy out. Acima's site also states a customer "can return it in good condition at any time without penalty" if they no longer want the merchandise. Separately, Acima describes an "Acima Private Credit" product in which the customer owns the item from the start and pays on a credit account, a different structure from its lease-to-own product.

Regulators have alleged a different picture of the return process during an earlier period: the CFPB's 2024 lawsuit alleged that "through approximately 2021, fewer than 1% of all Acima Credit consumers ever returned their goods," and the District of Columbia Attorney General's 2026 settlement release alleged Acima had been "deceptively promising 'hassle-free returns'" while refusing "numerous return requests." These are allegations, not proven facts, and the CFPB's lawsuit was later dismissed (see below).

• Before you sign, read the lease's total cost of ownership and its early-purchase terms and compare them with the item's cash price, so you know what leasing will cost if you pay to the end versus buying out early.
• Keep a copy of your signed lease agreement and any confirmation of your payment schedule.
• If you want to return merchandise, contact Acima directly — customer support is (801) 297-1982 (Mon–Fri 6am–7pm MT, Sat 7am–4pm MT) or live chat at acima.com — and get written confirmation that the return was processed and your lease ended.
• Check your credit reports for errors. Acima's own site states it "obtains information from consumer reporting agencies during a lease application," and the CFPB's complaint database shows a large share of complaints about Acima concern credit reporting (see below); dispute any error with the credit bureau and with Acima.
• If a problem isn't resolved, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or with your state attorney general's office.
• Early purchase is opt-in. Acima's How It Works page says you are “not automatically enrolled in any early purchase options and additional payments will be required to purchase early.” Ask for the exact early-purchase amount and deadline in writing.
• Watch for fraud. Upbound disclosed in July 2026 that customer information was obtained in cybersecurity incidents and used to create fraudulent lease-to-own agreements; if you see an Acima lease you did not sign, contact Acima and report it.

CFPB, New York, and DC actions

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Acima Holdings, LLC, Acima Digital, LLC, and founder Aaron Allred in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on July 26, 2024 (No. 2:24-cv-00525-DBB). The CFPB alleged that Acima's "virtual rent-to-own" product cost consumers "more than twice the original retail price"; that its marketing misleadingly presented a 90-day early-purchase option like an interest-free loan; that its mobile enrollment process obscured fine print; that its return process was "designed to make it absurdly difficult" to return goods; that it required autopay authorization and told some consumers they could not change their payment method; that it had credit-reporting accuracy problems dating to May 2017; and that it refused to investigate identity-theft claims without a police report. The CFPB estimated as many as 5 million financing agreements had been entered since 2015. These are allegations only. The court denied Acima's motions to transfer and stay the case in December 2024, and Acima moved to dismiss on December 16, 2024. On March 6, 2025, the CFPB itself filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and the court's March 7, 2025 order noted the dismissal was "self-effectuating" and that "the case has been dismissed with prejudice." There was no finding of liability and no settlement recorded. In a March 2025 release, Upbound Group stated that as a result "Acima will not pay any money, [and will not] be required to change any business practices."

Four days before the CFPB sued, on July 22, 2024, Acima Digital, LLC had itself sued the CFPB in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (No. 4:24-cv-00662). That case was also voluntarily dismissed with prejudice around March 6–7, 2025.

The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, sued Acima (the filed complaint names Acima Digital, LLC and Acima Holdings, LLC as defendants) on August 14, 2024, alleging the companies deceived "more than 100,000 New York consumers" by "'leasing' goods that could not be returned, charging more than the allowable amount on goods, and misleading consumers about the cost of financing," in violation of New York's rent-to-own law. The complaint alleges Acima has operated in New York since 2015, with more than 150,000 New York transactions, and that some transactions carried effective rates "of 100% or higher." It seeks penalties and restitution. These are allegations from a filed complaint; this page has not independently confirmed the case's current status as of September 27, 2026.

The District of Columbia Attorney General announced on July 9, 2026 that Acima Digital, LLC and Acima Holdings, LLC agreed to provide "$4 million in monetary relief and penalties" and to reform business practices to resolve an investigation. The relief includes $900,000 in refunds, $2.7 million in debt forgiveness, and $100,000 in account vouchers to more than 10,000 DC residents, plus $300,000 in penalties. Acima also agreed to more clearly explain lease costs and terms, avoid misleading advertising, increase staff training, and improve customer service around damaged merchandise, late deliveries, and the return process. The OAG's release had alleged misleading advertising, hidden markups, pop-ups that blocked required text, and "deceptively promising 'hassle-free returns'" while refusing "numerous return requests" — allegations the settlement resolved without a court judgment.

Multistate investigation. According to the same Upbound report, in November 2021 the Nebraska Attorney General, with a coalition of other state attorneys general, opened a multistate investigation into Acima's business practices that Upbound understands involves forty-three states. The District of Columbia left that group and settled separately. Upbound said it believed it was “nearing a non-binding agreement in principle” with the group's executive committee, but that any final settlement still had to be negotiated with each state. No final multistate settlement was found in the sources checked for this page.

2026 fraud incident. In a July 22, 2026 filing, Upbound said that “certain non-sensitive customer information and other documents were obtained without authorization” in cybersecurity incidents and that it believes the information was used to create fraudulent lease-to-own agreements, contributing to about $13 million in fraudulent contract losses in the Acima segment in the second quarter of 2026. It said it added authentication and fraud-monitoring controls, notified federal law enforcement, and was still investigating; it described the incidents as not material.

Company background

According to the CFPB's 2024 complaint, Acima Digital, LLC — which does business as Acima Leasing — is a Utah limited liability company formerly known as Acima Credit, LLC, Simple Leasing, Simple Finance, LLC, and Simple RTO, LLC, and it changed its name to Acima Digital in December 2021. Acima Holdings, LLC, also a Utah LLC, has owned 100% of Acima since 2018 and is, per the same complaint, "a wholly-owned subsidiary of nonparty Rent-A-Center East, Inc. ... which acquired Acima Holdings in 2021." Upbound Group's own March 2025 release similarly describes "Acima Leasing" as "a business of Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: UPBD)" — Rent-A-Center, Inc. was renamed Upbound Group. An SEC 8-K filed in February 2021 describes financing for "the consideration required to effect its merger with Acima Holdings, LLC," with the transaction expected to close February 17, 2021.

The CFPB's complaint identifies Aaron Allred as "a Utah resident and a founder of Acima Credit, as well as the former CEO of the Acima Companies." Acima's Better Business Bureau file lists a business start date of March 7, 2013, with a BBB file opened October 29, 2013, and a Draper, Utah mailing address.

Acima's own site describes a separate product, "Acima Private Credit," in which the customer owns the merchandise from the start and pays on a credit account — a different structure from the lease-to-own product this page otherwise describes.

Complaint record: USAComplaints, CFPB, BBB, Trustpilot, and ComplaintsBoard, reported separately

Several sources track complaints and reviews about Acima, and this page reports each one separately rather than blending them into a single figure:

• USAComplaints: 0 complaints submitted about Acima on this site so far. (This site has roughly 550 older posts, from 2001–2013, about Rent-A-Center retail stores under various offender spellings — those are complaints about Rent-A-Center stores, not about Acima, and are not counted here.)
• CFPB Consumer Complaint Database (company "ACIMA CREDIT, LLC," checked September 27, 2026): 3,900 complaints filed March 15, 2017 through September 22, 2026 (911 in the last 12 months, 2,419 in the last 3 years). By product: debt collection, 1,541; credit reporting (combining two CFPB product-name variants), 1,442; payday/title/personal loan (two variants), 695; credit card, 94; vehicle loan/lease, 44; checking/savings, 32. Top issues: incorrect information on a report, 746; attempts to collect debt not owed, 690; improper use of a report, 342; took or threatened negative/legal action, 332; charged unexpected fees or interest, 265; problem with the company's investigation, 215; false statements, 196. Top states: Texas (599), Georgia (370), California (363), Florida (335), New York (256). Of the complaints, 3,593 were closed with an explanation, 246 got non-monetary relief, and 61 got monetary relief; 3,895 were answered timely and 5 were not. The CFPB says it does not verify all the facts alleged in complaints, and its database is not a statistical sample.
• BBB: Acima Digital, LLC has been BBB Accredited since March 16, 2014, with an A+ business rating. BBB shows 1,481 complaints in the last three years (461 closed in the last 12 months); of the 10 it displays in detail, 6 are marked Answered and 4 Resolved, split across billing (4), sales and advertising (3), product (2), and service (1) categories. BBB's own customer-review score is 1.04 out of 5 from 393 reviews. The A+ rating is BBB's own business-accreditation grade, not a customer-satisfaction score — that is the separate 1.04/5 figure.
• Trustpilot: a claimed profile (since December 2020) showing 3.3 out of 5 from 23,529 reviews. Trustpilot notes the company has "no recent history of asking for reviews" and has "replied to 98% of negative reviews."
• ComplaintsBoard: 2.2 out of 5 from 1 review and 83 complaints, as of its July 26, 2026 update (the listing also references the domain acimacredit.com).

Because each source covers a different population, time window, and methodology, none of these figures is added to or averaged with any other.

Litigation record

A CourtListener search for case names containing "Acima," run September 27, 2026, found 36 federal dockets from 2017 through 2026. Most are individual consumer-credit lawsuits against Acima Digital, Acima Credit, or Acima Leasing, brought under laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, filed in districts across the country — for example, Farr v. Acima Credit (N.D. Cal., 2020–2022), Anthony v. Acima (N.D. Ohio, 2021–2023), and Tellman and Jacob v. Acima (W.D. Ky., 2023–2024). The docket list also includes several bankruptcy adversary proceedings (four cases captioned Welch, M.D. Fla.) and a number of new 2026 filings, including cases captioned Deal (S.D. Cal.), Miller (D. Utah), Iler (N.D. Ga.), and Smith (E.D. Tex.). All of these are individual filings; their allegations have not been independently verified for this page, and a filing is not a finding.

Not to be confused: a California class action, McBurnie v. Acceptance Now, concerned Upbound's former Acceptance Now business, not Acima.

Is Acima Legitimate?

Acima Digital, LLC is a real, operating company — Utah-registered, per its Better Business Bureau file, with a business start date of March 2013 — that provides lease-to-own transactions at retail and online checkouts and describes itself as "a business of Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: UPBD)," the company formerly known as Rent-A-Center, Inc. It carries a BBB accreditation and A+ business rating alongside 1,481 BBB complaints in the last three years and a 1.04-out-of-5 BBB customer-review score, a 3.3-out-of-5 Trustpilot score, and a CFPB consumer-complaint database entry of about 3,900 complaints. It was sued by the CFPB in 2024 over its marketing, returns, and credit-reporting practices; that case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice in March 2025, with no finding of liability and no payment from Acima. Separately, the New York Attorney General sued it in August 2024; that case was still pending as of Upbound's July 2026 quarterly report. Acima also reached a $4 million settlement with the District of Columbia Attorney General in July 2026 that included required changes to its advertising, training, and return-handling practices. This page assigns Acima no rating, score, or "scam" label of its own; readers can weigh the record above for themselves.

Court & Public Records

Company Relationships

• Owned by: Upbound Group, Inc. (formerly Rent-A-Center, Inc.)

Frequently Asked Questions