Acima finances lease-to-own purchases that come in different lengths from the initial, 90 days option to its full 12 months plan with varying terms.
With hundreds of stores that accept it both online and offline, this financing brand has one of the best networks of merchants where you can lease to own products, including using your Acima credit to buy on Amazon.
Understanding its different payment plans will give you a good idea what are the differences and benefits that come with each in terms of repayment cost.
Acima
Amount
up to $5,000
Credit Check
Soft
Acima is a financing company that allows you to get products from retailers on lease-to-own terms. It grants from a minimum of $300 to a maximum of $5,000 in product value if you satisfy its requirements.
The platform is present across hundreds of online stores that accept it through which you can get their products without being bothered by the upfront cost.
The payment plans differ and range from the first-day payment to a 90-day buyout option that will cost you an extra value which could be less than $100 or a full 12-month plan which might have a more convenient monthly payment value but higher when you add up the total payments.
Irrespective of the product you are buying, the retailer, and the cost of the lease of such an item, try to pay back as early as possible to own it outrightly to save a lot of funds that will go into the lease cost.
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Acima finance payment plans
When you are shopping at any of the stores that accept Acima for leasing, your contract will most likely cover the below payment options:
Acima Finance Initial Payment
Period
First Day
Estimate Cost
$50 – $70
The initial payment is the first cost you will bear when creating an order request with your Acima account.
It is not a fee but an order initiation cost that is required before you will be able to get the product being ordered. This value is added to the invoice price.
It is usually charged at contract signing hence, you will bear this on the same day you used your Acima credit for product or service financing.
It has a fixed value and it usually falls between $50 to $70 depending on where you are buying from as it varies from mode (online or offline), the item in question, and its worth.
This will be charged through one of the payment methods you added while creating your account, it could be any from debit or credit card, and its popularly used ACH method.
Once this initial payment is successful, an order will be created for you then, you can pick up the item if you are buying through an offline merchant or expect delivery if it is through one of the online stores that accept it for leasing.
Acima Finance 90-day Payment
Period
90
Estimate Cost
$75 – $95, plus product price
If you intend to pay back any time between the first day, to a period not exceeding 90 days from your initial payment then, you will bear a cost of the lease between $75 to $95.
The Acima finance for 90 days allows an early purchase by allowing you to pay the actual item’s price in addition to the cost of the lease.
Let us look at an example of a product whose price is $400 that will be repaid within 90 days at a cost of the lease of $95. For an item of this value, you will pay just $495 to own it. That is, the price of the product is $400, and the cost of the lease is $95.
90 Day Buyout = product price + cost of lease; which is $400 + $95.
This applies to every period within 90 days. So, you will pay the same amount if you decide to buy the item outrightly within 30 days or 60 days as well.
The Acima finance 90-day option also has a fixed cost which will be specified in your contract before signing. Try to review this on your contract terms to have an understanding of how much you will pay if you decide to use this option.
Acima Finance Mid-term Buyout
Period
3 months – 11 months
Estimate Cost
89% – 137%*, plus product price
This is a much longer Acima payment plan and very flexible when you pay on a monthly basis as you will be paying in smaller bits. An instance is, you can be repaying $101.2 every month for a total lease term cost of $1,113 over a period of 11 months.
While this is convenient, when you add the total repayments at the end of the period, you would have paid almost or doubled the total cost of the original product price.
Try to repay as early as possible so as to avoid the high cost of leasing. At just a $75 or $95 difference of the invoice price, the short term is way better when you are using Acima to finance your items purchases.
Nevertheless, if you are fine with the long-term contract as common to leasing companies, you can proceed by using the mid-term cost estimator.
Mid-term Buyout = 89%* of item’s cost + original cost of item;
We can calculate this using a product that cost $400. If you use the mid-term buyout option in the fourth month, you might pay a lease cost that could be equivalent to 89% or more of the product price. So, our cost of lease for a $400 product will be $356.
Hence, our Mid-term buyout in the fourth month for a $400 product is at least; $356 + $400, which totaled $756.
Note that the cost be higher depending on the category of the product as well as the retailer inclusive of relevant taxes that might be applied.
Acima Finance Full-term
Period
12 months
Estimate Cost
155%*, plus product price
The full-term Acima finance plan means that you see through the contract until its final month, which is the twelfth month for a one-year period.
Usually, you will pay less on a monthly basis depending on the length. That means that your monthly repayment for a 12-month plan will have a very small repayment value compared to other early payment terms.
But as you might know now, the longer the term, the higher the cost of the lease you accumulate before full ownership hence, you will end up paying more for a full-term period.
To estimate a full-term Acima finance payment contract, you should expect to pay at least 155% or more of the item’s price as the lease cost. Add it to the original item price and you will have an idea of how much you repay at the end of the contract. That is;
Acima finance full-term = 155%* of item’s cost + original cost of item;
Again, we take our product of $400 as an example to understand how this works when it comes to repayment.
Our lease cost will be 155% of $400 which is $620. We will then add this to the original product price of $400 to get our total repayment value before full ownership.
Acima finance full-term for $400 product = $620 + $400; which is the same as $1,020.
If you look at this, waiting until the last month could result in you paying almost thrice the original cost of the product hence, try to pay as early as possible to avoid this huge cost.
Acima payment calculator
If you want to estimate the cost of using Acima to finance products without bothering with the calculation manually, try the calculator below by providing the required information:
**This is just for estimation, the final cost might differ at the provider’s end.
Acima early purchase option
Acima’s early pay-off allows you to purchase the item outrightly before the last month of the contract.
This is a great option as purchasing the product very early during the contract will save you a lot of funds that could go into paying for the item’s lease.
The 90-day early purchase option has the best offering as it will require you to pay a fixed lease cost that could be less than $100.
Nevertheless, if you are unable to pay it off within 90 days, you can still buy the product outrightly at any point during the contract which will still save you some funds than having to wait until the final month.
Acima customer service
In terms of customer service, Acima provides different channels through which you can reach them. The below shows the information on how you can contact the Acima customer service team:
Acima customer service number
The Acima customer service number is (801) 297-1982 if you are a regular customer but if you are a merchant and want to add Acima to your list of payment options, you can contact the team by calling the number (801) 297-1984.
Acima customer service email
If you want to send an email to the Acima customer service team, use the ID [email protected] if you want to make inquiries or lay complaints regarding your account but for merchant-related queries, use the email [email protected].
Acima customer service chat channel
The platform also provides a live support channel when you visit its web portal or directly when you are logged in on its mobile application.
If you are using the mobile app, you can start a conversation by clicking the chat icon when you are logged in or simply checking the footer of the web page when visiting its website.
Acima payment options
When it comes to repayment, Acima provides different payment options that include:
ACH payment option
ACH payment option is a bank-to-bank money transfer processed through the Automated Clearing House Network.
The account number you provided when you were signing up for an Acima account will be charged when your repayment is due with the ACH method. This is the most widely used Acima payment option.
Debit or Credit Card payment option
You can also opt to use a debit or credit card to handle all your lease-to-own repayments. This can be set on your application as well as when you are logged in to the web interface.
This Acima payment option allows you to use any card that is powered by Visa, Mastercard, or Discover.
VanillaDirect Pay option
You might also be eligible to pay in cash through VanillaDirect Pay. If this option is available for your leasing contract, you can access the required barcode when you log in to your customer dashboard.
The barcode needs to be taken to a retailer where you can make the cash payment. Well-known merchants that accept VanillaDirect barcodes include CVS, Dollar General, Family Dollar, and 7-Eleven.
How to apply for an Acima leasing credit
Anyone can apply for the Acima leasing credit which can be on the web or mobile app or directly at the retailer’s shopping portal.
Generally, the steps involved when applying for an Acima account are:
- On the checkout page of a shopping portal, select the ‘Pay with Acima’ option
- You will then be given a form requiring you to provide some information. Fill in your SSN, contact number, and other needed details
- Once you are done filling out the request form, submit it for backend processing which will determine your eligibility
- Once your profile meets the needed requirements, shopping credits will be assigned to you
- If the purchasing power assigned to your account can cover the cost of the item to be purchased then, you will be able to checkout
To have a higher chance of acceptance, your profile should meet the below requirements:
- You must have an active employment for the last three months
- Your monthly earning should be up to a minimum of $750
- Of course, the age limit is there and you must be at least 18 years
- A good credit standing could be a plus but not a primary determinant as you can be eligible even with a poor credit rating
Acima app
Acima also provides a mobile app through which you can access the services.
This app comes with more features that allow you to shop on many more merchants like Best Buy who do not support the use of your leasing credit when you are shopping directly on their portals.
The mobile app is available for both Android and iOS which you can download directly when you visit your respective store and search for it.
Acima Leasepay virtual card
The Acima Leaspay Card is a virtual pay-later card you can use to make purchases at thousands of retailers that do not support it directly on their platforms.
Interestingly, you can opt for its browser extension and checkout at ease when you are shopping through any of the retailers’ websites by simply activating the ‘Pay with Acima’ button powered through the functionality of its extension.
This will populate the virtual card details required and you will be able to checkout with your shopping credit assigned to you. Ensure to use the shipping details the same as you have on your Acima account.
Acima Digital FKA Simp, what is it?
The Acima Digital FKA Simp usually appears under the company tag of your credit report and this is possibly because you have taken a lease-to-own merchandise through Acima.
It is worth noting that your leasing activities will be reported to Experian hence, commit to early payment to avoid this affecting your credit score rating. That is, you should try not to default on repayment.
If you have this appearing in your report but have not accepted any lease contract with Acima, you should immediately reach out to the company using their customer service contact details above.
While this is something you should be worried about, reaching out to Acima could help you understand where the gap came from which will lead to fixing it.
Is Acima a loan and what is the interest rate?
Acima is not a loan provider but rather a lease service company whose operation is quite different from a conventional credit organization.
When you take a loan, a bank or any other financial institution extends funds to you, and you can then use the given funds for buying products and services.
In a credit-based transaction, a lending institution or creditor gives you the money which you are expected to pay back with some charges or interest.
The process is quite different in a lease kind of purchase like buying with Acima.
When you are approved for merchandise after applying through Acima, the product will be purchased by the leasing company, in this case, Acima, and then extended to you. Hence, no fund is given to you but rather, you will receive a product.
Once you have the product, you will be making lease renewal payments to Acima while using the item. If you want to own the item outrightly at any point during the lease, you can use the early purchase option.
If you are not happy with the product anymore, you can as well terminate the contract at any time with no penalty. In such a case of termination, you will need to return the item in good condition back to Acima.
Acima has no interest, but you make renewal payments based on the value of the product and the cost of lease services which is usually shown to you at the point of signing the contract.
Acima is an alternative to financing, especially if you have tried some other forms like using buy now pay later service providers but enough purchasing credit was not given to you to cover the cost of an item you want to purchase.
If you are lucky to be approved for some leasing credits, ensure to read the terms and other details that come in the contract and only proceed if you are fine with the terms.
Nevertheless, try as much as you can to pay back as early as possible to own the item outrightly as this will save you a lot of funds that could go in when you decide to see through the full-term contract.
If you have some credits, you can check through the list of stores that accept Acima for financing to utilize your purchasing power.
