stockrowWhat it does
FirstCash Holdings operates pawnshops and a retail payment solutions business. Its pawnshops provide short-term cash loans secured by customers’ personal property, buy used goods directly from customers and sell merchandise to the public. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.
A pawn customer leaves an item, such as jewelry, electronics or tools, as collateral for a loan. The customer can reclaim it by repaying the loan and applicable fees. If the customer does not repay by the end of the loan and any grace period, FirstCash takes ownership of the item and can sell it. The loans are non-recourse: the customer has no legal obligation to repay, and FirstCash relies on the collateral rather than pursuing the customer for payment.
FirstCash operated 3,330 pawn stores as of December 31, 2025, across the U.S., Latin America and the U.K. Its customers include people who need short-term cash and may have limited access to traditional credit, as well as shoppers seeking used goods.
Through American First Finance, or AFF, FirstCash also helps U.S. merchants offer customers ways to pay for goods and services. These include lease-to-own arrangements, retail installment agreements and bank-originated loans. Customers can apply online or through a mobile device and complete the process electronically or at a participating merchant location.
How it makes money
FirstCash reports four segments: U.S. pawn, Latin America pawn, U.K. pawn and retail point-of-sale payment solutions. The pawn segments earn fees when customers pay or extend loans and earn gross profit when stores sell merchandise. AFF earns income from leases, finance receivables and servicing arrangements.
Pawn fees are generally charged as a percentage of the loan and vary with its size, duration and collateral, subject to applicable law. Fees generally range from 4% to 25% per month and accounted for 46% of consolidated net revenue during 2025. Customers can repay loans with accrued fees or, where permitted, renew or extend them by paying accrued fees. The company also buys goods directly from customers and sells them alongside forfeited collateral. Gross profit from merchandise sales accounted for 39% of consolidated net revenue during 2025.
AFF’s lease-to-own product involves buying merchandise from a merchant and leasing it to a customer, who can return it or acquire ownership. AFF also purchases retail installment sales agreements from merchants and services them. For some bank-originated loans, AFF buys rights to a portion of the loan cash flows and sub-services the loans. For another bank-originated product, AFF receives servicing and other fees without purchasing the loans or their cash flows. AFF’s net revenues, or gross profit, accounted for 15% of consolidated net revenues during 2025.
Pawn lending and retail sales have seasonal patterns. Pawn loan balances typically grow in the third and fourth quarters, while retail sales are highest in the fourth quarter and, to a lesser extent, the first quarter.
Customers and how it sells
FirstCash’s pawn customers include people who are unbanked, underbanked or credit-constrained, as well as value-conscious shoppers. The stores lend against and sell goods including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods and musical instruments. The company does not use third-party credit reports to assess pawn borrowers; it bases loan amounts primarily on the marketability and expected selling value of the collateral.
AFF primarily serves credit-constrained consumers who may not qualify for prime or near-prime retail payment options. Its merchant partners sell goods and services through physical locations and e-commerce platforms. AFF has approximately 16,400 active retail merchant partner locations and e-commerce platforms offering its products. Its merchant partners span approximately 30 vertical channels, including automotive, furniture, elective medical and jewelry.
In FY2025, the U.S. accounted for 71.6% of revenue, Mexico for 22.8%, the U.K. for 4.12% and other Latin America for 1.46%. At December 31, 2025, FirstCash had 1,207 pawn stores in the U.S., 1,837 in Latin America and 286 in the U.K. The Latin American network included stores in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia. U.K. operations covered England, Scotland and Wales.
| Region | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | $2.6 billion | 71.6% | 1.72% |
| Mexico | $836.2 million | 22.8% | 9.39% |
| U.K. | $150.7 million | 4.12% | — |
| Other Latin America | $53.3 million | 1.46% | 12.3% |
Suppliers and costs
FirstCash obtains most of its pawn merchandise from customers: either as collateral forfeited after an unpaid loan or through direct purchases of used goods. It also acquires limited quantities of new or refurbished inventory from wholesalers and manufacturers. AFF buys merchandise from merchant partners for its lease-to-own product and purchases installment agreements from merchants.
Pawn store profitability depends on merchandise sales volume and gross profit, pawn loan volume and yield, and store operating expenses. Opening a store requires cash for operations and pawn loans, inventory, leasehold improvements, fixtures, security systems, computer equipment and other start-up costs. Store employees inspect and value collateral using their experience, sales information and other pricing references.
U.S. store operating expenses increased to $536.6 million during 2025 from $503.6 million during 2024, primarily because of higher labor and variable compensation expenses. Latin America operating expenses increased to $272.1 million during 2025 from $259.3 million during 2024; the constant-currency increase was driven primarily by inflation and increases in the federally mandated minimum wage.
AFF records provisions for estimated lease and loan losses. It depreciates leased merchandise over the life of the lease and assumes no salvage value.
- Revenue$3.7B
- Cost of revenue−$1.8B
- Selling, general and administrative−$232.8M
- Other operating costs−$1.1B
- Operating income$547.9M
Competitive position
FirstCash competes with other pawnshops and specialty consumer lenders for borrowers. Banks, credit card providers and other finance companies also compete for lending customers. For merchandise sales, it competes with jewelry stores, discount stores, second-hand stores, online marketplaces and other retailers. AFF competes with lease-to-own providers, buy-now/pay-later providers, rental stores and consumer finance companies. No independent competitors are named in the supplied business information.
FirstCash identifies store location, customer service, the amount it can lend against collateral and merchandise selection and pricing as factors in pawn competition. It describes the pawn industry as fragmented and believes that competition is more limited for its larger-format, full-service stores in Latin America. The company also says other lenders may offer more favorable financial terms.
Our reading: FirstCash’s store network and local lending and resale operations provide a meaningful presence, but fragmented markets and competition from several kinds of lenders and retailers limit the protection they offer. Its networked pawn system lets staff compare prices of similar goods and track store performance. Our reading: That data and staff experience support collateral valuation, although competitors may develop technology with similar functionality.
AFF uses a proprietary decisioning platform and merchant relationships to distribute its products. Our reading: Those relationships and tools support its reach, but they do not remove competition for merchants or customers.
Growth opportunities
FirstCash’s pawn strategy is to open new stores, acquire existing stores in selected markets and increase revenue and operating profit at existing locations. It intends to add stores where it sees appropriate customer demand and favorable conditions. New locations require a suitable site, a lease and the necessary licenses.
Over the last five years, the company opened or acquired 783 pawn stores. During 2025, it opened 35 locations and acquired 309. It also consolidated 40 existing pawn locations during the year. The company completed its acquisition of H&T on August 14, 2025, adding a U.K. pawn operation with 286 store locations.
FirstCash believes Mexico and other Latin American countries offer further expansion opportunities because of the potential customer base and limited competition from other large-format, full-service pawn operators. It also believes the fragmented U.K. and European pawn industries offer opportunities for expansion. The company estimates there are 12,000 to 14,000 pawnshops in the U.S., 8,000 to 9,000 in Mexico and slightly under 1,000 in the U.K.
AFF plans to seek additional market share by expanding its physical and online merchant base and increasing customer use of its products. It is also focused on application conversion for qualified applicants and risk segmentation. AFF has worked to diversify its merchant base away from larger partners and the furniture channel.
- $1.7BFY2021
- $2.7BFY2022
- $3.2BFY2023
- $3.4BFY2024
- $3.7BFY2025
Structural risks
- Competition: Other pawnshops, lenders, payment providers and retailers compete with FirstCash for borrowers and merchandise customers. Competition could adversely affect results and the company’s ability to expand its pawn business.
- Regulation: Pawn lending, lease-to-own and consumer finance products are subject to extensive regulation in the U.S., Latin America and the U.K. Rules can govern licensing, fees, disclosures and terms; noncompliance can lead to penalties, refunds or loss of licenses.
- Debt and financing: FirstCash had outstanding principal indebtedness of $2,224.0 million as of December 31, 2025. Debt could limit financing availability and require cash that might otherwise fund loans, acquisitions, store openings or other needs.
- AFF credit exposure: AFF estimates losses on leases and finance receivables. It must also reimburse its bank partner for principal and accrued interest on certain off-balance-sheet loans that become 90 days contractually past due.
- Merchant dependence: AFF’s transaction volume depends on sales at its merchant partners and on retaining and developing those relationships. A decline in partner sales could adversely affect AFF’s results.
- Economic and currency conditions: Deteriorating economic conditions could reduce demand or profitability. Fluctuations in Latin American and U.K. exchange rates can change reported financial position and results.
Bottom line
Our reading
Our reading: FirstCash combines collateral-backed lending and resale with a separate merchant-financing business, so its economics depend on both store-level collateral decisions and AFF’s payment and credit performance. Its store network and merchant relationships give it several routes to customers, while regulation, competition, debt and credit exposure constrain those businesses. Expansion through stores, acquisitions and merchants remains central to its strategy.