An Acima Digital charge on your bank statement is a scheduled lease-to-own payment to Acima Digital LLC for merchandise you financed at a participating retailer. Acima paid the store up front for the item, and you’re now paying Acima back through recurring withdrawals under a lease agreement you signed at checkout. If the charge is expected, the sections below explain what you’ll pay and how to end the lease sooner. If it isn’t, skip to the dispute steps at the bottom.
Why It Shows Up as “Digital”
The “Digital” label means the transaction ran through Acima’s LeasePay virtual card, which operates on the Mastercard network and can live in a mobile wallet.1Upbound Group, Inc. Acima Unveils Industry’s First Lease-to-Own Anywhere Virtual Card That’s why the line item looks like a card transaction rather than a straightforward debit from a leasing company. Acima owns the merchandise until you finish paying or exercise an early purchase option; the retailer has no further role after the initial sale.
What You’ll Pay Over the Full Lease
Withdrawal amounts depend on the retail price of the item and Acima’s cost-of-lease markup, and they sync to your pay cycle, so you’ll see them weekly, biweekly, twice monthly, or monthly.2CreditCards.com. Guide to Acima Credit: Rent-to-Own Financing Ridden out to the end, a lease typically costs roughly double the item’s retail price. A $500 appliance can run close to $1,000 by the time ownership transfers.
Terms are 12, 18, or 24 months depending on the agreement.3Acima. Lease Agreements Once you’ve made every scheduled payment, the item becomes yours automatically. You don’t have to wait that long, though, and the earlier you act, the less you pay.
How to Pay Less: The 90-Day Buyout
Within the first 90 days of the lease, you can buy the item outright by paying the remaining lease balance plus a $10 buyout fee.2CreditCards.com. Guide to Acima Credit: Rent-to-Own Financing That comes out to roughly the retail price of the item, plus your initial payment at the store (usually around $50) and the $10 fee. Most of Acima’s markup is stripped out. If you have the cash, this is the single most effective way to cut what you owe.
After the 90-Day Window
Miss that window and you can still pay off early, just for more. Acima generally lets you buy the item by paying a lump sum equal to about 65% of the remaining balance.2CreditCards.com. Guide to Acima Credit: Rent-to-Own Financing Cheaper than making every scheduled payment, more expensive than the 90-day option. You can also pay the balance in full at any point to stop future withdrawals.
Returning the Item to Stop Future Charges
You can return the merchandise at any time and stop future payments, with no penalty for ending the lease this way.3Acima. Lease Agreements Call customer service at (801) 297-1982 to start the return.4Acima. Contact Acima FAQs: Manage Payments, Leases, and More Payments already made don’t come back to you; they covered the rental period you had the item. But no new charges should hit your account once the return is processed.
The math matters here. Every payment past the 90-day buyout window is money spent on something you may not keep. Returning a $600 TV after nine months of payments means several hundred dollars gone with nothing to show for it.
What Happens If You Just Stop Paying
Stopping payments without returning the merchandise is the worst option. According to a federal complaint filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Acima charges a daily holdover fee equal to what you’d owe under the lease, plus late fees, until you catch up, return the item, or have been charged the full-term cost of the lease.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB v. Acima Complaint Your specific late fee amount is in your lease agreement.
The same CFPB filing noted that Acima did not attempt to repossess merchandise from consumers who stopped paying.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB v. Acima Complaint Instead, the company pursued collections. Expect calls, and expect the unpaid balance to eventually reach a third-party debt collector, which can put the debt on your credit report even if the lease itself wasn’t reported.
If You Don’t Recognize the Charge
Start with Acima. Log into the customer portal at acima.com or call (801) 297-1982 to see whether the charge matches a lease tied to your name.4Acima. Contact Acima FAQs: Manage Payments, Leases, and More Have the date of the charge and the exact dollar amount ready. Sometimes a household member signed the lease, or the merchant name on the statement doesn’t match the store where the purchase happened. Billing errors also occur, and Acima can pull transaction records.
If the charge is genuinely unauthorized, meaning someone accessed your bank account or debit card without permission, call your bank right away. Federal law caps your liability for unauthorized electronic transfers at $50 as long as you report the problem within 60 days of receiving the statement showing the charge.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1693g – Consumer Liability Miss that 60-day window and you can be held responsible for losses that occur after it closes.
Once you notify the bank, it has 10 business days to investigate and resolve the dispute. The bank can extend the investigation to 45 days, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those first 10 business days so you have access to the disputed funds while the review continues.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1693f – Error Resolution For point-of-sale debit card transactions, which is how many Acima charges are processed, the investigation window can stretch to 90 days.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors