FirstFin Charge on Your Statement: Fees, Stopping, and Disputes

A FirstFin charge on your bank statement is almost always a debit from FirstFin Credit, an online lender that issues short-term installment loans and lines of credit of the kind consumers often call payday or emergency loans. The amount may be a scheduled loan payment, a processing or funding fee, an annual account fee, or a charge routed through a third-party payment processor on the lender’s behalf. If you don’t recognize it, the cause is usually a forgotten loan, an unexpected fee tied to one you’ve already paid off, or a descriptor that doesn’t match how you remember the lender’s name.

Who FirstFin Credit Is

FirstFin Credit runs a borrower portal at portal.firstfincredit.com, where loan documents and periodic statements are posted electronically. Loan agreements are issued in connection with First National Bank of Pasco. Customer service is reachable at 1-888-512-2495.¹

Two unrelated companies get confused with it. First Financial Underwriting Services Inc., an insurance-inspection business at firstfin.com, has operated under that name since 1991 and is not connected to the lender.² American First Finance, a retail-purchase financing company, posts charges with the descriptor “AMERICANFIRSTFIN.”³ If your statement reads “AMERICANFIRSTFIN,” the charge is from that company and relates to a retail purchase agreement, not a FirstFin Credit loan.

Why the Charge Might Look Unfamiliar

The descriptor itself can throw you. Statements may show “First Fin,” “FirstFin Credit,” or a truncated variation that doesn’t match the name you remember using when you applied. One borrower reported taking out a FirstFin Credit loan through Check Into Cash, a payday-lending storefront, and only seeing the “First Fin” descriptor on their statement afterward.⁴

Payments routed through a third-party processor can show the processor’s name rather than FirstFin Credit’s, making the line even harder to recognize.⁵ Annual fees are another common surprise: if you paid off a loan months ago but never formally closed the account, the recurring annual charge can land long after you’ve stopped thinking about the lender.

Fees That Commonly Produce a Charge

Match the amount on your statement against the categories borrowers most often report:

Annual fee of roughly $25. Some reviewers say this fee has been charged more than once, or has appeared after they believed their account was closed.⁵
Account-closing fee of $25 to $35 after a loan is paid off.⁵
Processing and funding fees. One borrower reported a $60 approval fee, a 9% fee to receive funds, and another 9% fee applied to payments, tied to an “instant funding” option the borrower said was not clearly distinguished from a slower, fee-free alternative.⁴
Third-party processor fees of around $20, charged separately from FirstFin Credit’s own debits.⁵
Lingering balances of $17 to $25 remaining after the principal is repaid, generating additional interest or fees.⁵

Borrowers often describe the fee structure as hard to read, saying the total cost of borrowing is not easy to work out from the statements they receive.⁵

How to Stop Future Charges You Authorized

If you took out the loan and simply want to stop automatic debits, you can revoke the lender’s authorization to pull payments from your bank account. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises contacting the lender both in writing and by phone to withdraw permission, then separately notifying your bank that you’ve done so. You can also place a stop-payment order with your bank. It must be submitted at least three business days before the next scheduled debit, banks may charge a fee for it, and they may require written confirmation within 14 days of an oral request.⁶

Revoking payment authorization does not cancel the underlying loan. You still owe any outstanding balance, and failing to arrange another payment method could send the debt to collections.⁶ FirstFin Credit’s own e-sign disclosure states that withdrawing consent for electronic communications will cause the loan to be frozen and then closed, with the borrower required to pay any outstanding sums.¹

How to Dispute a Charge You Didn’t Authorize

If you never took out a FirstFin Credit loan, or if a charge posted after you revoked authorization, federal law gives you dispute rights. The process depends on whether the charge hit a debit card or bank account, or a credit card.

Debit Card or Bank Account

The Electronic Fund Transfer Act applies. Notify your bank as soon as you spot the charge. If you report within 60 days of the statement date, the bank generally must investigate within 10 business days (20 days for accounts open less than 30 days) and issue a temporary credit if it cannot resolve the matter in that window. The full investigation must wrap up within 45 days in most cases, extending to 90 days for point-of-sale debit transactions.⁷

Credit Card

The Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute billing errors in writing within 60 days of the statement date. During the investigation, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount, and the issuer can’t report it as delinquent. The issuer must acknowledge your dispute within 30 days and resolve it within 90 days. Federal law caps liability for unauthorized credit card charges at $50, and many issuers offer zero-liability policies on top of that.⁸

Where to File a Complaint

If you believe the lender has handled your account unfairly, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau online or by calling (855) 411-2372. Your state attorney general or state banking regulator can also take complaints about consumer lenders.⁶

1
FirstFin Credit. E-Sign Disclosure Agreement
2
First Financial Underwriting Services Inc. First Financial Underwriting Services
3
American First Finance. Payments and Billing
4
Avvo. Consumer Question Regarding First Fin Installment Loan
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WalletHub. FirstFin Credit Reviews
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Can I Stop a Payday Lender From Taking Money Out of My Account
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Get My Money Back After an Unauthorized Transaction
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Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges