FirstCash, Inc. is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas and operates as the leading international pawn store operator with over 3,300 retail locations spanning 29 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the United Kingdom, and Latin America including Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and El Salvador. The company employs approximately 22,000 people and is listed on both the Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 2000 Index, indicating its scale as a major public corporation in the consumer finance space.
FirstCash's core business focuses on serving cash and credit-constrained consumers through its retail pawn locations. The company buys and sells a wide variety of merchandise including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments. Their primary lending product is non-recourse pawn loans secured by pledged personal property, meaning the borrower has no obligation to repay beyond forfeiting the collateral. They also offer ancillary services including gold and precious metal buying, layaway plans with 10% down payments, and retail sales of merchandise.
What distinguishes FirstCash from smaller pawn operators is its massive scale, international presence, and diversified revenue streams. Beyond pawn lending, the company operates AFF, a wholly-owned subsidiary providing lease-to-own and retail finance payment solutions through over 15,000 merchant partner locations nationwide. This dual-business model creates additional revenue beyond traditional pawn operations and positions FirstCash as a fintech-enabled consumer finance platform rather than a simple collateral lender.
FirstCash is best suited for consumers who are researching short-term cash access with eligibility claims to verify and have valuable personal property to pledge as collateral. The non-recourse nature of pawn loans eliminates debt collection risk for borrowers. However, pawn loans inherently involve losing ownership of items if not repaid, and interest rates are typically higher than traditional loans. The company's massive footprint and corporate structure ensure operational consistency and consumer-protection context, but individual loan terms depend on item valuation and local store policies.