An Acima entry on a credit report usually traces to a lease-to-own purchase made through a retailer. Acima describes its product as a lease, not a loan, but in federal court it says it communicates with consumer reporting agencies regarding customer accounts, and Acima accounts appear on credit reports filed as court exhibits. When what an Acima entry says about you is wrong, federal law gives you the right to dispute it and, in some cases, to sue over it.
What Acima is and who owns it
Acima’s parent, Upbound Group, Inc., tells the SEC that its Acima segment “offers lease-to-own solutions through retailers in stores and online,” and Acima’s corporate disclosure statement in a 2024 federal case names Upbound Group as its parent. Upbound’s privacy policy says the company was formerly known as Rent-A-Center, Inc., and the CFPB described Acima that year as a Rent-A-Center affiliate.
Acima’s FAQ says, “We don’t extend funds to you or on your behalf,” and Upbound tells the SEC that Acima buys the merchandise from the retailer and keeps ownership unless the customer elects to purchase it. Both say the lease can be ended by returning the merchandise, and Upbound says a customer who ends a lease-purchase agreement owes nothing further “other than any outstanding balances to the date of return.” That is the baseline to check a reported balance against.
Three ways Acima can appear on your credit reports
- An inquiry from the application. Acima says it “uses a soft pull” when it accesses your consumer report from TransUnion, Experian or Equifax, and that applying does not affect your credit score with them; Upbound tells the SEC that Acima uses information from consumer reporting agencies in its decisioning. Consumers’ federal complaints filed in 2025 and 2026 describe these pulls appearing as inquiries by Clarity Services on behalf of Acima Digital. The CFPB lists Clarity, which it says is owned by Experian, as collecting information on rent-to-own accounts; see Clarity Services on your report. If you never applied, see the post on unauthorized credit inquiries.
- The lease account itself. Experian credit reports filed as exhibits in two 2025 federal cases list closed Acima accounts as “ACIMA DIGITAL FKA SIMP.” The company calls itself “Acima Digital LLC f/k/a Simple” in a 2026 court answer, and the District of Columbia Attorney General lists Simple Finance, Simple RTO and Acima Credit among its earlier names. Acima’s consumer pages do not say which bureaus receive lease data or whether on-time payments are included, so check all three reports and your Clarity file.
- The Acima Classic Credit Mastercard. A separate card account, reported by the bank that issues it.
The Acima card reports under TBOM
Acima says the Acima Classic Credit Mastercard “is issued by tbom® Perryville, MO and Serviced By Concora Credit,” and the card’s cardholder agreements are filed in the CFPB’s credit card agreement database under The Bank of Missouri as issuer. Acima says payment history on the card “is reported to all three major credit bureaus,” and The Bank of Missouri says of partner-branded cards, “TBOM is the issuer and provides credit reporting on the account.”
So the card can appear under the bank’s name. In bankruptcy schedules filed in 2025 and 2026, debtors listed it as “TBOM ACIMA CLASS CRE” at P.O. Box 4477 in Beaverton, Oregon, the box Acima gives as Concora’s correspondence address for the card. See TBOM on your credit report and Concora Credit on your credit report.
What the CFPB alleged about Acima’s reporting
In July 2024 the CFPB sued Acima Holdings, Acima Digital and Acima’s founder in federal court in Utah. It alleged that since at least May 2017 Acima had furnished information about millions of agreements to consumer reporting agencies, and its amended complaint pleaded Fair Credit Reporting Act counts alleging that Acima furnished inaccurate information; did not investigate disputes reasonably, including by declining to investigate a fraud or identity theft dispute without a police report; did not clearly specify an address for notices of inaccurate information; and reported an “AU” code, meaning “settled for less than owed,” when consumers accepted an early settlement option.
The CFPB voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice in March 2025. No court made any finding; these remain allegations, useful only as a guide to what to look for.
Where Acima entries go wrong
An accurate entry that is yours can lawfully stay: the FCRA requires deletion of information that is inaccurate, incomplete or cannot be verified (15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(5)(A)). These are the errors to check for:
- An account or card you never opened. The FTC warns that an account opened with your information without permission can show up unpaid and delinquent, and the CFPB lists accounts resulting from identity theft among common errors. Start with the identity theft page.
- A returned or paid-off lease still reported open or with a balance. The CFPB lists closed accounts reported as open and incorrect current balances among common errors. See paid off but still on your credit report.
- A payment made on time, reported late. The CFPB lists accounts incorrectly reported as late or delinquent, and the FTC says both the bureau and the business that supplied the data must fix information that is wrong or incomplete. See disputing a late payment you never made.
- An entry too old to report. Accounts placed for collection or charged off generally cannot be reported once they are more than seven years old (15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(4)), and the FTC says most negative information can be reported for seven years.
How to dispute an Acima entry
Start with the file: every consumer reporting agency must disclose the information in your file and its sources on request (15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)), free within 60 days after an adverse action notice (§ 1681j(b)).
Then dispute in writing with each bureau that shows the error, as the FTC advises. Identify the account as it appears, say what is wrong and why, and send copies, not originals, of your lease, return or payoff confirmation, or identity theft report.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i, the bureau must reinvestigate free of charge, generally within 30 days, notify the furnisher within five business days, and delete or modify anything inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. Once the bureau forwards your dispute, the furnisher must investigate, review all relevant information the bureau provides, report the results, and modify, delete or block an item that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable (§ 1681s-2(b)). That is the furnisher duty a consumer can enforce; the general accuracy duties in subsection (a) are enforced by regulators (§ 1681s-2(c), (d)).
You can also dispute directly with the company. Regulation V requires a furnisher to reasonably investigate a direct dispute sent to the address it lists on your report, to an address it specifies for disputes, or, if it has specified none, to any business address (12 C.F.R. § 1022.43(c), (e)). Acima’s support and FAQ pages give no mailing address for disputes, so use the address printed next to the Acima entry. For the card, The Bank of Missouri tells consumers to dispute with the bureau showing the entry and, for a formal dispute, to use the mailing address shown with it. The CFPB publishes credit reporting complaints in the CFPB’s consumer complaint database.
When an Acima error becomes a legal claim
If you disputed through the bureau and Acima, or the bank behind the card, verified an entry that was wrong, the FCRA may give you a claim:
- The furnisher’s investigation (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b)). The company that furnished the entry must investigate a dispute the bureau forwards to it.
- Reinvestigation (15 U.S.C. § 1681i). The bureau must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation of your dispute.
- Accuracy (15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)). A consumer reporting agency must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information in a report.
For a negligent violation, the FCRA provides actual damages plus attorney’s fees (§ 1681o). For a willful violation, it provides actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages as the court allows, and attorney’s fees (§ 1681n). Suit must be filed by the earlier of two years after you discover the violation or five years after it occurs (§ 1681p).
I handle these cases on contingency. For another lease-to-own provider, see Snap Finance on your credit report; the data furnishers directory and the creditors and lenders directory cover other companies that report.
Have your Acima entry reviewed
Send me the report page showing the Acima or TBOM entry, your lease or card paperwork, your dispute, and whatever came back, and I will tell you whether I see a claim. The FCRA attorney page covers how these cases work. Contact the firm to have your report reviewed.
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This page is about credit reporting accuracy. The Kim Law Firm is not affiliated with Acima, Acima Digital, Acima Holdings, Upbound Group, The Bank of Missouri, Concora Credit, Clarity Services, Experian, Equifax or TransUnion, and this page is not a complaint about any of them. Court filings and the CFPB’s lawsuit are cited for what the parties stated or alleged; nothing here is a finding by any court against any company. The page describes how lease and card entries can appear on credit reports and the rights consumers have when an entry is wrong.