Some Alaskans who used Acima rent-to-own deals will get money back or balances cut

Acima will get restitution payments or have their lease balances reduced, under a settlement Acting Attorney General Cori Mills announced Friday.

They don't have to do anything. A settlement administrator will contact people eligible for restitution, and Acima will contact people eligible for lease forgiveness, the Department of Law said.

In all, eligible Alaskans will share about $10,500 in restitution and about $22,600 in lease forgiveness. The state will receive $53,140.56. The department didn't say how many Alaskans qualify.

Acima works with retailers to offer customers financing through what it calls rental-purchase agreements.

Alaska and 42 other states alleged that Acima pitched those agreements as 90-day payoff programs. They said it didn't tell customers they'd automatically be put on the longest term, 12 months. Over that term, a customer could end up paying about twice the price the store advertised.

The states also said Acima used words like "credit" that often led people to think they were getting traditional financing. They said its electronic signing process obscured the terms, and that the company made it hard for customers to back out by returning the merchandise without a penalty.

"Acima took advantage of folks who were just trying to make buying furniture and other big-ticket purchases a little easier," Mills said.

Under the settlement, Acima will enter a consent judgment that bars it from:

• obscuring the terms during electronic signing;

• marking up the cash prices its retail partners set;

• obstructing customers from ending an agreement by returning the merchandise.

Some of its advertising claims will have to come with clear disclosures. For five years, it won't be able to report rental-purchase agreements to the three major credit bureaus.

Nationally, the $183.5 million deal with Acima Digital and its parent company, Acima Holdings, includes $43 million in restitution, $130 million in reduced lease balances and $10.5 million paid to the states.

The deal follows another multistate consumer settlement this fall. In September, the state joined a $709.5 million settlement with subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation.