World Acceptance Corporation operates as a small-loan consumer finance company in the United States.
The company offers short-term small installment loans, medium-term larger installment loans, related credit insurance and ancillary products and services to individuals. The company offers traditional installment loans generally between $400 and $5,000, with the average loan origination being $1,975 in the year ended March 31, 2025 (fiscal 2025). The company operates branches in Alabama, Georgia...
World Acceptance Corporation operates as a small-loan consumer finance company in the United States.
The company offers short-term small installment loans, medium-term larger installment loans, related credit insurance and ancillary products and services to individuals. The company offers traditional installment loans generally between $400 and $5,000, with the average loan origination being $1,975 in the year ended March 31, 2025 (fiscal 2025). The company operates branches in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. The company generally serves individuals with limited access to other sources of consumer credit, such as banks, credit unions, other consumer finance businesses and credit card lenders. The company also offers income tax return preparation services to its loan customers and other individuals.
Product Offerings
Installment Loans
The company primarily offers pre-computed and interest-bearing consumer installment loans with interest and fee income from such loans accounting for 82.3% of its total revenues in fiscal year 2025. The company's loans are payable in fully-amortizing monthly installments with terms generally from 6 to 14 months and are prepayable at any time without penalty.
Insurance Related Operations
The company, as an agent for an unaffiliated insurance company, markets and sells credit life, credit accident and health, credit property and auto, unemployment, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance in connection with its loans in selected states where the sale of such insurance is permitted by law. Credit life insurance provides for the payment in full of the borrower's credit obligation to the lender in the event of death. The company offers credit insurance for all loans originated in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina, and on a more limited basis in Alabama, Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Customers in those states typically obtain such credit insurance through the company. Charges for such credit insurance are made at filed, authorized rates and are stated separately in the company's disclosure to customers, as required by the Truth in Lending Act and by various applicable state laws. In the sale of insurance policies, the company, as an agent, writes policies only within limitations established by its agency contracts with the insurer. These insurance policies provide for the payment of the outstanding balance of the company's loan upon the occurrence of an insured event. The company earns a commission on the sale of such credit insurance, which, for most products, is directly impacted by the claims experience of the insurance company on policies sold on its behalf by the company.
The company has a wholly owned, captive insurance subsidiary that reinsures a portion of the credit insurance sold in connection with loans made by the company. Certain coverages sold by the company on behalf of the unaffiliated insurance carrier are ceded by the carrier to the captive insurance subsidiary, providing the company with an additional source of income derived from the earned reinsurance premiums. In fiscal 2025, the captive insurance subsidiary reinsured approximately 11.2% of the credit insurance sold by the company.
Non-Filing Insurance
Non-filing insurance premiums are charged to customers where allowed by state law in lieu of recording and perfecting the company's security interest in the assets pledged. In the event of default, rather than exercising rights in a lien as a lender might otherwise do, the insured can file a claim with the insurer for reimbursement. Non-filing insurance premiums are equal in aggregate amount to the premiums paid by the company and are passed through to a third-party insurance company. Certain losses related to such loans, which are not recoverable through life, accident and health, property, or unemployment insurance claims, are reimbursed through non-filing insurance claims subject to policy limitations. The company does not profit from the purchase of non-filing insurance other than through an offset to its charge-offs.
Automobile Club Memberships
The company also offers automobile club memberships to its borrowers in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin, as an agent for an unaffiliated automobile club. Club memberships entitle members to automobile breakdown coverage, towing reimbursement and related services. The company is paid a commission on each membership sold, but has no responsibility for administering the club, paying benefits or providing services to club members. The company primarily sells automobile club memberships to borrowers.
Tax Preparation Services and Advances
The company also offers income tax return preparation and electronic filing services. This program is provided in all but a few of the company's branches. The company prepared approximately 82,000 returns in fiscal year 2025. In addition, the company’s tax customers are eligible to receive an interest and fee-free tax advance loan, which is generally a percentage of the anticipated tax refund amount. This is a beneficial service for its existing customer base, as well as non-loan customers, and it plans to continue to promote this program.
Seasonality
The company's highest loan demand generally occurs from October to December, its third fiscal quarter. Loan demand is generally lowest and loan repayment highest from January to March, its fourth fiscal quarter (year ended March 31, 2025). Consequently, the company experiences significant seasonal fluctuations in its operating results and cash needs. Operating results for the company's third fiscal quarter are generally lower than in other quarters, and operating results for its fourth fiscal quarter are generally higher than in other quarters.
Government Regulation
Many customers borrow from more than one finance company, which enables the company, subject to the limitations of various consumer protection and privacy statutes, including, but not limited to, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, to obtain information on the credit history of specific customers from other consumer finance companies.
The company's captive insurance subsidiary is regulated by the insurance authorities of the Turks and Caicos Islands of the British West Indies, where the subsidiary is organized and domiciled.
In addition to state and local laws and regulations, the company is subject to numerous federal laws and regulations that affect its lending operations. These laws include the Truth in Lending Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Military Lending Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the regulations thereunder, and the Federal Trade Commission's Credit Practices Rule. These laws require the company to provide complete disclosure of the principal terms of each loan to the borrower prior to the consummation of the loan transaction, prohibit misleading advertising, protect against discriminatory lending practices, and prohibit unfair, deceptive, or abusive credit practices.
History
World Acceptance Corporation was founded in 1962. The company was incorporated in 1973.