Snap Finance will wipe out $662,102,518 in unpaid lease-to-own balances owed by 303,223 customers in 17 states, and those customers get to keep the goods they leased. The cancellation is automatic, according to Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, and no claim form is listed. Iowa and Nebraska led the multistate agreement, announced October 21.
The relief reaches people who signed a Snap lease from 2017 through 2022 in one of the settling states. Under the signed agreement, the account must also have been in Snap’s hands in November 2025 and marked “charged off,” meaning the company had written the balance off as unpaid.
The 17 states are Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. A customer in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California or any other state off that list is not covered by this agreement.
Whether a given account is on the list comes down to three tests: a lease signed from 2017 to 2022 in one of those states, a balance Snap labeled charged off, and an account Snap still controlled in November 2025. A customer who meets all three should see the balance canceled without filing anything.
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How the automatic cancellation works
Iowa’s attorney general says Snap will automatically cancel $2,367,148 in lease payments owed by Iowans who signed agreements from 2017 to 2022. Those customers can keep and own their merchandise with no further payments. The state’s release lists no step for a customer to take.
Nebraska’s office says the same for 1,349 of its residents, whose balances total $2,652,091. Attorney General Mike Hilgers said the deal brings “relief to those financially harmed.” His release says affected customers receive a transfer of ownership and are released from payment obligations.
Spread over all 303,223 accounts, the cancellation averages roughly $2,180 per customer, though amounts differ sharply by state. The agreement says Snap releases its ownership of the property to these customers, which is why the goods stay with them.
Several practical details are still unpublished. The agreement text does not say how customers will be notified, on what date collection stops or how credit reports will be corrected. The Ginsburg Law Group, which wrote an explainer on the deal, advises saving any payment demand that arrives after October 21 and asking a collector for proof it owns the debt.
Where the money is concentrated
Three states hold most of the value. Texas has 148,295 accounts and $344,486,039 in canceled balances. Florida has 62,753 accounts and $135,643,677. Georgia has 31,647 accounts and $65,097,488. Together they account for about 82 percent of the dollars.
Average balances differ by state. Dividing each state’s total by its account count, Texas balances average about $2,323, Florida’s about $2,162 and Georgia’s about $2,057. The averages come from the per-state totals in the signed agreement, not from any figure Snap has published for individual customers.
Mid-sized states follow. Arkansas has 9,352 accounts worth $18,449,844, Oklahoma has 9,439 worth $18,050,323 and Utah has 8,913 worth $16,758,262. Missouri has 3,707 accounts worth $6,979,354. At the small end, North Dakota has 944 accounts worth $1,851,707.
Snap also pays the states $2,750,000 in cash, no later than 60 days after the October 21 effective date. Iowa and Nebraska each receive $250,000 and most of the other states $150,000. That money goes to the states, not to customers, and the agreement bars labeling it a fine or penalty.
What Snap is accused of
The states allege Snap used misleading disclosures about what a lease-to-own arrangement is, kept customers from viewing full contract terms, made it hard to return products and wrote confusing payment terms. Some customers thought they had signed up for payback windows of 100 days or fewer, the states say, and ended up in long, costlier contracts.
Bird said Snap “misled Iowans to believe their lease-to-own finance option was a good as cash,” and that customers were left with a complicated contract and “little-to-no way to get customer service.” The states also say customers were wrongly told that leasing and paying on time could raise their credit scores.
Snap does not admit wrongdoing in the agreement, and the release says the company cooperated with the states’ investigation. The deal also does not touch private claims, so a customer’s own legal rights are separate from what the attorneys general negotiated.
New rules for Snap leases
Snap must drop slogans such as “cash payoff,” “same as cash” and “no additional fees required.” It cannot describe the product as a loan, and it cannot say that applying for or using the lease will improve a credit score. Customers must be able to read the full lease terms and total cost before e-signing.
Snap must repair or replace leased items without charging fees, and it cannot tell customers to ask the merchant to do it. It also cannot threaten to seize property for nonpayment unless seizure is already its practice. Payment accrual must pause while a termination request is processed.
Customers who want to end a lease must be offered ways to surrender the item, including a prepaid shipping label, pickup, a transfer of ownership or a donation. Snap has 180 days to put the changes in place and must file annual compliance reports for three years, with the first due a year after that date.
Still holding a Snap lease from 2017 to 2022?
A canceled Snap balance still leaves a paper trail to manage: the date a notice arrives, the amount it names and whether a collector keeps calling or a credit report keeps the old balance. Without a record, a customer is left arguing from memory.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System cannot cancel a balance, since the settlement does that. It does include a claim log and payment tracker and the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice, and its tracker comes pre-filled with all 51 state unclaimed-property offices.
Get the settlement-notice rules and payment tracker for a canceled Snap balance →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
