Release Details

Plano, Texas, August 25, 2000. - Rent-A-Center, Inc. (NASDAQ/NNM:RCII), the largest rent-to-own operator in the country, reaffirmed current Wall Street fiscal 2000 and fiscal 2001 consensus earnings estimates of $2.58 and $2.97 per share, respectively.

"As a result of the volatility in our stock price yesterday, we felt it important to reiterate the Company's strong performance and underlying business fundamentals," commented J. Ernest Talley, Chairman and CEO. "Current business trends remain strong, store performance is on track to post double digit same store sales increases in the third quarter, continuing our first half trend of 13.3% same store sales growth. We continue to believe that the rent-to-own market is significantly under-stored, and accordingly, have launched an aggressive store growth plan which we believe will ultimately result in a doubling of our store base over the next five to seven years. We expect to grow our store count by approximately 40-50 stores during the remainder of this year. Beginning in fiscal 2001 and thereafter, we believe we can grow our store base by 10-15% per year."

The Company is confident that the current 2,114 Company owned stores will continue to show improvements in operating income as well as generate sufficient internal cash flow to fund the Company's store growth plans. Through the first six months of the year Rent-A-Center has generated $60 million in free cash flow before financing and recently paid down $47.8 million in debt.

Rent-A-Center, headquartered in Plano, Texas, currently operates 2,114 company-owned rent-to-own stores in 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. The stores offer high-quality, durable goods such as home electronics, appliances, computers, and furniture and accessories to consumers under flexible rental purchase agreements that allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed-upon rental period. ColorTyme, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national franchisor of 357 rent-to-own stores, 345 of which operate under the trade name of "ColorTyme," and the remaining 12 of which operate under the "Rent-A-Center" name.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," or "believe," or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements will prove to be correct, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. The actual future performance of the Company could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its annual report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2000, its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the six months ended June 30, 2000, and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the nine months ended September 30, 2000. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as requested by law, the Company is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect the events or circumstances after the date of this report or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contacts for Rent-A-Center, Inc.:

Mark Speese, Chief Executive Officer
Chairman of the Board
(972) 801-1199
mspeese@racenter.com

Mitchell E. Fadel, President
(972) 801-1114
mfadel@racenter.com

Robert D. Davis, Chief Financial Officer
(972) 801-1204
rdavis@racenter.com

David E. Carpenter, Director of Investor Relations
(972) 801-1214
dcarpenter@racenter.com