Alternative financial services (AFS) are financial services provided outside traditional banking institutions, on which many low-income individuals depend. In developing countries, these services often take the form of microfinance. In developed countries, the services may be similar to those provided by banks and include payday loans, rent-to-own agreements, pawnshops, refund anticipation loans, some subprime mortgage loans and car title loans, and non-bank check cashing, money orders, and money transfers. It also includes traditional moneylending by door-to-door collection.

Alternative financial services in the United States refers to a particular type of financial service, namely subprime or near-prime lending (that is, lending to people with relatively poor credit) by non-bank financial institutions. This branch of the financial services industry is more extensive in the United States than in some other countries, because the major banks in the U.S. are less willing to lend to people with marginal credit ratings than their counterparts in many other countries. Examples of these companies include Springleaf Financial, Duvera Financial, Inc., Lendmark Financial Services, Inc., HSBC Finance, CIT, CitiFinancial, Wells Fargo Financial, and Monterey Financial Services, Inc. The more generic name "consumer finance" is also used, although more properly this term applies to financing for any type of consumer.