AFIC was founded in El Paso, TX, on July 15, 1946. For 80 years it has been privately owned, family-led, and entirely focused on helping Texans with their financing needs. Today the family-led company specializes in helping property owners resolve delinquent property taxes. No other active property tax lender in Texas has been doing this for longer.
Since July 2026, it has been employee-owned as well, through Employee Fund, LLC.
This is the story of how AFIC started, who built it, and what it stands for today.
In July 1946, fourteen El Paso businessmen came together to form American Finance & Investment Co., Inc. Their goal was straightforward: to provide responsible financial services to individuals and businesses in West Texas at a time when access to flexible, local lending was limited.
The charter was recorded on July 15, 1946, for a capital stock of $100,000 divided into 1,000 shares, and granted for a term of fifty years. The fourteen subscribers were David E. Goodman, S. D. Bendalin, Ernest Friedman, Robert R. Goldoft, Mike Dipp, Robert Fierro, Morris A. Galatzan, Joshua N. Kahn, Ralph N. Hewes, J. J. Anchondo, Jerome S. Reed, Dr. Maurice Vinikoff, Ralph Gonzalez and E. D. Herskowitz. David E. Goodman was named the company’s promoter and founder.
The first business AFIC set out to do was lending to small businessmen, home loans for returning veterans, and general financing.
El Paso was a city rebuilding after the Second World War. Local businesses were growing. Families were putting down roots. The founders of AFIC saw a community that needed a financial partner it could trust over the long term, not just for a single transaction.
That founding principle has not changed. Eighty years later, AFIC is still privately funded, still locally led, and still focused on the same straightforward mission: helping Texas property owners solve a problem that traditional lenders are not built to handle.
AFIC has been led by the Eisenberg family across four generations. Their involvement has shaped every aspect of the company, from its lending philosophy to its approach to customer service.
The family line runs unbroken from one of the original 1946 subscribers. Ernest Friedman was the second-largest subscriber to the founding stock. Jack Eisenberg, his son-in-law, joined the company shortly after it opened. Cliff Eisenberg is Ernest Friedman’s grandson, and Ernest Eisenberg, named for his great-grandfather, is the fourth generation.
| Generation | Leadership | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Generation 1 | Ernest Friedman, S. D. Bendalin and David Goodman, from 1946 onwards | Ernest Friedman is the family link. His daughter married Jack Eisenberg. |
| Generation 2 | Jack Eisenberg, Chairman | Led AFIC through decades of growth. Jack’s leadership defined the company’s reputation as the most trusted property tax lender in West Texas. He passed in 2021. |
| Generation 3 | Cliff Eisenberg, CEO | Cofounder of Interstate Capital Corporation and multiple other AFIC affiliated businesses. |
| Generation 4 | Ernest Eisenberg, President | Current leadership. Combined, the Eisenberg family brings over 100 years of experience in financial services. |
The Eisenberg family’s involvement is not a branding decision. It is the reason AFIC operates the way it does: executive leadership is directly involved in day-to-day operations, decisions are made by people with a personal stake in the outcome, and customers deal with the owners, not a call center.
Jack Eisenberg was born in Tampico, Mexico. He moved to El Paso at thirteen, served in the United States Marine Corps, and joined AFIC in 1949. He led the company for the next five decades. In 1999, to mark his fiftieth year with AFIC, the company endowed a scholarship fund at the University of Texas at El Paso in his name for students of finance and economics.
“AFIC is a team effort. We never measured our successes in numbers, but in spirit. Spirit generates numbers which reflect growth.”
In recognition of this legacy, the University of Texas at El Paso named AFIC its Small Family Business of the Year in 1999, a distinction that reflects both the company’s longevity and its role in the El Paso business community.
Eight decades of operation leave a verifiable record. AFIC’s credentials are not recent acquisitions designed to impress. They are the result of consistent, ethical practice maintained across generations of ownership.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1946 | AFIC founded in El Paso by fourteen local businessmen on July 15, 1946. |
| 1948 | AFIC pays its first annual dividend. By 1973, the company had paid a dividend every year for 26 consecutive years. |
| 1949 | Jack Eisenberg comes to work at AFIC. He had married the daughter of founding subscriber Ernest Friedman. |
| 1953 / 1954 | BBB accreditation awarded. AFIC has held a BBB A+ rating continuously ever since, longer than most competitors have been in business. |
| 1958 | An AFIC subsidiary is robbed at gunpoint. The men are caught within three hours. Jack Eisenberg writes to the New Mexico State Police thanking the officers by name and enclosing a check for their pistol fund. |
| 1963 | Jack Eisenberg signs a $170,000 note with El Paso National Bank on September 6 to acquire a majority stake in the company, and becomes its President for the first time. |
| 1963 | AFIC becomes licensed by the Texas Office of the Consumer Credit Commissioner. OCCC License #159698. AFIC has been continuously licensed since licensing was required. |
| 1970 | Total assets exceed $1MM for the first time. |
| 1970 | AFIC moves to 1201 E. Yandell Drive, where it stays for the next 4+ decades. |
| 1973 | Cliff Eisenberg joins AFIC. |
| 1978 | Net income exceeds $350K for the first time. |
| 1981 | Cliff Eisenberg is elected president and chief operating officer. Jack Eisenberg becomes chairman of the board and chief executive officer. |
| 1993 | Interstate Capital Corporation founded. |
| 1996 | AFIC marks 50 years, with more than $25 million in annual sales across four wholly owned subsidiaries. |
| 1999 | AFIC wins the Small Family Business Award at the Greater El Paso Family Business of the Year Awards, run by the UTEP Family and Closely Held Business Forum. |
| 2001 | Net income exceeds $1MM for the first time. |
| 2012 | Ernest Eisenberg joins AFIC. |
| 2014 | ICC becomes the largest independent factoring company between Dallas and Los Angeles. |
| 2015 | Employees exceed 100. For context, AFIC employed ten people in 1996. |
| 2017 | Assets exceed $100MM for the first time. |
| 2018 | Assets of ICC sold in approximately a $190MM transaction. |
| 2019 | TPTLA membership. AFIC’s president serves on the TPTLA board. |
| 2021 | Jack Eisenberg, Chairman, passes. Cliff Eisenberg and Ernest Eisenberg continue family leadership into the fourth generation. |
| 2025 | AFIC ascends to the 5th largest originator of property tax loans in the state of Texas. |
| 2026 | 80 years of operation. AFIC has served more than 25,000 Texas families and businesses. |
| 2026 | AFIC launches Employee Fund, LLC, giving employees a direct ownership stake and making AFIC the first employee-owned property tax lender in Texas. |
Today AFIC holds:
| Recognition | Detail |
|---|---|
| Cliff Eisenberg, El Paso Business Hall of Fame | Introduction into the El Paso Business Hall of Fame. Inducted by Junior Achievement of the Southwest in November 2024. |
| Small Family Business Award, 1999 | Greater El Paso Family Business of the Year Awards, run by the UTEP Family and Closely Held Business Forum. Winners became nominees for the Texas Family Business of the Year Awards at Baylor University. AFIC tied with Cunningham Distributing. |
| BBB 70 Years, Legacy of Integrity Award | Seventy years of continuous BBB accreditation, with recognition from Veronica Escobar. Awarded in 2026. |
| Congressional Recognition and Flag | United States Congress Recognition of 50 Years of Operation, 1996. |
| Interstate Capital Corporation sale | Assets of ICC sold in an approximately $190MM transaction in 2018. |
Eighty years is long enough for a business to be tested. What matters is not that difficult days happened, but how the company answered them.
In October 1958, three armed men robbed an AFIC subsidiary. They were caught within three hours. Jack Eisenberg then wrote to the New Mexico State Police, thanking the officers by name and enclosing a check for their pistol fund. AFIC was open for business as usual the following day.
That letter says more about how AFIC operates than any statement of values could. The company kept serving its customers, and it took the time to thank the people who helped.
AFIC has always believed that a business with deep roots in a community has a responsibility to that community. Over the decades, the company and the Eisenberg family have supported civic, educational, and philanthropic organizations across Texas.
The Jack Eisenberg scholarship fund is a permanent legacy. Named after the man who led AFIC for decades, it continues to fund UTEP students pursuing business education, a fitting reflection of the same community-first values that shaped the company from the start.
In July 2026, on its 80th birthday, AFIC launched Employee Fund, LLC, a Texas limited liability company that gives AFIC employees a direct ownership stake in the business through Class A Units.
The arc is a neat one. The 1946 charter listed fourteen El Paso stockholders by name and by the dollar amount each of them put in. Eighty years later, the people who run the company every day are stockholders too.
AFIC is now in its 80th year of operation. It remains privately owned, family-led, and primarily focused on Texas property tax lending.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Founded | July 15, 1946 |
| Ownership | Fourth generation of the founding family, and employee-owned through Employee Fund, LLC since July 2026 |
| Leadership | Cliff Eisenberg, CEO. Ernest Eisenberg, President. |
| Customers served | 25,000+ Texas families and businesses |
| Counties served | All 254 Texas counties |
| Offices | Austin, TX and El Paso, TX |
| Phone | (915) 519-0906 |
| BBB rating | A+, accredited since 1953 or 1954 |
| OCCC license | #159698 |
| Rate guarantee | Matches any competitor rate and beats it by one percent |
| Loan terms | 12 to 120 months, no money down, no credit check |
If you have questions about AFIC, our history, or how we can help with your property taxes, call us directly. You will speak with a member of our team, not an automated system.
(915) 519-0906 | afic.co/contact
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Your tax office may offer delinquent tax installment plans that may be less costly to you. You can request information about the availability of these plans from the tax office.
If you are over 64 or disabled, don’t get a property tax loan, contact your tax office about a deferral.