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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.2

CERTIFICATION
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I, Albert W. Mandia, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of
American Business Financial Services, Inc., certify that:

1.  I have reviewed this Form 10-Q of American Business Financial Services,
    Inc.;
2.  Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of
    a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
    statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
    were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
    information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects
    the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
    registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
    establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
    in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

       a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
           disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
           supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
           registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
           us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
           which this report is being prepared;
       b)  [Intentionally omitted];
       c)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
           and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
           effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the
           end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
           and
       d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
           control over financial reporting that occurred during the
           registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth
           fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially
           affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
           registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have
    disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal
    control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors
    and the audit committee of the registrant's board of
    directors:

       a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
           operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
           reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to
           record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
       b)  Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
           employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal
           control over financial reporting.


Date: May 14, 2004                                /s/ Albert W. Mandia
                                                  --------------------
                                                  Albert W. Mandia
                                                  Executive Vice President and
                                                  Chief Financial Officer
                                                  (principal accounting officer)