First Horizon Home Loans

A native corporation of Tennessee, First Horizon is one of the country’s largest providers of home loans and other mortgage-based services. Offering everything from mortgages to business-focused property loans, the company has built its current reputation for offering smooth service and fairly affordable pricing over the past one-hundred forty years, making it a historically important lender.

As a lender, First Horizon offers a range of services. Through its retail bank chain First Tennessee Bank, it offers personal loans to consumers, business loans for small businesses, and a wide range of other loans with a moderate consumer focus. This has made it a force in consumer lending not just in the southern United States, but around the country, with millions using its services.

However, First Horizon itself has made the backbone of its financial services its home loans. With a range of different loans, each covering a different repayment period and offering a different level of interest, it offers something for every homeowner, or would-be homeowner. If you’re searching for a home loan through First National, you’re unlikely to be disappointed at the company’s selection.

It’s important to note than in the last four years, the company has undergone some large changes in management and structure. Once an independently owned and operated segment of the company, a large portion of its home loans are now overseen and operated by other banking groups. These have included its home loans division, which are now managed by banking company MetLife.

As such, there’s some important information out there that many consumers, borrowers, and would-be borrowers may be interested in knowing. Although First Horizon mortgages are still available as they always have been, their structure is somewhat different from before. They’re no longer tied to the same parent company, and since 2008, have been managed by MetLife through loan brokers.

If you’re an existing customer of First Horizon, particularly one that took out their loan before the end of 2008, this may affect you. Consider speaking with a representative from your broker to get an understanding of how MetLife’s management of your loan could modify things. However, most loans with First Horizon will continue as usual, with commercial loans still managed in-house.

First Horizon’s current home loans are an interesting selection of offers. As with other banks, they have a selection of fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) to select from. Each has clear advantages and disadvantages for borrowers and lenders alike, the major effects of which can be learned about in greater detail below.

An adjustable rate mortgage through First Horizon is set at a static interest rate for its first one or two years. This leaves borrowers with no unexpected leaps or dips in their interest rate during the early days of their loan. Beyond this period, the interest rate will adjust based on the adjustment dates of the loan itself. In some cases, this is once per year; in others, it’s once every three months.

All of First Horizon’s adjustable rate mortgages are available with a one or two-year period of set interest rates, during which interest rates cannot change. This allows borrowers to get a feel for a mortgage before the variable repayments kick in. After the initial period – which can reach up to three years – the rates are floated against the market interest rates, and could potentially change.

First Horizon also has two different fixed rate home loans, one of which is tied to a fifteen year term, and the other of which is a thirty-year mortgage. Both of these offer financing for a home, apartment, or condo at a static rate of interest. This means that homeowners always know what they’ll be paying for their homes, and are never pushed into hard times by variable rates.

Along with these three standard loan services, First Horizon also offers a small number of specialist loans for residential and commercial property. These can vary in value and accessibility quite a lot – many loans are only open to businesses, while others only deal to small areas. As such, they make up only a trivial amount of the bank’s total home loans, and are rarely used by consumers.

Customer satisfaction with First Horizon varies greatly. Some borrowers, particularly those that have had loans with the company dated before the housing market crisis, have a negative view of the lender – one that’s skewed by their sudden payment increase and default risk. However, most newer borrowers, particularly those from the last twelve months, rate their experiences positively.

Similarly, the vast majority of people that have taken out long-term home loans with First Horizon several decades ago agree that the bank offers competitively priced and worthwhile service. Recent studies on interest rates – both for fixed and adjustable rate mortgages – also show that pricing from First Horizon is in line with the market as a whole, and neither exceeds nor undercuts the average.

As such, First Horizon is a solid and dependable mortgage lender, and one that’s easily available for consumers and would-be borrowers to contact. With over two hundred thousand serviced mortgages and a network of over three hundred outlets and retail branches, it’s a lender that’s accessible, client-friendly, and backed up by a history reaching back over fifteen decades in its native Tennessee.