First Horizon Home Loans, one of nation's oldest and largest mortgage companies and part of First Tennessee National Corporation (NYSE: FTN), has been a Dexma customer since 1997. Dexma's first success was in First Horizon's retail channel, enabling First Horizon's loan officers to upload loans and order credit and underwriting from Fannie Mae. Dexma is now bringing a new level of efficiency to First Horizon's wholesale and correspondent businesses.

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, First Horizon Home Loans ranks as one of the nation's top 12 providers of mortgage loans to consumers. During 2003, the company originated loans through 187 offices in 37 states, producing $33 billion in mortgage loans and helping provide home ownership to more than 190,000 families. First Horizon Home Loans is part of First Tennessee National Corporation (NYSE: FTN), the 31st largest bank holding company in the United States.

The Opportunity
After successfully implementing Dexma's technology in its retail channel, First Horizon chose Dexma to help automate its correspondent and wholesale channels. The goal was to make it easier for brokers and correspondents to do business with First Horizon by adding new features such as online pipeline management and real-time rate locking. "As market conditions change, we expect our brokers and sellers to become more cost- and efficiency-conscious," said David King, V.P. of Business Technology at First Horizon. "We wanted a system that would make it easier for them to check current rates, register and lock online, without picking up the phone or sending a fax," he said.

The Solution
First Horizon implemented Dexma's Professional Lending Center in both correspondent and wholesale channels in mid-2003. The primary goal of First Horizon Correspondent Services was to make it easier for correspondents to do business with First Horizon through technology improvements. Streamlining the process would also help First Horizon cut costs by reducing time and errors.

Dexma's product and pricing engine enables correspondents to view rate sheets, SRP schedules and other materials, register and lock in a rate at the point of sale, and check the loan status on Dexma's pipeline viewer. On the wholesale side, brokers are also able to upload customer applications from their POS such as Calyx Point or Genesis, order credit and submit the 1003 to Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac. Dexma's product/pricing engine also enables brokers to view eligibility guidelines for First Horizon products and match the customer with all appropriate products before registering and locking the rate.

The Results
"The sun never sets on our service," is the motto for First Horizon Correspondent Services, a brand promise that's fulfilled in part thanks to Dexma's Web-based technology. Most of First Horizon correspondents are now using the efficient online system; on average, 75 percent of the total locks, based on dollar amount, now take place online.

Lock confirmations that used to take one full business day now typically take under one minute. "We're a far cry from the manual processes that took several hours, which could cause problems on a busy Friday afternoon," said Gary Ort, Senior V.P. National Production Manager for Correspondent Services. "We've been able to reduce errors by 90 percent. Now loan data is automatically entered instead of being rekeyed. And when the loan is registered, there's no question that it conforms to guideline eligibility."

In short, the loan is originated and fulfilled faster, which increases satisfaction for the brokers, correspondents and their customers while decreasing costs for First Horizon.