History

The First National brand is part of GE Money, which was launched in the UK on 4th October 2005. During a typical year, First National served over half a million customers and provided over £1.5 billion worth of loans through a network of respected intermediaries. First National finance helped people buy houses, consolidate their debts, improve their homes and even buy holiday accommodation overseas in the US and Europe.

More recently, all First National accounts and services operate as GE Money through the GE Capital, which is the financial services unit of General Electric.

GE Capital provides commercial lending and leasing, as well as a range of financial services for health care, media, communications, entertainment, consumers, real estate, and aviation. GE Capital focuses primarily on loans and leases that it underwrites to hold on its own balance sheet rather than on generating fees by originating loans and leases, then selling them to third parties.

Most of GE Capital's commercial loans are to small and mid-sized companies, spread across multiple industries and geographies and secured by tangible assets. More than 70% of GE Capital's loans are under $100 million. GE Capital's consumer lending activities are also diversified by product and geography, and include operations in 55 countries.

As of Q3 2009, GE Capital had 60,000+ employees worldwide, operating in more than 55 countries, with total assets of $551B. It was rated AA+ with stable outlook by S&P.

Remortgages offered through First National

Remortgages are no longer offered through First National. GE Money now controls the remortgages schemes. They have created an extensive range of mortgage products and offer remortgages on both an interest only and repayment basis with a fixed rate or as a lifetime tracker. They utilize an affordability-based calculation rate, which looks at individual needs, and current ability to repay, not just historical information. They sell their products through a nationwide panel of intermediaries.

All mortgages and remortgages are subject to status and are only available to UK residents over the age of 18. First mortgages by GE Money Home Lending are regulated by the Financial Services Authority, other secured loans are not.