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Fifth Third Bank mortgage review 2024

Aly J. Yale
·Freelance writer
8 min read

The Yahoo view: If you’re in one of the 11 states the mortgage lender serves, Fifth Third Bank can be a good option. It offers a wide range of loan options for both buyers and existing homeowners and robust incentives, from discounted rates to cash back for eligible borrowers.

Fifth Third Bank is a regional bank and lender based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company serves borrowers in 11 states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Fifth Third’s standouts are its wide array of loan options, as well as its buyer incentives, which include down payment and closing cost assistance, cash-back opportunities, rate reductions, and more. The lender also offers reduced-cost refinancing if rates drop later.

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Fifth Third Bank logo 3.6/5 stars

Key benefits

  • Its Rate Drop Protector program waives lender-side closing costs on future refinances if interest rates drop within six to 24 months of your purchase date.

  • Home equity loans and HELOCs offer a $300 cash-back bonus opportunity.

  • HELOCs come with a fixed-rate option (many lenders only offer variable rates on HELOCs).

  • Borrowers can get up to $5,300 in down payment and closing cost assistance. No payback is required.

  • Fifth Third’s mobile apps are highly rated in both the Google Play and Apple stores.

  • You can get a 0.25% rate discount for setting up autopayments.

Need to know

  • The lender only focuses on offering mortgages in 11 states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

  • Its 2023 interest rates were high compared to median rates, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

  • Its total loan costs were lower than average, according to HMDA data.

  • There are no USDA loans available.

Fifth Third Bank offers the following types of home loans:

  • Purchase loans

  • Conventional loans

  • Jumbo loans

  • FHA loans

  • VA loans

  • Fixed-rate mortgages

  • Adjustable-rate mortgages

  • Physician loans

  • Refinancing

  • Cash-out refinancing

  • Home equity loans

  • HELOCs

  • Construction loans

  • Lot loans

  • Investment property loans

  • Bridge loans

  • Second home loans

Fifth Third Bank does not offer the following types of home loans:

  • USDA loans

  • Interest-only loans

  • ADU loans

  • Non-QM loans

  • Energy efficient loans

  • Renovation loans

  • 1% down loans

  • Buydowns

  • Manufactured home loans

  • Piggy-back loans

  • ITIN mortgages

Learn more: What are lot loans, and how do they work?

Fifth Third Banks offers various loan options for first-time home buyers, including FHA, conventional, construction, lot, and physician loans. There is also up to $5,300 in down payment and closing cost assistance available (no repayment required), and you can get a 0.25% interest rate discount for setting up autopay on your monthly mortgage payments.

If you’re worried about how high current mortgage rates are, the lender’s Rate Drop Protector program is a standout. If rates fall in the six to 24 months after you purchase your home through Fifth Third, the lender will waive its lender-side fees ($1,295) on a refinance, allowing you to lower your rate and payment for less.

Read more: Best mortgage lenders for first-time home buyers

Fifth Third Bank also offers several home equity borrowing options. There are cash-out refinances, as well as home equity loans and HELOCs. Here’s what to know about these products.

Fifth Third’s home equity loan offers a single lump sum at closing and comes with a fixed interest rate. That means your rate and payment will remain the same for the entire loan term.

Fifth Third’s HELOC — called Equity Flexline® — lets you borrow from your home equity over time, and you can access the money using a credit card, check, or ATM. These come with variable or fixed interest rates. They have a 30-year term length, and the first 10 years is the draw period.

Fifth Third’s HELOCs and home equity loans have no closing costs, and both products offer an opportunity to earn a $300 cash bonus. You may be eligible for the $300 bonus if you get a HEL or HELOC of at least $15,000. Cash-out refinances have closing costs as low as $299.

Dig deeper: Differences between home equity loans and HELOCs

Fifth Third Bank doesn’t advertise sample mortgage rates, but it makes it easy to see customized rates. You’ll need to plug a little information into the lender’s “current rate” tool — your loan purpose, ZIP code, county, and loan type — to see what rates are available. Fortunately, you can do this (and see your rates) within seconds.

For instance, on Aug. 20, 2024, the tool showed a 6.375% interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan in Hamilton County, Ohio — that’s with a 20% down payment and 0.125 in discount points.

At Yahoo Finance, we use 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data comprising 10 million home loan applications to score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage rates and total loan costs. We score each lender on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

For example, regarding mortgage rates, a lender with a lower score charged a higher-than-median mortgage interest rate for loans issued in 2023. A higher score would indicate a lender granted lower-than-median home loan interest rates to borrowers in 2023.

With total home loan costs, a lower score would indicate that a lender charged higher-than-median total home loan costs in 2023. A high rating would mean a mortgage lender offered lower-than-median home loan costs in 2023.

What this means: Fifth Third offered a relatively high mortgage rate of 6.875% but a low total loan cost of $4,031.80 to borrowers in 2023. In fact, we chose Fifth Third as the best mortgage refinance lender for low loan costs.

You can apply for a Fifth Third Bank mortgage loan totally online. Click “Apply Online,” choose your loan type, complete a borrower profile, and provide details about your assets, finances, and personal information. You’ll then get a variety of personalized rates and loan options.

Once you choose which home loan you’d like to proceed with, you’ll need to provide financial documentation, and your loan will move through the underwriting process.

You’ll need to contact a Fifth Third mortgage loan specialist to get preapproved for a mortgage. You can do this over the phone or in person. Then, you’ll need to provide income documentation, including W-2s and bank statements, to get preapproved.

Fifth Third Bank has a wide variety of resources for home buyers, including a robust FAQ section, helpful blog articles, a mortgage glossary, a first-time buyer’s guide, tips for improving your loan application, and eight different mortgage calculators that cover everything from how much you should put down to renting versus buying. There’s even a calculator to help you determine if paying for mortgage points is right for you.

The lender also offers charts to help you decide which products are best for your goals, and there are hardship and payment assistance hubs for existing borrowers.

Read more: How much home can you afford? Use Yahoo Finance’s home affordability calculator.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to using Fifth Third Bank for your mortgage loan. Consider the following:

  • The lender offers a wide range of loan options, including loans for purchase, refinance, investment, and tapping your home equity.

  • It gets 5 stars for its loan costs, boasting a low total loan cost of just over $4,000 in 2023.

  • Several buyer incentives exist, including low-cost future refinances, down payment and closing cost assistance, and autopay rate discounts. Fifth Third Bank gets 5 stars in our Affordability category.

  • You can get a customized rate quote within seconds. Several online resources and calculators are also available, giving the lender a 5 in the Online Features category.

  • There are hundreds of physical branches to visit if you need in-person assistance.

  • According to HMDA data, its interest rates are pretty high. We rated it 1 out of 5 stars for rates.

  • Loans are only available to consumers in 11 states.

  • There are no USDA or non-QM loans available.

Compared to Bank of America, Fifth Third offers more mortgage options, including loans for construction, land lots, and second homes. Fifth Third is less widely available, though, serving only 11 states. Bank of America also offers more in potential home-buying assistance — up to $7,500 in down payment and closing cost help, to be exact.

Bank of America mortgage review

At the product level, Fifth Third’s offerings are more robust, boasting lot loans, construction loans, physician mortgages, home equity loans, and HELOCs whereas Chase does not. However, Chase offers more potential assistance (up to $7,000) compared to Fifth Third’s $5,300.

Chase mortgage review

Fifth Third Bank offers a lot of perks for borrowers, but it only serves a small, 11-state area. Its mortgage rates were also high compared to most lenders, according to 2023 HMDA data.

Fifth Third Bank is a legitimate bank operating in 11 U.S. states. It offers a wide variety of banking and borrowing products.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was previously investigating Fifth Third Bank regarding its sales practices and auto loan servicing activities. The bank reached a settlement with the CFPB in July 2024.

Methodology:

Yahoo Finance reviews and scores mortgage lenders with quintile scoring in five primary categories: 1) Interest rates. Using 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data comprised of 10 million home loan applications, we score mortgage lenders on issued mortgage rates below or above the annual median of reporting lenders. 2) Affordability. A measure of loan product availability and the willingness of a lender to offer government-backed loans, low down payments, down payment assistance, and consideration of nontraditional credit. 3) Loan costs. HMDA data is again analyzed, and lenders are rated based on total loan costs compared to the annual median. 4) Rate transparency. The ability of a website user to obtain a mortgage interest rate estimate. We score lenders based on whether rates are enhanced with discount points or high credit score requirements, disclaimers revealing rate assumptions, sample advertised rates, and whether adjustable or no discount point rate estimates are available. 5) Online features. An analysis of the educational material, calculators, and additional resources available to users.

Review of Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) data on regulatory actions can trigger a penalty to the score of any lender with a consumer mortgage-related administrative or enforcement action within the past five years.

Advertisers or sponsorships do not influence ratings.

Editorial disclosure for mortgages:

The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The details on financial products, including interest rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the lender's website for the most current information. This site doesn't include all currently available offers.

This article was edited by Laura Grace Tarpley.