All states · Filled 2026-09-17
Tennessee mortgage advertising rules
Adline flags phrases that match cited rules. It does not certify that Tennessee marketing is compliant. We flag and cite. We never certify. This is not legal advice. Whether a rule reaches you depends on your license type. Federal Reg Z and Reg N still apply.
Scanner status: Index only. The engine cites Washington, Arizona, and Idaho only. This page is an index of retrieved text. The engine does not emit a Tennessee citation.
Regulating agency
Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions
Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions (TDFI), Compliance Division. Mortgage and Consumer Lending.
NMLS and license display: Conjunctive and disjunctive elements.
Governing statute and administrative code
- [STATUTE] Tenn. Code Ann. tit. 45, ch. 13. Tennessee Residential Lending, Brokerage and Servicing Act (§§ 45-13-101 to 45-13-506).
- [REGULATION] Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0180-17. "Rules Pertaining to Mortgage Lending, Loan Servicing and Loan Brokering."
- Second regime: Industrial Loan and Thrift Companies Act, Tenn. Code Ann. ch. 45-5, governs many Tennessee consumer lenders. NOT VERIFIED. Did not retrieve ch. 45-5 or its rules and make no claim about its advertising provisions.
License and NMLS ID display
Not yet verifiedNOT VERIFIED. no advertising-display requirement found.
What Searched: the complete text of Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0180-17 (retrieved as a PDF from the Tennessee Secretary of State's official rules publication server and full-text searched). The chapter's 16 rules are: definitions, accounting for fees to third persons, notice of mortgage transfer, lock-in agreement, refund of lock-in fee, refund of commitment fee, brokerage/finder fees, surety bond requirements, letter of exemption, fee for substitute license, experience required, financial statements, NMLS challenge process, notification requirements, and two further rules. The word "advertising" does not appear anywhere in the chapter. "Unique identifier" appears once, in the NMLS challenge rule (0180-17-.13), not in an advertising context.
The nearest requirement attaches to the loan application, not to advertising:
"The sponsoring mortgage lender or mortgage loan broker shall ensure that each application for a residential mortgage loan contains the name and license number of the mortgage lender or mortgage loan broker, as well as the name, signature and license number of the mortgage loan originator..." — T.C.A. 45-13-301(d) [STATUTE]
A compliance officer should not read that into advertising: by its terms it binds the application form only.
Conjunctive/disjunctive: N/A for advertising. The application-form requirement at 45-13-301(d) is conjunctive (company name AND company license number AND originator name AND originator signature AND originator license number).
Prohibited claims
VerifiedThere is a dedicated advertising statute, but it is a general falsity standard, not an enumerated ban list:
"It is unlawful for any person to place or cause to be placed any false or misleading advertising matter pertaining to mortgage loans or the availability of mortgage loans..." — T.C.A. 45-13-402 [STATUTE] (title: "False or misleading advertising unlawful — Exceptions")
Attaches to: all advertising matter pertaining to mortgage loans or their availability. not limited to rates or fees. It reaches "any person," not only licensees.
Enumerated prohibited practices touching advertising:
"Solicit, advertise or enter into a contract for specific interest rates, points or other financing terms, unless the terms are actually available at the time of soliciting, advertising or contracting" — T.C.A. 45-13-401(3) [STATUTE]
"...or engage in bait and switch advertising" — T.C.A. 45-13-401(8) [STATUTE] (the full paragraph bars false or deceptive statements "with regard to the rates, points or other financing terms or conditions for a residential mortgage loan")
No express ban on "lowest," "best," "cheapest," "guaranteed," "pre-approved," "free," "no cost," or "government" was found in ch. 45-13 or ch. 0180-17. Such claims are reachable only through the general falsity standard in 45-13-402 and the deception standard in 45-13-401(8).
Rate advertising
VerifiedT.C.A. 45-13-401(3) is the state-specific rate rule: an advertised rate, points, or other financing term must be actually available at the time of advertising. Unlike Washington, Tennessee imposes no rate-sheet retention or APR-prominence requirement of its own. Reg Z §1026.24 governs.
Ad filing, prior approval, retention
Not yet verified- No filing or prior-approval requirement found in ch. 45-13 or ch. 0180-17.
- Ad retention: NOT VERIFIED. none found. Chapter 0180-17 contains no advertising-retention rule; Did not locate a records rule enumerating advertising copies.
Social media and character-limited media
Not yet verifiedNOT VERIFIED. none found. No social media, texting, electronic advertising, or character-limited-media accommodation appears in ch. 45-13's advertising provisions or anywhere in ch. 0180-17.
Anything unusual
- Publisher/broadcaster safe harbor. 45-13-402 expressly exempts "the owner, publisher, operator or employees of any publication or radio or television station that disseminates the advertising matter." This shifts all exposure to the advertiser and gives Tennessee media no independent screening duty. relevant when negotiating indemnities with ad platforms.
- "Any person," not "any licensee." 45-13-402 reaches unlicensed and exempt actors placing mortgage ads in Tennessee, which is broader than the licensee-bound rules in most of this batch.
- Loan processors/underwriters may not hold themselves out through "advertising or other means of communicating or providing information, including the use of business cards, stationery, brochures, signs, rate lists or other promotional items". T.C.A. 45-13-301(c) [STATUTE].
Penalties
Verified"Order the person to pay the commissioner a civil monetary penalty of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation of this chapter or administrative rule issued pursuant to this chapter" — T.C.A. 45-13-405(a)(3) [STATUTE]
45-13-405 also authorizes cease-and-desist orders, refunds of interest/fees/charges collected in violation, and license suspension or revocation. Under 45-13-405(d), the licensee is subject to discipline when an officer, director, 25%-owner, member, partner, managing principal, branch manager, originator, employee, "or any other person who acts on behalf of the licensee" violates the chapter. i.e., advertising placed by a third-party marketing vendor acting for the licensee is the licensee's exposure.
*Caveat on source:* the official Tennessee Code is published through LexisNexis and was not directly retrievable. The 45-13-401, -402, and -405 text above was retrieved from Justia [SECONDARY]; 45-13-301(c)–(d), 45-13-402, and 45-13-405(a)(3)–(d) were independently corroborated against a second reproduction of Title 45 ch. 13 (proeducate course manual PDF, [SECONDARY]). Two independent secondary sources agree on the 45-13-402 text verbatim. The rules chapter 0180-17 is from the official state publisher.
Sources
- https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0180/0180-17.20101029.pdfofficial Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0180-17, full chapter PDF (**official** — TN Secretary of State rules publication server):
- https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0180/0180.htmreproduction TN SOS rules index for dept. 0180:
- https://www.tn.gov/tdfi/mortgage-consumer-lending/mortgage/mortgage-law.htmlofficial TDFI, Mortgage — Tennessee laws page:
- https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-45/chapter-13/part-4/section-45-13-402/reproduction T.C.A. 45-13-402 (Justia, **[SECONDARY]**):
- https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-45/chapter-13/part-4/section-45-13-401/reproduction T.C.A. 45-13-401 (Justia, **[SECONDARY]**):
- https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-45/chapter-13/part-4/section-45-13-405/reproduction T.C.A. 45-13-405 (Justia, **[SECONDARY]**):
- https://www.proeducate.com/courses/Finance/TN/TN_Title45_Chapter13.pdfreproduction Title 45 ch. 13 reproduction used for corroboration (**[SECONDARY]**, course provider):