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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)Find out what you want to know
By coming to LendingTree.com, you have accessed the leading online loan and realty services marketplace. LendingTree quickly connects consumers to Lenders (click for a list) who compete for your business. LendingTree lenders offer an array of loan types, including mortgages, home equity loans, auto loans, personal loans, and credit cards. LendingTree provides a convenient 'one-stop-shop' for your loan needs by giving you choice, convenience and value while finding the loan or home that's perfect for you. LendingTree helps you get competing loan offers in one of two ways. First, there is the traditional LendingTree Exchange where you can get matched with up to four lenders who compete for your business. Second, there is the LendingTree Loans process. See the FAQ below for more information on the LendingTree Loans process. LendingTree LLC has a wholly owned subsidiary known as LendingTree Loans*. LendingTree Loans specializes in certain types of consumer loan requests. LendingTree Loans give us the ability to provide you with multiple offers without you having to talk directly with different lenders and loan officers. If you happen to be matched with only LendingTree Loans, LendingTree Loans will provide you with up to four loan offers based on rates and terms provided by their wholesale mortgage banks and investors. Essentially these wholesale mortgage banks and investors are competing for your business – as their rates and terms change, the rates and terms of the offers available through LendingTree Loans change as well. On occasion, LendingTree Loans will not be able to reveal the name of the wholesale mortgage bank or investor upon which an offer is based, in which case the offer may be listed under the Home Loan Center name. As always when you use LendingTree, you may review the loan offers and talk to a loan specialist at no cost. As in the case with most lenders, once you select the loan that is right for you, LendingTree Loans may require a fee to lock-in the rate and process your loan application. Before LendingTree Loans requires such a fee, you may stop at any time at no cost. If you are approved, LendingTree Loans will close the loan as your lender in its official name (Home Loan Center, Inc.) and sell it to a wholesale mortgage bank or investor. Of course, you will be responsible for paying the loan processing, underwriting, funding, and other closing costs and fees to LendingTree Loans when you close. If you are matched with only LendingTree Loans, you are not required to use it. If you would prefer to receive offers directly from multiple lenders and speak with multiple loan officers, please contact LendingTree Customer Care at 1-888-272-1355, and your loan request will be sent to LendingTree’s lender Exchange. * LendingTree Loans is a trade name of Home Loan Center, Inc. Home Loan Center is a licensed mortgage lender/broker authorized to do business in all 50 states. In addition to the process described above, in certain cases, you may be matched with Home Loan Center as one of your lenders, in which case they will compete with the other lenders for your business. In that case, you are not required to use Home Loan Center. How will LendingTree get competing offers? LendingTree, LLC arranges for multiple loan offers either through its network of nonaffiliated Lenders or though its affiliate, Home Loan Center (doing business as “LendingTree Loans”). On the LendingTree network, Lenders provide to us criteria about the type of loan (for example, loan amount, whether purchase, refinance, or equity loan) and the type of loan customer (for example, state of residence or creditworthiness) in which the Lender is interested. LendingTree, LLC will provide your information to up to five Lenders whose criteria match your profile. If fewer than five Lenders match your profile, you will receive offers from fewer than five Lenders. If more than five Lenders match your profile, LendingTree, LLC will match you with five Lenders with a preference for those Lenders that have the highest customer satisfaction scores and the best record of making loans to previous LendingTree customers. If you are requesting a home equity loan or home equity line of credit, in some cases we may match you with up to four Lenders based on the above criteria as well as Home Loan Center / LendingTree Loans. If you are matched solely with Home Loan Center / LendingTree Loans, you will speak with a single loan officer and will be provided with up to four offers based on the rates and terms provided to Home Loan Center / LendingTree Loans by its wholesale mortgage banks and investors. These wholesale mortgage banks and investors update their pricing with us from time-to-time (often daily) and compete for LendingTree’s customer business by changing their rates periodically. On occasion, Home Loan Center / LendingTree Loans may not be allowed to provide the name of the wholesale mortgage bank or investor, in which case, the offer may be simply listed under the name “Home Loan Center.” All loans are originated and closed by Home Loan Center / LendingTree Loans and then sold to the wholesale mortgage bank or investor named in the offer you select. Am I obligated to accept an offer? You are under no obligation to accept a loan offer that is presented to you. However, if you do accept an offer, you may be obligated to pay a fee to the Lender (including LendingTree Loans or Home Loan Center) to begin the processing of your request. See the FAQ on LendingTree Loans for more information on LendingTree Loans and Home Loan Center. Does LendingTree charge any "upfront fees"? LendingTree does not charge any kind of fee for the service of matching borrowers with lenders. In addition, no lender that you are matched with through LendingTree will ask you for any upfront fees to "guarantee" or "insure" a loan. Beware if you are asked for a fee or "insurance" before completing an application with a loan officer. No legitimate lender does this.
Legitimate lenders may ask for and charge an interest rate lock fee, application fee or appraisal fee once you begin working with a loan officer. LendingTree suggests that you use a credit card when paying any fee for your protection. For additional information on this important issue, please see: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/loans.pdf It’s simple. From the home page (www.LendingTree.com), select the loan type you want and complete our online loan request. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the form. If you need help, look for our calculators and tips to help you along the way. You can also contact LendingTree Customer Care at 1-888-272-1355 and complete a loan request over the phone. What information do you collect? We ask questions about you, your loan and your financial situation (income, assets and debts). You may want to gather your pay stub or last year's tax return before you start completing the forms. If you're refinancing your mortgage or looking for a home equity loan or line of credit, we need to know about the terms of your current mortgage, how much you owe and how much you want to borrow. How secure will my information be? LendingTree uses secure technology to ensure that the data you send us is protected, confidential and secure. Please see our Security section for more information. Will you share or sell my information? At LendingTree, your personal privacy and the security of your personal data are a primary concern of ours. LendingTree believes that you should be aware of who we are, the types of information we may collect on our Web site, and what we do with your personal information. Please see our privacy policy. Your information will be shared with the lender(s) with whom you are matched so that they can respond to your request. Can I mail, email or fax in my request? LendingTree is committed to sending your financial information to Lenders quickly and accurately. Using mail, email or fax would introduce the possibility of transcription errors, unnecessary delays and additional costs - which would reduce the benefits of using LendingTree! That is why we only accept loan requests through our online forms or over the phone where we can confirm the information you provide. How can I learn more about the Lenders? The LendingTree Lender Scorecard is a valuable resource you can use to gain additional information about the Lenders that may be competing for your business. After our customers close their loans, we ask them to rank their Lenders in a variety of customer satisfaction categories. Four stars is the highest possible rating. We hope our Lender Scorecard helps you select the Lender that's right for you. We look forward to your feedback after you close your loan. Does each Lender pull my credit report? Each Lender has their own policy about pulling your credit report. Some pull your report before they make you a loan offer, others pull your credit report after you have accepted their offer. In all cases, LendingTree pulls your credit report when you complete a loan request. All inquiries for your credit report within a 14-day period will count as one inquiry if you are looking for a mortgage to purchase a home, a mortgage to refinance your home, a home equity loan or line of credit or an auto loan. If you are looking for a personal loan or credit card, however, each inquiry will be counted as a separate inquiry. How will I find out which Lenders are reviewing my loan request? We'll send you the names of the Lenders who are reviewing your loan request via email. If you do not have internet access, please contact LendingTree Customer Care at 1-888-272-1355 to find out your lender(s) and offers. Can I negotiate directly with the Lenders? Absolutely. You are under no obligation to accept a lender's first offer. In fact, if you've received a better offer from another Lender, we give you the opportunity to tell the Lender about it through our Web site. In most cases, when you receive your loan offers, we will provide you with contact information for each Lender. Feel free to contact the Lender directly to discuss different loan programs. However, if you accept a loan offer from a Lender on the LendingTree Exchange, be sure to send your response through LendingTree so that we can update our records. Do you have Lenders who deal with less-than-perfect credit? Yes! We have Lenders who work with borrowers with perfect credit and not-so-perfect credit. Although we can't guarantee that you'll get a loan offer, we will try to match your loan request with Lenders who are eager to work with you. Does having a co-borrower improve my chances of finding a loan? Including a co-borrower on your loan request may or may not affect your chances of finding a loan. Lenders will consider the credit reports, income, assets, debts and other information about both borrowers. Before you decide whether or not to include a co-borrower on your loan request, consider your combined financial picture. What if I don't qualify for a loan? If we can't find a Lender who meets your needs, we will notify you almost immediately. If we can't match your loan request to a Lender, you may return to the site and complete a new loan request any time you want. We are always adding new Lenders to our Exchange, so please continue to check back. How will I find out about my loan offers? LendingTree will send you an e-mail with each lender’s loan offer(s) when the lender responds, usually within minutes. When each Lender makes their decision, we will notify you via email. You will receive an email for each lender making an offer with the details of the offers. If you do not have internet access, please contact LendingTree Customer Care at 1-888-272-1355 to find out your lender(s) and offers. If I enter my email address incorrectly, how will I find out about my loan offers? It is critical that you enter your email address correctly when completing a loan request. We use email to communicate with you when Lenders make a decision about your loan request. LendingTree is not responsible for any errors or delays in responding to a loan request caused by an incorrect email address provided by you or other technical problems beyond reasonable control. However, if it's been one business day since you completed your loan request and you haven't received an email, you may still get offers and they will be e-mailed to you as soon as available. If you are having problems, please contact LendingTree Customer Care at 1-888-272-1355 to find out your lender(s) and offers. What if I don't have an email address? LendingTree's system is designed to notify you via email that you have received a response from a Lender. If you don't have an email address, you can get one for FREE through web-based services such as Yahoo!, Snap and HotBot. In addition, you can call our call center at 1-800-555-TREE. It's important that you evaluate all of the terms of each offer before you choose the one that's best for you. Compare the interest rate, APR, points, loan amount, loan term and other details of the loan offer. Please use our online calculators to help you make your decision. I've accepted an offer. How do I close the loan? After you accept an offer, you will need to communicate with the Lender directly (via mail, email or phone) to complete the loan process. You will need to verify the information you provided through our site through W-2 forms, pay stubs, house appraisals etc. You'll also need to sign the official application forms from the Lender and schedule a closing. You won't be going through the loan process alone. You will be assigned a personal customer care advocate when you complete your loan request. Feel free to call on them to help you through the process. How can I check on the credibility of LendingTree? We think the best endorsement comes from people who found a loan through LendingTree. We get letters each day from happy borrowers who found a loan. We've shared some of their comments in Customer Feedback. LendingTree is also a member of the Better Business Bureau. Please feel free to call them at (704) 527-0012 to check up on us. Our privacy policy has also been approved by TRUSTe, an independent, non-profit initiative whose mission is to build users' trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the principles of disclosure and informed consent. I live outside the United States. Can I use LendingTree to find a loan? At this time, we only service requests for loans that originate in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. Can you delete my information? We cannot delete your loan request because we must maintain a record of your inquiry to comply with state and federal record retention laws. However, we do not share your information except in accordance with our privacy policy. Should a state or federal regulator request records of consumers who completed loan requests, as a regulated entity, we must comply with that request to produce any such records. How can I change the information I submitted on my loan request? In most cases, you will have to complete another loan request with the updated information. You can either do this online or by calling LendingTree Customer Care at 1-888-272-1355 where we can pre-fill much of your information using your initial loan request once you identify yourself. Each Lender determines their own policy regarding closing costs. Unfortunately, we are unable to determine the amount of closing costs or out-of-pocket closing expenses. If we are able to match your request with a Lender, you may discuss your specific situation with them once you are in contact. How do I cancel my request for a loan? We are sorry that you do not wish to continue with your loan request. As soon as you submit your request, we try to match it with Lenders on our Exchange. If your loan request has been referred to a Lender, you must contact that Lender directly to cancel your request. The Lender's contact information is included in the details of your loan offer. How can I update my email address? Please contact our Customer Care Department to correct or update your email address. Why am I having problems accessing your Web site? If you received the "User Session Not Available" error message, your "cookies" may not be enabled. If you are using Internet Explorer, please follow these steps:
What if I don't want to give you my social security number? We request your social security number to ensure that we receive accurate information from the credit reporting agency. Our Lenders evaluate the information they receive in your loan request as well as the information contained within your credit report. For these reasons, we encourage you to enter correct information in the social security field. If you are worried about privacy, please check our privacy policy to see how LendingTree protects your information. How do I get my Real Estate incentive? Once you close your Real Estate transaction, please send us a copy of your HUD-1 closing statement, correct mailing address, and contact phone number to: Please go to Join the Team to check on available positions. How can I join the affiliate program? Please go to Join the Affiliate Program for more information. My question wasn't answered here. How can I contact LendingTree directly? We want to be your advocate throughout the loan process. If you have questions or comments at any time, please contact our Customer Care Department. |
