Filled a lot of the info out on Lending Tree but never followed through, ended up deciding to hold off on a loan. A few weeks later, the telemarketing calls started. Took a look at Lending Trees Non-Privacy policy and it looks like they pretty much say in black and white they will sell your information to almost anyone. It has been a year now and I still get 1 or 2 a week from mortgage companies or home alarm places and just random companies that have caller ID numbers that redirect to no where.
http://www.lendingtree.com/legal/privacy-policy/
Really sleezy practice on Lending Trees side and that alone lends a lot of credence to the complaints I have read on this board.

Anyway, take a look at privacy policies before you put real info into and online form.

LENDING TREE SHARES YOUR INFORMATION WITH EVERYONE AND ANYONE WHO PAYS THEM FOR THEIR MAILING LISTS.

LENDING TREE IS SO CORRUPT, I AM SURPRISED THE GOVERNMENT HASN'T CLOSED THEM DOWN OR FINED THEM.

LENDING TREE WILL ACTUALLY SHOW YOU HOW TO "FAKE" YOUR INCOME, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TO QUALIFY FOR THEIR LOANS.

THEY HAVE THEIR OWN APPRAISAL FOLKS WHO THEY PAY MUCH LESS THAN $400.00. ONCE YOU PAY THE $400.00 FOR YOUR APPRAISAL...YOUR LOAN IS DENIED (FOR ANY REASON), YOU NEVER GET YOUR APPRAISAL OR YOUR $400.00 BACK.

THESE PEOPLE ARE UNBELIEVABLY CORRUPT AND BREAKING HUNDREDS OF FEDERAL TRUTH & LENDING LAWS !!

STAY AWAY !!

We contacted David K. at Lending Tree to discuss getting a first mortgage on a home we own in California that was just appraised for 320, 000. We were asking for 160, 000 to pay off all of our other debt. The home is fully paid for and in great condition. We we just making some phone calls to see what kind of rates and terms we could get. David K. told me he needed 400 from us to process the paperwork. I flat out told him no way in the world we were going to give him 400 and he told me this was simply to lock in the terms and rate if we wanted to proceed with the loan. He informed me the 400 would guarantee our 5.5% apr for 30 yrs fixed and if we were declined for any reason other than lying on our app or the appraisal not meeting the value to secure the loan, we would receive a full refund.

We have great credit scores, have never defaulted or even been late on ANY loans, we are attempting to pay off 2800 a month in outgoing bills for a new outgoing bill of about 1000 (the mortgage), so there was no way in my mind we could ever be declined for such a no-brainer, intellegent loan like the one we were trying to secure. We told David K. on our first conversation that my wife inherited the home from her father who recently passed away. We told him it didn't make sense for us to sell the property in a down housing market, so we are going to pay off all our debt and wait for the market to rebound a bit before selling the property.

After an entire month of wasting time, he tells us we haven't been on the deed long enough and we are declined due to that. THEN he said because we didn't disclose this fact, he was keeping our 400. What a scam. We told him my wife just inherited the house and everything else he asked in complete honesty. We lost a month and turned our own bank down (temporarily) because of the low 5.5% 30 yr fixed quote which they could not match. We are really angry... more at the wasted month than the 400. It is completely apparent these guys are in the business of getting 400 from people and maybe getting them a loan if it can be sold for more profit than the original 400 based on the rate they quote you.

Maybe 5.5% apr 30 yr fixed was a little low for them to sell on a second home/investment property loan and they just decided to keep our good faith money... they are CROOKS. Do not do business with Lending Tree, imo. These people need to be stopped as soon as possible. They are running a complete scam.


Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/lending_tree.html#ixzz0oJglVqBV

I used Lending Tree for a refinance and feel their business practices are unethical at best. After speaking with a loan officer, I was given some numbers over the phone and was told I needed to lock in right away so as to not let this excellent rate slip away. I felt the pressure to act quickly and agreed to pay the $600 non-refundable deposit (which I still have no idea what I received by paying this money). I did not receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) until after the $600 was charged, but was told my closing costs would amount to approximately $4, 000 on a $180K loan. From that point I supplied all the necessary documentation and set up a time for their approved appraiser to come to my house and perform the appraisal. I had to keep emailing my service representative, Geo Garcia, to verify he had all the necessary documentation. He was pleasant enough to deal with when speaking to him on the phone. I then received a copy of the appraisal and it met the qualifications for the loan. At this point, I was assured by Geo that everything was ahead of schedule and that it should be clear sailing for the rest of the way. I checked in a few more times (as I never heard anything back) and he stated it was in underwriting and that just takes time (approximately 3 weeks). On the last day I had to sign the paperwork to meet the deadline before the rate expired (the rate I had paid $600 to lock in), I received a call from Geo stating that someone with Lending Tree did not agree with the appraisal (the appraisal done by their approved appraiser) and was therefore revaluing my property at $40K less than its appraised value. This dramatically reduced my loan and I was upset and confused. I made it clear that I didnt feel this was correct and requested to speak with the person who made this adjustment (as Geo did not claim to understand why this change was made, only that my loan would now need to be adjusted). Geo stated that I could not speak to anyone about this, but I was allowed to give Lending Tree comparables that justified the value reached by their own appraiser. I did this (following all of their guidelines regarding proximity to subject and date of sale). Geo acknowledged that the comparables seemed to justify their original appraisers estimate, but it would need to be reviewed by people I could not communicate with. He stated this could take up to three business days to complete the entire review process. He also explained that the 30 day rate would be able to be extended to accommodate the time required for the review process. After emailing or calling every day, I finally was told (five business days later) that those controlling the decision rejected the comparables as well as their own appraiser. I was still able to get a loan through them, although it would be for $30K less, the closing costs would actually be higher (now $7K) and I would need to pay an additional $400 to lock the rate for additional 10 days (as my rate lock had now expired). Additionally, there was no way to get back my $600 deposit back if I decided to not refinance my loan through them as a result of the change in the loan amount.

I want this to serve as a cautionary tale for those deciding to do business with Lending Tree. They dont care about your loan and once they have your $600, and I feel like they are free do what they like (change the finance charges, decline their own appraisers value by someone who isnt from the same state and hasnt even seen the house) and the service drops precipitously as the consumer has no repercussions and no way of getting back the $600. My greatest complaint was that I was never given an explanation as to why the value of my property was significantly reduced from their own appraisers review by someone in a different state who was neither an appraiser nor had ever seen my property. Do yourself a favor and go with a local bank you can trust or at least an institution that doesnt charge the upfront, non-refundable fees.

Everyone Be very careful when you apply for Lendingtree.com if you dont get approved then a person By the name Theresa Riley with the lending tree will email you and say if you have bad credit she will hepl. She will ask you to get a western union form and send Evelyn Edwards in Ontario Canada the insurance money. Be avise it is not Lending Tree thats doing that. I notifed lending tree and they told me it was a scam and they are investigating it. I was suppose to have that part of money I sent for my oral surgery and now I am having ti fear for my life because I cant get the money to pay for the surgery I recently filed bankruptcy and it was discharge. So Please be on alert.