Lending Tree: BEWARE!!!!

For those of you considering a home equity line of credit, a refinance or a new real estate loan, I want to warn you about Lending Tree. They are a service that matches you up with a number of (they say) "lenders" who supposedly compete for your business.

I decided to give them a shot. When I first contacted them in May, I said that I was concerned about each of their lenders pulling my credit report. In case you don't know, if a number of lenders pull your report, that can lower your credit score. I was told not to worry, that only one credit report would be pulled and that no lender would pull another one without my express authorization. So, I agreed.

Ultimately I refinanced my home. However, as a result of that single contact to Lending Tree, 25 different lenders pulled my report, all without any additional authorization beyond my conversation above. Many of those with whom they matched me were mortgage brokers, not lenders, who then contacted lenders who also pulled my report without any additional authorization. In fact, some of them pulled the report as recently as a few days ago, even though I completed my refinance more than a month ago, and never authorized additional credit reports.

I contacted Lending Tree, who told me that the initial representation of only one credit report was wrong, that there is nothing that they can do now, and that I could expect that some lenders might continue to pull my credit report in the future. All of these requests have significantly dropped my credit score, and while I see no likelihood that I will need additional credit in the near future, it is likely that these inquiries, which will remain on my record for two years, will continue to lower my score during that time period.

So, if you are thinking about getting a loan, I would advise you to avoid Lending Tree, as it appears that merely contacting them can result in significantly lowering your credit score.

Thanks for the warning. We have used them in the past with no known problems, but sure won't in the future.

It's amazing how someone other than you can affect your credit rating. A friend of mine found out years ago that her social security number is linked to a second person. She has been unable to "fix" the problem nor sort it out in any way. Interestingly, this hasn't affected her ability to get credit cards/loans, and no one seems to know how to fix the problem. The whole credit rating system is really a total mess when you think about it.

Sharon

3kids4me said:

It's amazing how someone other than you can affect your credit rating. A friend of mine found out years ago that her social security number is linked to a second person. She has been unable to "fix" the problem nor sort it out in any way. Interestingly, this hasn't affected her ability to get credit cards/loans, and no one seems to know how to fix the problem. The whole credit rating system is really a total mess when you think about it.

Sharon

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I had a similar issue when someone received one of those guarenteed CC apps in the mail from Capital One. They put their DOB, their mothers maiden name, their SS # and their employer on the app (or at least made all that stuff up) and Cap One STILL issued the CC despite all the information not matching up.

Needless to say all of that info found it's way onto MY credit report. Equifax was less the helpful in taking that stuff off until a well worded letter indicating that any remedy available to me would follow as this info was damaging my credit rating.

That one little letter took care of the problem..........sort of. A couple of months later I crossed them up and pulled my credit report again. They had put all the bad information back onto my credit report. This was after they had sent me the corrected credit report.

Needless to say the next letter, along with a copy of all correspondence got the problem fixed permanently. Sometimes all it takes is a letter with supporting evidence and a suggestion it will be taken to the next level. Sometimes a letter from an attorny's office will make a differnce. If suggesting further action against them for damaging my credit report with false information wouldn't have been enough I really don't know if there was actually a legal avenue available to me to force the issue and require compensation for damages. I do know that I was to the point I was willing to find out had they not removed that information from my credit report.

FWIW, Cap One was anything but helpful. It did take a rather nasty letter with the suggestion of action against them for providing false information to Equifax. They were threatening, beligerant and treated me as if I where the dead beat in this case when it was easily proven it was their problem and not mine (I had not even lived at that address for 10 years and had been out of state for a good portion of that time). Guess what's NOT in my wallet!

I now subcribe to a credit watch service that let's me know what's going on with my credit report. Supposedly they will also assist me when things go wrong. I'm not certain how well this service would work for something like excessive requests. For that matter I'm not certain how much help they'd have been with my previous issue. So far I haven't had to use their service to straighten out any problems and I hope I never do.

Thanks for the heads up. I've tried Lending Tree before and never have I actually received 4 offers and never are those the lowest rates that I can find.

I will never understand why someone pulling your report drops your score. It shouldnt matter how many 'hits' someone gets as long as their payment history is good. That's the point isnt it?

DH is a partner in a mortgage company and has taken over many home loans that got messed up by online lenders. The biggest problem seems to be that if anything goes wrong, it's really hard to hold someone accountable. You can't get the same person, many times get contradicting stories, and get passed off from one person to the next where you have to repeat your story from the beginning. For money transactions of that magnitude it's better to have someone you can walk up to face-to-face or at least be able to call and ask for them by name know they are behind the same desk at their brick and mortar office.

ladycody said:

I will never understand why someone pulling your report drops your score. It shouldnt matter how many 'hits' someone gets as long as their payment history is good. That's the point isnt it?

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The drop in score happens because often a person who is facing a sudden financial crisis will try to open a number of credit accounts to keep themselves afloat. Thus, the rating systems reacts to numerous requests for credit in a short period of time as a potential red flag.

Unfortunately, the algorithms apparently aren't smart enough to distinguish a situation such as Steve's from a floundering individual.

A thing to note, Fair Isaac, the company that calculates your credit score, takes these exact situations in to account. They realize people shop around for car loans and mortgages. When you have multiple credit inquiries within a two-week period, they only count it as one inquiry for the calculation of your credit score. So the fact that you have 25 separate inquires should have little impact on your score if they were completed in that two week window.

dioxide45 said:

So the fact that you have 25 separate inquires should have little impact on your score if they were completed in that two week window.

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They were not. They started in mid-May and the most recent one was July 3 -- two months after my refinance was completed.

I recall that they treat multiple inquiries over a short period of time as a single inquiry.

According to Fair-Isaac: (at www.myfico.com, click on "learn" and follow the links to "Facts and Fallacies")

Fallacy: My score will drop if I apply for new credit.
Fact: If it does, it probably won't drop much. If you apply for several credit cards within a short period of time, multiple requests for your credit report information (called “inquiries”) will appear on your report. Looking for new credit can equate with higher risk, but most credit scores are not affected by multiple inquiries from auto or mortgage lenders within a short period of time. Typically, these are treated as a single inquiry and will have little impact on the credit score.

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It seems like in your case, the period of time between all these inquiries seems to be rather long. What period of time do you agree to with Lending Tree when you fill out their application? Do they bound it at all?

-David

Lending Tree did this to my niece and it absolutely destroyed her credit.

Another relatively new thing is when you apply for a Mortgage, Experian is now selling that info/fact to brokers. Brokers are Hijacking loans started by another broker - "I can get you a better deal than xyz". They have even gone so far as to represent themselves as the original brokerage, rushing a deal through and when the borrower asks "where is MaryAnn" they are told "MaryAnn no longer works here and your file has been assigned to me"

I think the key is to know who you are dealing with at all times.

Joan-OH