I have seen several references to Lending Tree here and it seems that many people have a false impression about Lending Tree.  There marketing theme is "When lenders compete.."  And it is clear from the comments here that many people THINK that Lending Tree submits the loan requests they receive to hundreds of lenders and the borrower benefits from all these lenders competing  for their loan. THIS COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

Lending Tree SELLS that information to up to 4 lenders/brokers. They make reference to this indirectly in their advertising..."within hours you will get  offers from up to 4 lenders."  Wonder why they say up to 4 lenders?   Why not 5 or 10 to 20? The answer is that only up to 4 lenders/brokers  will EVER see the loan request.

Lending Tree is a LEAD generating service. They sell the information they gather to lenders and  brokers.  If the first company they sell this information wants to pay premium they will be the only lender who receives the lead. Otherwise  Lending Tree will sell the lead to up to 3 more lenders/brokers. Borrowers  using Lending Tree get the luck of the draw regarding how good (or >bad) the  offers are that they receive. 

The mortgage company that I am part of has had discussions with Lending Tree about becoming an affiliate. If we do become an affiliate at least some times lenders will get a chance to compete for a borrowers business--we  have 300+ banks and mortgage investors that DO compete for our business (and the business of our borrowers).  We may not submit each loan to all these sources...but we DO screen each loan and determine which lenders have the best programs/prices to fit the special ircumstances of each borrower.   

Recently there were posts about problems and concerns about the fees charged by a Lending Tree affiliate.  I am curious if over  all other RTers have had good or bad experiences with Lending Tree generated mortgages... 

Steve Ervin