LendingTree Closes! (home loan, percentage, mortgages, borrow)

[renriq02]

Implode-Explode Forums :: View topic - LendingTree Loans/Home Loan Center Going down

He spoke to Randall (one of the administrators) at the Implode site....

I doubt you spoke to the Charlotte Office.

Some administrators are still there....

I just found out that they also laid off about 200 ppl in Irvine.

Originally Posted by pghquest

I just called lendingtree, and coincidently, someone from the Charlotte location answered the phone..

She stated that Lendingtree's corporate office was in Charlotte and she has heard absolutely nothing about the office closing.

I would assume that if 99.9% of the office was closing.. that the .1% left would be wondering where the rest of the office went and would be aware of any office closing or downsizing.

I looked for any news story on such action, only thing I seen only was forums from people who joined those forums after December 5th, 2007.

mmm, one of them being the indivual below from "North Carolina"

banker0679

Joined: 07 Dec 2007
Posts: 5
Location: North Carolina

[TimNJtoCT]

Exactly lorriem... thank you. You get a fair deal and great service. A broker might give you a small savings but it's not worth the sacrifice in service you make.

And the were right not to give you a swing loan. If it doesn't make good sense to approve you, they won't. People get upset that they decline people more than brokers.... but... that's why they aren't having any problems. They don't do subprime... they also never do high interest rate loans. They will take the time to tell you what you need to do to improve you position os you can qualify for a good loan in the future.

good luck with selling your home.

Originally Posted by lorriem

We are over the half that only calls one but we always get a great interest rate plus pay .2point which to me is great since I hear of people having to pay 1 or two points.This was our first time with a lawyer doing the closing since we have always used title co's and the paralegal was taking her own sweet time PHH called her twice after we and our realtor called and they got her moving. Little things like that is why I go with only them. They have never let us down.This time even though they know we have not sold our FL home they said they would not give us a swing loan until we got a solid contract which we have not but from what I hear they did us a favor since a swing loan does have extra charges.

[TimNJtoCT]

I also can find nothing about lending tree closing.

[renriq02]

what service are you speaking of??

what makes you think that a broker cant make a couple of phone calls??

small savings??

"originated first mortgages were 1.13 percentage points less than loans originated by lenders"

if it's a 150k loan amount that's $1695.00. How can you say that's small????

I believe brokers will give better service than lenders or banks......

It's obvious why they would........if they don't they don't get paid!!

This is why I treat my customers with the upmost respect, and I'm always available for them.
This is why borrowers like brokers....because they're available after business hours, and can find them the product they need.

Originally Posted by TimNJtoCT

Exactly lorriem... thank you. You get a fair deal and great service. A broker might give you a small savings but it's not worth the sacrifice in service you make.

And the were right not to give you a swing loan. If it doesn't make good sense to approve you, they won't. People get upset that they decline people more than brokers.... but... that's why they aren't having any problems. They don't do subprime... they also never do high interest rate loans. They will take the time to tell you what you need to do to improve you position os you can qualify for a good loan in the future.

good luck with selling your home.

[Former LTL]

Hopefully I can help you get your facts straight...

First I will say I was just laid off from the "LendingTree Loans" offices here in Charlotte, NC.

"LendingTree" as a company did not go out of business. LendingTree is currently operated under IAC...which most should know. There is a split occurring as most should know as well.

However LendingTree is a lead generator, not a loan originator. Hence they don't do the loans themselves, instead they sell the leads off to the "network" of banks and mortgage bankers who "compete for your business."
A few years back LendingTree saw the potential profit in keeping some of these leads for themselves and originating the loans themselves. They then acquired Irvine, CA based Home Loan Center which was basically a brokerage. Now they kept that name out in CA, also opening up a division as LendingTree Loans there, which eventually spread to Charlotte, NC.

So, "LendingTree" is the parent company of "LendingTree Loans" and "Home Loan Center." Both of these companies are part of the LendingTree company as a whole (and therefor when layoffs occur in these companies it is reported as LenendingTree layoffs), however they are loan originators whereas LendingTree is a lead aggregator.

Now that we have that established we can proceed to December 7th 2007. At roughly 1:30 pm the Charlotte based LendingTree Loans basically closed its doors. EVERYONE at LendingTree Loans based in Charlotte, NC with the exception of roughly 15 loan officers, a couple of processors and a loan assistant were let go. ALL managers, the IT department, HR, the processors, loan assistants and all but those 15 LO's are gone.

I do not know what layoffs occured to the LendingTree parent company. I also cannot speak to what heppened out in Irvine, CA. I can tell you this. Irvine, Ca is easily twice as expensive to operate out of as Charlotte, NC and their costs and commission structure reflected that. They (Irvine, CA based LTL and HLC) also had not been out-performing the east coast (Charlotte, NC based LTL) as of late. If I ran the company I would let go of Irvine before Charlotte (as the net income in Irvine has got to be less). I know Irvine was affected by layoffs as well. I can only assume based of of these facts that they basically shut their doors as well.

The commission structure of LendingTree Loans and Home Loans Center was not built for this market. Whereas in a typical brokerage you could do 3 loans and make decent money at LTL and HLC you had to fund 15-25 to make the same money. So both LTL and HLC were consistently losing great loan officers and also laying people off which means you cant hire more LO's back. This was destined to happen. At least they gave us 1 month's worth of severance and out accrued paid time off....still burns though.

Just as a note, I may post this elsewhere to help people get their facts straight. Think I should?

Originally Posted by pghquest

Ok.. Found the true facts..

The ownership investment group (IAC) of Lendingtree is spinning off Lendingtree, the HSN, and 3 other companies into its own corporate identity. They are not closing but being "sold off" by going public.

IAC to spin off LendingTree - Charlotte - Local Business News - Portfolio.com

IAC to spin off LendingTree

Nov 5 2007 10:08AM EST

LendingTree will become a publicly traded company as corporate parent IAC/InterActiveCorp splits itself into five businesses.
Along with its spinoff of Charlotte-based LendingTree, IAC will turn its HSN home shopping network, Ticketmaster ticket service and Interval International time-share business into separate, publicly traded operations.
IAC will retain its media and advertising segment, which includes Match.com, Evite, Shoebuy.com, Citysearch and Entertainment Publications.
"One of the reasons we've stayed with some of our more transactional businesses is that we needed their earnings to allow us to invest in emerging Internet businesses," says Barry Diller, chief executive of New York-based IAC. "Now that we have real scale in the pure Internet units, it makes nothing but sense to me to reorganize the whole."
Under the revamped structure, C.D. Davies will remain chief executive of LendingTree.
Last week, LendingTree reported it had swung to a $5.6 million operating-income loss in the third quarter. In the same time last year, the company's operating income totaled $15.2 million.
Revenue at LendingTree, an online lending and realty-services exchange, fell 41 percent to $63 million from $106 million in the year-ago period.
According to IAC (NASDAQ:IACI), sales dropped primarily because of a decline in loans sold to the secondary market, lower revenue per loan sold and the closing of fewer loans.
Profits were also affected by an $8.2 million provision for loan losses in the latest quarter, compared with $700,000 in the year-ago period.
The higher provision reflects the increased losses the company is experiencing with respect to loans sold, IAC says.
"LendingTree, obviously under pressure from the macro real estate and mortgage environment, is nevertheless a valuable asset with a great brand and will be freed to participate fully with its own currency," Diller said in a press release Monday.
LendingTree has facilitated more than 20 million loan requests and $152 billion in closed loans.
The spinoffs are to be completed in the second or third quarter.
IAC's shareholders will own 100 percent of the equity in all five companies.

[renriq02]

why did they leave the 15 loan officers?

I thought LTL funded loans through their company HLC (home loan center).

[Former LTL]

The only thing I can assume is that the 15 or so people they kept are to start up a small broker shop or branch office of the remaining HLC. That is all I can assume. As I get word from some of my friends who were not let go I will update.

As for funding, yes we funded our own loans. But we used warehouse lines of credit as most brokerages do. As LendingTree is being split from IAC, I am sure the warehouse lines of credit have been harder to obtain, to secure, and that the quality of those warehouse lines is not as good now.

There were people continuously leaving on their own. Combined with the previous two layoffs there was probably half of the people working there as a year ago. Add that to the fact that due to the terrible market most of the good LO's were only funding 6 to 10 loans per month compared to 20 to 30 a year ago....and its not hard to see why they had to shut the doors. The profit isn't the same as a year ago.

Originally Posted by banker0679

why did they leave the 15 loan officers?

I thought LTL funded loans through their company HLC (home loan center).

[renriq02]

do you know the ppl that werent let go?

did you know Ben? Leah?

[Former LTL]

Yeah, I could tell you almost all of the LO's and assistants (like Leah) that weren't let go. However I don't know if they will stay under whatever new structure they came up with.

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by TimNJtoCT

I also can find nothing about lending tree closing.

Not only are they not closing.. they are hiring.. Open jobs exist, with the latest being added just 12/06/07. If they announced the office closing 12/05/07, they wouldnt be looking to hire.

Dec 6, 2007 Senior Financial Analyst US - NC - CharlotteFull-time

More then likely.. the main "investors" are closing their office in Charlotte because they are spinning the company into its own IPO.. but Lendingtree is not closing their Charlotte office.