Is LendingTree a good way to shop for mortgages? (loan officer, credit report, fees)

[movingover]

Or am I better off going lender by lender?

[chet everett]

Lending Tree is like any other marketing tool -- it is a way for a lenders to get "leads" on potential clients. While I am sure that many people have gotten good service from the lenders that use the service, there are also plenty that have been just a number to an over worked lender.

There is nothing magic about the lenders that use the service and the rates that people get through the service are no better than those that you can get "walking off the street" into any lender's actual office where at least you know that if you NEED to drop off some paperwork or get a answer as if they REALLY will have everything ready BY CLOSING you can camp out and see the work getting done...

[dad2jules]

It depends- how do you feel about your contact information being sold to lenders and/or brokers. Lending Tree is just a lead company.

Like Chett said find your self a local broker or lender that you can meet in person and look in the eye. You probably didn't buy your last TV or car from the internet so why would you make the single biggest purchase of your life on the internet?

[LeftCoastee]

Originally Posted by dad2jules

It depends- how do you feel about your contact information being sold to lenders and/or brokers. Lending Tree is just a lead company.

Like Chett said find your self a local broker or lender that you can meet in person and look in the eye. You probably didn't buy your last TV or car from the internet so why would you make the single biggest purchase of your life on the internet?

Its not really making the purchase on the internet. The internet is being used as a means to link a buyer to a potential lender. As stated, its a lead generation tool for lenders.

You may or may not get good results through Lending Tree. It seems to be hit or miss during different economic conditions.

I've heard that lenders have to pay almost $20k to get set up in Lending Tree plus a per lead fee. Two comments regarding this:

#1: Does the fact that its a significant cost to the lender ensure that you are dealing with, at the very least, a legitimate company?

#2: The lenders will have to make up for the significant costs of using Lending Tree somehow...i.e., embedded fees.

I had one good lender experience through Lending Tree. I received extremely fast, professional, and responsive service from this person. Unfortunately I did not go with this lender due to the fees being higher than going directly through a major national bank.

If you are ok with potentially getting hounded by phone calls / emails, what will it hurt? Just do your research on the lender and carefully review what they'll be charging you in the form of admin / origination fees.

[WhoFanMe]

I'll let the Loan Officers jump in, but it's my understanding that this is a great way to REDUCE your credit score due the numerous pulls on your credit report. Am I right?

[LeftCoastee]

Originally Posted by WhoFanMe

I'll let the Loan Officers jump in, but it's my understanding that this is a great way to REDUCE your credit score due the numerous pulls on your credit report. Am I right?

Mortgage related hits against your credit report within a 14 day window count as one inquiry.

See - "What to know about rate shopping" section:

Credit Inquiries: How Credit Checks Affect Your FICO Score - myFICO

[FalconheadWest]

I've had many buyers contact lending tree, and ususally get out of state lenders responding to them, and they have no clue about Texas mortgage laws. Texas has some of the more strict lending rules compared to other states, and the out of state lenders give bad approvals and closings never happen on time.

More time than not, I have to pull my buyers from their lending tree contact and put them with a local lender so they can understand what loans they actually qualify for.