My bank is keeping me waiting for 1 month to hear about a loan I requested. Meanwhile I filled an online application at lendingtree and calls started coming after 5 minutes.I had about 10 or more banks and brokers competing for my loan. I got a good package and was tired of talking to new callers. Its a pretty good site and I recommend it. Theres a link from my frequent fliers card ,so I should get a free trip to Hawaii from it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mojo @ Nov 19 2007, 07:42 PM) [snapback]541785[/snapback]</div> Nothing like competition for your business. Just make sure that you read the fine print on whatever loan you decide to go with.
I tried that but found the calls I was getting from Lending Tree referrals didn't have as good terms as my credit union. Glad it worked for you, but I won't be using it again. Another problem was there was apparently no way to stop the calls. I let Lending Tree know through the website and I think ended up either using email or calling to tell them enough already...call off the dogs.
I was looking for a loan couple of weeks ago. I mentioned to the realtor I was working with about using online sites like lendingtree. She warned me against it, saying that they will perform many credit checks from different banks at once and might make the credit report look bad. Any truth to that?
Hmmmm, many phone calls from unknown companies and repeated credit checks....not liking the sound of any of that. Let me say I love USAA...very easy to work with for simple things like car loans. I love my local bank...they actually have a special department specifically for their physician clients and they'll bend over backward to help us with a loan. I am, by no means, paranoid about the internet for financial matters, but I'd look darn closely at a site like lendingtree to be sure I knew what the consequences of my application would be.
Having just bought a new house, I considered Lendingtree. But several realtors advised against it. The issues were those others here have raised: multiple potential credit checks, rates no better than the locals, continued pestering after you say "no" -- all from some unknown, faceless entity located who-knows-where. I did contact Quicken Loans for a quote. They were in the ballpark with the local banks, but not quite close enough, especially given that they always end up selling their mortgages. That's important to me; I like to know the provider and quality of loan servicing. Then I was turned off by a hard sell attempt after I said, "Thanks, but no thanks." After shopping that included my credit union, local banks, and mortgage brokers, I ended up with the same bank my previous mortgage had been through. Competitive rates and closing costs, helpful and professional loan originator, good service on the previous loan, and a history of never selling mortgages.
When I was shopping for my Prius about a year ago, I tried LendingTree.com and it signed me up for some kind of monthly membership I didn't want, but couldn't even log on and cancel because they insisted on snail-mailing me a username and password (which took over 30 days) so I wasn't even aware of it until I noticed the monthly charge on my credit card bill. I would not use them again.
We used them to get a quick pre-approval when we were house shopping a couple years ago. We did not go with them for our actual loan, however. They were not even considered.
