Recently, we decided to refinance our adjustable rate mortgage. Our first thought was to try some of the online mortgage programs. Two years ago, we got our auto lease online, and had a pretty good experience with that. I tried two web sites right off the bat - American Loan Search, which is not yet listed here on epinions, and Lending Tree. Each site offered a quick and simple online application, that would be sent to a number of lenders. These lenders would then make me an offer either online, by email, or by phone.

I completed the American Loan Search application first. It was very simple, not intrusive, but covered the basic information. It took not more than 5 or 10 minutes, and I was done. Then I went to Lending Tree.
The Lending Tree application was so extensive, I couldn't even finish it in one sitting. I had to put my Q-form on hold to look up balances on every account I have anywhere (bank accounts, credit cards, etc.). It was a lot more complicated and detailed than I expected. Strike One.

Within less than an hour, I received an email from American Loan Search with a list of 5 lenders who had received my application. Within another several hours, I had received emails from at least three of them, and one called to discuss more details. The lenders were all very courteous and friendly, not to mention helpful.

Before the first day was out, and before I had received any offers from Lending Tree, I had a phone call from a representative at LoanWorks.com (which I will review separately). Jill was helpful, friendly, and very professional. After asking just a few more questions, and going over some details, Jill had locked in a very reasonable interest rate, with great terms, given me a list of documents she would need, and said she would get the paperwork in the mail for my husband and me to review.

The next morning, we received the loan commitment and documents. By that time, I had received two offers on Lending Tree, each at least 1 1/2 points higher than the LoanWorks offer. Looking at the details, there seemed to be lots more hidden fees and conditions than what I had discusses with Jill. One of these lenders called me that morning, and was not only pushy and almost rude, but was not particularly interested in working with us, even knowing we had a better offer from someone else. Strike Two.

While we were reviewing the loan documents that day, I received my third offer from Lending Tree. It happened to be from Loan Works, who had received my application a full day later than the one I submitted through American Loan Search. The offer that showed up online had a slightly lower interest rate than the one I had discussed with Jill, so I called here to ask about it. Her first response was that she hated the way Lending Tree works. She said that when offers are put out on Lending Tree, even with all the details Lending Tree asks for, these offers are based on generic information. They hadn't even looked at my credit report. When she called me, she had already reviewed my credit, my assets, my outstanding balances on credit cards, etc., and was making a solid offer. Jill said that just about every Lending Tree offer changes after receiving all the details from the borrower (appraisals, credit reports, etc.). On the other hand, the way she worked, she got the details first, so she could make a solid offer. The deal she offered was basically already approved. Strike Three for Lending Tree.

While the concept is a good one, it seemed to me that Lending Tree is a kind of haphazard way of sending out as many lines as possible to see what comes up. Maybe a lot of people who use it are just shopping around, and aren't quite ready to commit to anything yet. I haven't received any junk mail, or too many calls from lenders, as I have read other reviewers had. But I can say that my Lending Tree application, having taken probably six times longer than American Loan Search, came to nothing. On the other hand, two days after submitting my application to American Loan Search, we just sent out our signed documents, and anticipate closing within the next 10 days. If it works out well, I will surely leave a much more positive review for Loan Works when this is all over. And I will certainly leave Lending Tree as an absolute last resort for any future loan possibilities.



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