Lending Tree has probably spent more than any other online refinance lender marketing their services, so it comes as no surprise that they were the first one to come into my head when I sat down to do reviews of the top online lenders. They are almost famous for their 4 free quotes claim and I was anxious to find out if they would really deliver as they have advertised. Would they really deliver 4 free mortgage rate quotes from leading lenders? Their catch phrase is “When Lenders Compete, You Win”. Would this really be the case? I was determined to find out for myself, for my readers and anyone else who is curious about this. 

I went to their site and I found a 4 page mortgage refinance application form. I submitted an application for a cash-out mortgage refinance on a home with $30,000 worth of equity in it. I applied for $10,000 cash back, because many people who refinance like to take some cash out for home improvements, to pay off credit card debts or even for a vacation.

The application form requires some detailed information including your address, social securty number, gross income, total outstanding debt, marital status, employer, job title, and your home’s current value. This was a tough one, because like everyone else who completes this application, I had to guess. The only person who truly knows the exact value of their home is someone who just sold their home or someone who just had their home appraised. I was pretty confident that my estimate was accurate, because I have been watching home sales in my neighborhood for at least the last two years. The value of the home I submitted was estimated to be $110,000. For those of you who have not been keeping up on home sales in your neighborhood Lending Tree offers the following information and service:

Did you know that nearly 50% of homeowners underestimate the value of their home? Don’t make the same mistake — it could cost you!. YES, check my home valuation using public records - at absolutely no cost to me. If a higher value is found, use the new value in my loan request.

I found this to be a particularly useful service and it addresses the problem of guessing at your home’s value simply and easily and best of all it is free. I was impressed.

The application process was relatively painless and it took me about 10 minutes to completely fill in all four pages of the application. There was one minor sticking point worth mentioning. They require your spouse’s financial and employment information if you select that you are married. I didn’t want rates based on our combined income; I wanted them based on my own. Furthermore, I didn’t feel comfortable submitting my wife’s information without her knowing, so I went back and changed my marital status to single. I thought this was silly, but it was easily done without losing any of the information I had already entered. I suggest Lending Tree make this information optional with a checkbox stating “I would like my free quotes based solely on my financial information“. I mean how many people take the time to fill in an application like this together with their spouse? This is an unnecessary obstacle, that I suspect is slowing some people in the application process, but I found my fix to be simple and easy enough.

So, once I had submitted all my financial information Lending Tree starting loading a page that was apparently searching for lenders or something like that. Then I was congratulated that I had qualified to receive my offers from the Lending Tree netowrk of lenders. Then came something a little strange. It was a link to a disclosure statement that I was supposed to open, print out, fill out and mail in to Lending Tree. I thought this was a terribly inconvenient thing to require at this early stage, after all I just wanted my 4 free loan quotes. The document was called a “AFFILIATED BUSINESS ARRANGEMENT DISCLOSURE STATEMENT”. It basically states that Lending Tree makes money if you close on a loan that they put you in touch with. This was not a surprise to me. After all, I didn’t think they were doing all that advertising as a public service. Of course they are making money. I ignored the disclosure statement and figured if I was going to close on a loan, then that would just be one more paper in a stack of paperwork that would have to be completed to close the loan.

On this final page they offered links to three different 13 page guides on pertinent topics that would help someone make a final decision. An informed decision is a good decision, and apparently LendingTree has figured this out. Each of these guides is remarkably detailed in the information it provides. Each one is a crash couse in its specific topic area offering enough information to help you make an informed decision. The three guides they offer are called:

1. Guide to Mortgages
2. Guide to Refinancing Your Home
3. Guide to Adjustable Rate Mortgages

Each guide is easily downloadable free of charge. The three of these put together, equal what some websites would charge $50 for. This was a nice surprise.The next morning I found an email in my inbox with the loan quotes, and they overdelivered on their claims. I did not receive 4 loan quotes I received 8. I was quite impressed. The quotes were for three 15 year fixed rate loans, three 30 year fixed rate loans and two 5/1 adjustable rate mortgages. You can see the quotes they sent me here:

The closing costs were the same for all of the loans, and it was about $2,400. I know from experience that $2,400 in closing costs is reasonable. I refinanced with a local bank several years ago, and that is about what it cost. The mortgage rates are competitive, ranging from 5.625% and 6.125%. The same morning I received the email with the loan quotes I got a phone call from a representative of Lending Tree who had been assigned to my case. He was anxious to learn more about my needs and assured me he would do all the negotiating with the lenders, so I wouldn’t have to talk to all three agents myself. I found him to be helpful and sincere.

I have to say that Lending Tree has excellent follow through and good customer service. They not only delivered the 4 free quotes they promised, but they also delivered quality information, good customer service, and follow through to take the burden of contact off of the consumer. Other than a few minor glitches, the application process was relatively painless. Most importantly Lending Tree made good on their claim. They really do offer 4 free quotes, but what I didn’t expect was that they also offer a whole lot more. Please feel free to post your own LendingTree experiences as comments to this review.