Any agents out there frustrated because their clients got caught up in the "Lending Tree, When Banks Compete You Win?" Well, as many of you know, that is a crock. Great marketing slogan though!
"When Banks Compete, You LOSE!" Too many times these internet lenders screw my clients. They get suckered into these fake rates and promises, and they repeatedly drop the ball. Why?
FAKE RATES! The rates they quote are below cost, so they WIN, just to change the terms when it is too late to turn back.
NO ACCOUNTABILITY. If they screw you, what the hell do they care? What, YOU won't use them again? Big whoop. You are a number. If 60% close, they are fine with that.
The problem with many consumers is what alternative do they have? They can't trust the Realtor right? All of those damn ABAs Affiliated Business Arrangements (semi-illegal kickbacks).
Well all I can do is vow that I don't have a ABA, and I don't take kickbacks. And now, they have to watch this video...
By the way, I mentioned Lending Tree in this video BEFORE I found out that the client found his lender through... Lending Tree! Coincidence? I think not.
This video will be followed shortly with the ACTUAL pissed off customers anti-testimonial.
I know we can't REQUIRE our lender, but what can we do to make sure they don't walk into a nightmare? Charge them more if a problem comes up. Consider it "overtime?"
Have a client that wants to use some random bank, send them this link.
19 Comments on DO NOT USE LENDING TREE- Pass this along
SEP
18
2008
Frank: I have heard similar claims about LT from agents in our market. I'd admonish agents not to be too strident when dissing Lending Tree however. I've found a pro-con format can usually help folks to make the right choices.
Absolutely - I still can't believe people still go to lendingtree, there has been many complaints against them and having the reputation of lowballing numbers and switch and bait. Im sorry your clients were getting the run around hopefully you will have better luck in the future.
Frank: Stories like this are just one more of the many reasons why it makes so much sense to use a local proven mortgage loan officer whenever possible. Buyers need to be aware that everything is not as it seems... and what they are trying to do to help themselves most often backfires.
Oops, not a good thing to make negative comments about businesses. I know that your clients were upset...and I guess you were too, but negative blogging can cause issues down the line.
Oh, and let's not forget about Lending Tree's very own wholy owned subsidiary, Home Loan Center. Yeah, I really believe that there is open honest competitions there.
Frank, thanks for the information! I agree with Karen Anne on this one, local, proven loan officers are usually always better than a faceless corporation.
I guess things do not change. I had that with them long ago, and burned myself. Learned that you need to stay away from them. Was watching lately their quite aggressive campaign on TV, and even thought that they might be different people than before, but seems companies and people do not change, they can only mimic change.
Frank - Didn't you learn that you're supposed to keep your hands on the wheels at all times?
As you know, my mortgage firm worked with LT for a while and I was one of a select group that got to take their leads. Although we were 'preferred' members, I found that I rarely ever won a bid. I dropped rates so low I was barely making any yield and still losing deals (and since I was on the internet most of the time, I had near immediate responses). That's when it hit me that there was something shady going on. No one works for free and I couldn't see how anyone else could originate these loans. I stopped doing LT after a few months. It was long after that when I started to hear about bait-and-switch schemes going on. Followed not too long later by a number of lawsuits against them.
Frank - This has been going on for a while with Lending Tree and their "advertisers" using smoke and mirrors to get clients on board. It's not even the rate promises they can't fulfill that is the worst part - they can't get deals to the table and purchase transactions simply blow up.
Educate your clients! It is not about the lowest rate! Point them to this and other blogs like this. Tell them for a mortgage transaction they need to sit in front of their loan officer, shake their hand, check out their office and staff etc........ why would you want to deal with some 18 year old kid in the mid west when your closing on a house in Virginia????
Frank, I loved this post. The videos were great, except when you flipped upside down.
At first I wondered why you did it in the car. But the more I watched it, the more I liked it. The bit of action you get from the movement of the car makes it a little more interesting. It's kind of like background music.
I was a victim of this myself before I got into real estate. They left me hanging 3 days before closing and wouldn't return my phone calls. My credit union bailed me out and closed me in 10 days. It put a damper on the situation. When my clients mention the words, LT, I can speak from experience. They have to get approved with a local lender or I walk because I know the likelihood of being left hanging. They can make banks compete by getting local lenders to do a better job. And we have a door we can knock on.
Here I am, 3 days before closing on my new home, as a broker and a buyer, having to move out of my house and cannot close on the new one. Hung out to dry by a Lending Tree Broker. I gave them everything they needed, and then some, I even asked them if they needed anything more several times so that I could have it prepared if they did. Nothing, I have no loan confirmation and the only communication is repeated excuses as to why I have not recieved it. My advice, Run far... Run fast.
Don't forget the fact that since they sell info to as many brokers that want to buy it, your credit get's pulled and as a result, your scores go down. We did a refi for someone and when we pulled their credit it had over 100 pulls! His credit was still being pulled after we closed the loan!
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Frank: I have heard similar claims about LT from agents in our market. I'd admonish agents not to be too strident when dissing Lending Tree however. I've found a pro-con format can usually help folks to make the right choices.