If you're looking to buy a home, you're almost certainly looking for a mortgage as well. You may come across the term LendingTree.

LendingTree can help you find loans to finance your home purchase, even if they're not a mortgage provider. This is an online marketplace where you can compare different forms of loans. These include mortgages, vehicle loans, home improvement loans and other types of loans.

Operation of LendingTree

LendingTree attempts to simplify the loan search process by providing customers with different loan offers based on a single piece of data. On the front end, users visit LendingTree's website, enter some basic information, and receive up to five potential loan offers via email.

LendingTree requires the following information during this process:

•       Type of loan - purchase, refinance or home financing

•       Property type - apartment, single family home or condominium

•       Real estate use: primary residence or holiday home

•       Purchase time

•       The location of the property

•       Price range and first deposit

•       Preferred Bank

•       Household income

•       Credit Rating

•       social Security number

Lenders pay LendingTree to send quotes to customers on the backend. LendingTree collects fees from lenders and shares their credit criteria, which LendingTree then uses to "match" clients to up to five potential loans.

The Pros and Cons of Financing Your Home with LendingTree

One of the benefits of using LendingTree is that it saves you time and effort. Instead of filling out five different forms or making five different phone calls, you can create different loan offers with just one submission.

The main flaw with LendingTree is that not all lenders are active in the market. While you can choose the cheapest mortgage on the market, there may be better solutions that are better suited for cheaper non-LendingTree products.

LendingTree also sells data and leads, which is a major drawback. After you submit your information, they will sell your information to lenders competing for your business. This often results in a flood of phone calls, emails and marketing materials from the lender trying to convince you to take out one of the loans.

Quotes from LendingTree are emailed individually by each matching lender. This can make it difficult to compare loan alternatives, as each has its own points, interest rates, terms, APRs, and other characteristics. You may need a calculator or spreadsheet to figure out the best option.

What we like

•       Simple online program

•       This is faster than getting a large loan.

We don't care

•       Not all lenders or financing options are available.

•       Credit information can be requested multiple times.

•       Many phone emails, phone calls and marketing efforts are possible outcomes.

•       Comparing loan quotes can be difficult.

Successful strategy

If you decide to use LendingTree to evaluate your loan or other mortgage options, create a spreadsheet to properly compare your offers. Create columns for interest rate, APR, loan amount, term, point cost, and other information. When evaluating any loan offer, be sure to compare apples to apples.

When you fill out the application form, you should know exactly what you are looking for. Knowing what price range you want to shop in, where you want to shop, your credit rating and household income can help you get a better and more appropriate home purchase financing option.