Built to make shopping for a loan as obvious as shopping for anything else.

Why a marketplace

If you're buying a house, you don't walk into one bank and accept their mortgage offer without comparing. If you're buying a car, you don't pay sticker price. But somehow, when consumers shop for a personal loan, an auto refi, or a debt consolidation product, the default behavior is to go to one lender — usually the one a friend recommended or the one with the friendliest ad — and accept whatever rate comes back. That habit costs Americans tens of billions of dollars in unnecessary interest every year.

The fix is what's already true in every other category of commerce: comparison. A marketplace where multiple lenders provide real prequalified offers, side-by-side, before the borrower commits. That's the model LendingsTree is built on. It's not a new model — LendingTree pioneered it in 1996, and platforms like NerdWallet, Bankrate, and Credit Karma have refined it since. What we add is focus: a tighter network of partner lenders, a cleaner comparison experience, and a soft-credit-check workflow that means looking at your options costs you nothing in credit score impact.

What we do — and don't do

We do: Match you with our network of 500+ partner lenders based on the loan type and amount you need, the basic information you provide, and a soft credit check. Display the prequalified offers we receive. Provide educational content explaining how each loan type works, what to compare, and what to watch out for.

We don't: Fund loans. Make credit decisions. Determine your eligibility. Set the rates or terms (those come from individual lenders). Provide financial advice (we provide information; the decision is yours). Sell your information to data brokers.

How we make money

Lender partners pay LendingsTree a referral fee when they connect with a borrower through the platform. That fee is paid by the lender regardless of whether the borrower accepts the offer. The fee structure does not affect the rate the lender quotes you — competitive markets keep that honest, because lenders know consumers see every other offer in their results. We're transparent about this because it matters: an honest marketplace can't pretend it's free without explaining who's paying.

Our network

We work with 500+ partner lenders across the consumer credit spectrum — banks, credit unions, online lenders, and specialty lenders focused on specific products (subprime auto, SBA business loans, FHA mortgages, and so on). Lender selection is based on three criteria: licensing and regulatory compliance in the states where they operate, fair lending practices, and competitive pricing for their tier of the market. We periodically review the network and remove lenders who fail to maintain these standards.

The team

Our funding specialists are reachable by phone, email, or chat any time you're in the marketplace and have a question. They don't work on commission per loan placement — their job is to help you understand the offers and pick the right one for your situation, even if "the right one" is to wait and rebuild credit first.

Important disclosure

LendingsTree.com is an independent information resource and loan comparison platform. We are not the official LendingTree website and are not affiliated with LendingTree, LLC. We operate as a separate marketplace with our own network of lender partners. Any references to LendingTree's products or model on this site are descriptive — we use them as context because consumers are familiar with the LendingTree brand and the model it popularized.