Business Description
LendingTree, Inc. operates what we believe to be the leading online loan marketplace
for consumers seeking loans and other credit-based offerings. Our online marketplace
provides consumers with access to product offerings from over 400 active lenders
(which we refer to as "Network Lenders"), including mortgage loans,
home equity, reverse mortgage, auto loans, credit cards, personal loans, student
loans and small business loans and other related offerings. In addition, we
offer tools and resources, including free credit scores, that facilitate comparison
shopping for these loans and other credit-based offerings. We seek to match
consumers with multiple lenders, who can provide them with competing quotes
for the product they are seeking. By providing consumers access to a broad array
of credit-based offerings directly from multiple lenders, rather than just multiple
quotes from the same lender or indirectly through intermediaries, we believe
our marketplace is differentiated from other providers operating loan comparison-shopping
marketplaces.
Our strategically designed and executed advertising and marketing campaigns
(which we refer to as performance marketing) promote our LendingTree brand and
product offerings and are designed to attract consumers to our websites and
toll-free telephone numbers. Interested consumers complete inquiry forms, providing
detailed information about themselves and the loans or other offerings they
are seeking. We refer to such consumer inquiries as loan requests. We then match
these loan requests with lenders in our marketplace that are seeking to serve
these consumers needs. We generate revenue from these lenders, generally at
the time of transmitting a loan request to them, in the form of a match fee.
In certain instances outside our mortgage business, we charge other kinds of
fees, such as closed loan or closed sale fees. In addition to our primary loan
request business, LendingTree also has click and call products for which lenders
pay either front-end or back-end fees.
We are continually working to improve the consumer experience. We have made
investments in technologically-adept personnel and we use in-market real-time
testing to improve our digital platforms. Additionally, we work with our lenders,
including providing training and other resources, to improve the consumer experience
throughout the loan process. Further, we have been building and improving our
My LendingTree platform, which provides a relationship-based consumer experience,
rather than just a transaction-based experience.
We currently report our revenues in two product categories: (i) mortgage products
and (ii) non-mortgage products. Non-mortgage products include auto loans, credit
cards, home equity loans, personal loans, reverse mortgages, small business
loans and student loans. Non-mortgage products also include home improvement
referrals, and other tools and resources, including credit repair and debt relief
services.