Mortgage RulebookEvery lender owes you a Loan Estimate. Compare before you commit.

How quote collecting actually works

Getting more than one quote: marketplaces, brokers, and applying directly

What happens when you submit a marketplace form

LendingTree is not a lender. Its own licensing page describes it as a marketing lead generator that is required to be licensed as a mortgage broker, and states that it does not take applications, make loans, or make credit decisions. Its services, in its words, "are only administrative," and the inquiry you submit "is NOT an application for credit."

When you complete a mortgage request, LendingTree matches your information against its network partners' criteria and transmits it to up to five of them. That number is not marketing shorthand. LendingTree's annual report tells investors the request "is automatically transmitted to up to five participating Network Partners," and that because of this, "up to five match fees may be generated from a single consumer request form." Each of those lenders paid to receive your file. LendingTree's own mortgage page says they "will call to compete for your business." Submitting the form is also express written consent to receive calls and texts from those lenders, including automated ones, even if your number is on a Do Not Call list.

So expect a busy day or two. What you get for it is several lenders pricing the same file in the same week, which is the comparison the Loan Estimate rule was built to make possible. Freddie Mac's research associates one additional quote with about $1,500 in savings over the life of the loan and five quotes with about $3,000; its 2023 update found borrowers who shopped in the high-rate months of late 2022 saved roughly $600 to $1,200 a year.

What you do not get is representation. Except where a state provides otherwise, LendingTree states it is not your agent and not the lender's, and does not endorse any lender's products. That is the line between a marketplace and an independent broker, who in some states, Minnesota among them, owes you an agency duty. And it is different again from applying to two or three lenders yourself, which spends your time instead of your phone number.

What it does to your credit

LendingTree performs a soft credit inquiry to match you, which does not affect your score. A hard inquiry comes later, from whichever lender you actually apply with. Credit models treat multiple mortgage inquiries inside a shopping window as a single event: the CFPB describes a 45-day window under current scoring models, and older FICO versions use 14 days, so the conservative move is to compress your shopping into about two weeks.

How to stop the calls afterward

If you are done shopping, tell each lender that contacted you that you are no longer in the market, and submit LendingTree's internal do-not-call request through its contact page or at 1-888-272-1355, which notifies partners matched in the last 30 days. Knowing the exit exists is a fair thing to know before you walk in.

Three ways to reach more than one lender

An independent broker. One application, shopped to wholesale lenders you cannot reach directly. Paid by the lender that funds the loan, typically 1 to 2.75 percent of the amount. In some states, Minnesota among them, the broker is your agent and owes you a duty of good faith. How working with a broker works

A marketplace. One form, transmitted to as many as five lenders who each paid to receive it and who will call you. Fast, and it produces real competing quotes. Nobody there represents you: LendingTree states it is not your agent and not the lender's, and does not endorse any of them. What happens after you submit

Applying directly. You contact two or three lenders yourself. It spends your afternoon instead of your phone number, and no one resells your file.

Referral disclosure: this site may earn a fee if you request quotes through the LendingTree link above. No fee is paid on the other two paths, and none of this changes the quotes you receive.

Sources

Mortgage Rulebook is an independent educational site and is not a lender, broker, or law firm. Nothing here is legal or financial advice.