LendingTree is an online lending exchange that connects consumers with multiple lenders, banks, and credit partners who compete for business. LendingTree is not a direct supplier of loans; it is instead a broker. Since being founded in 1998 LendingTree has facilitated more than 32 million loan requests. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
LendingTree also provides financing tools, comparative loan searches and borrowing information.
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History
Founding
After graduating from Bucknell University, Doug Lebda went to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Pittsburgh as an auditor and consultant. When he decided to purchase his first home and obtain a mortgage, he found the process of visiting multiple banks and combing through mortgage offers frustrating, time consuming, and exhausting. Lebda realized that if the process was that difficult for someone with his financial acumen, then there must be a massive market of others with the same desire for a better way. With this idea, Doug founded CreditSource USA in 1996 with Jamey Bennett, whom he knew from Bucknell and had previous experience founding BookWire. The new company was later rebranded as LendingTree and by 1998, LendingTree launched nationally online with its headquarters in Charlotte, NC.
Growth
LendingTree went through a successful IPO on February 15, 2000. Bennett left LendingTree after the IPO.
In May 2003, LendingTree, LLC was acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp, former owner of Ticketmaster, Home Shopping Network and current owner of Match.com. In 2004, LendingTree acquired HomeLoanCenter.com and formed LendingTree Loans.
After 5 years, LendingTree spun off from IAC to join newly established Tree.com, Inc. Tree.com is now the parent company of several brands and businesses in the financial services and real estate industries including LendingTree.com; GetSmart.com; DegreeTree.com; LendingTreeAutos.com; and DoneRight.com.
In 2015 LendingTree disassembled the Tree.com umbrella to focus on its core brand, LendingTree which now incorporates Business Loans, Personal Loans, Debt Consolidation, Free Credit Scores, and Student Loans along with its core mortgage products Home Loans, Mortgage Refinance, and Home Equity.
In June 2016, LendingTree kicked off a streak of several corporate development deals with the acquisition of SimpleTuition, a company in the student loans space. Subsequent acquisitions include CompareCards (2016), DepositAccounts.com (2017), MagnifyMoney (2017), and SnapCap (2017).
In November 2016, LendingTree announced plans to invest $47 million and double the employee base of its Charlotte headquarters over the following five years. The online lender's corporate expansion would create 314 jobs during that time span.
Accolades
LendingTree was listed on Fortune Magazine's list of Top 10 Fastest Growing Companies in 2016 (#10) and 2017 (#3).
LendingTree has been consistently recognized as a "Best Place to Work" in Charlotte, NC. Most recently, LendingTree was honored as a 2017 "Best Place to Work" by the Charlotte Observer and the Charlotte Business Journal.
LendingTree and the Hornets
In 2017, the Charlotte Hornets and LendingTree announced a multi-year partnership in which the Charlotte-based online loan marketplace's logo will appear on the team's jerseys, effective immediately. LendingTree also became a Founding Level Partner of the organization and the Official Loan Shopping Partner of the Charlotte Hornets. This is the first deal of its kind and LendingTree is one of 16 companies to secure NBA patch sponsorships nationwide.
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References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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