LendingTree is an online lending marketplace headquartered in Charlotte, NC. The business platform allows potential
borrower
A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this ...
s to connect with multiple
loan operators to find optimal terms for
loan
In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...
s, credit cards, deposit accounts, insurance, etc. LendingTree allows borrowers to shop and compare competitive rates and terms across an array of financial products. Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago, Seattle and others. Other additional services include financing tools, comparative loan searches and borrowing information.
History
Founding
After graduating from
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...
, Doug Lebda went to work for
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
in Pittsburgh as an auditor and consultant. During the process of purchasing his first home via a
mortgage
A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...
, he found the process of comparing numerous resources time-consuming. Lebda sought a better way to improve this process in the marketplace. Lebda subsequently started CreditSource USA in 1996; a year later the new company was rebranded as LendingTree. In 1998, LendingTree was launched online.
IAC ownership
LendingTree went through an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
(IPO) on February 15, 2000. In May 2003, LendingTree was acquired by
IAC/InterActiveCorp
IAC Inc. is an American holding company that owns brands across 100 countries, mostly in media and Internet. The company is incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and headquartered in New York City. Joey Levin, who previously led th ...
, former owner of
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Entert ...
,
Home Shopping Network and
Match.com
Match is an online dating service with web sites serving over 50 countries in twelve languages. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas. The company has offices in Dallas, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. Match is ...
. In 2004, LendingTree acquired HomeLoanCenter.com and formed LendingTree Loans. After five years, LendingTree spun off from IAC to join newly established Tree.com, Inc. Tree.com was 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 incorporated 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.
Since 2019, LendingTree has served as the official name sponsor of the annual college football bowl played in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
, the
LendingTree Bowl
The LendingTree Bowl is a postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game that has been played annually in Mobile, Alabama since 1999. In 2021, the game was moved from Ladd-Peebles Stadium to Hancock Whitney Stadium, on the ...
.
Acquisitions
In 2009, LendingTree acquired the personal financial management website
Thrive. In August 2016, it acquired
SimpleTuition
Valore, Inc. is an American company that provides an online textbook marketplace, ValoreBooks.
History
Valore, Inc. (formerly SimpleTuition, Inc.), is the Boston-based parent company of ValoreBooks, an online textbook marketplace. The company wa ...
, a company focused on student loans. Subsequent acquisitions include CompareCards (2016), DepositAccounts.com (2017), MagnifyMoney (2017), SnapCap (2017), Student Loan Hero (2018), QuoteWizard (2018), and ValuePenguin (2018).
See also
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NerdWallet
NerdWallet is an American personal finance company, founded in 2009 by Tim Chen and Jacob Gibson. It has a website and app that earns money by promoting financial products to its users.
History
NerdWallet was founded in August 2009 by Tim Chen ...
*
CreditKarma
Credit Karma is an American multinational personal finance company founded in 2007, which has been a brand of Intuit since December 2020. It is best known as a free credit and financial management platform, but its features also include monitor ...
*
SuperMoney
SuperMoney is an online financial comparison platform that helps consumers evaluate financial services. It is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.
History
SuperMoney was founded in 2013 by Miron Lulic and initially launched as a personal f ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lendingtree
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
American companies established in 1996
Financial services companies established in 1996
Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina
Online financial services companies of the United States
Online marketplaces of the United States
Internet properties established in 1996
2000 initial public offerings