Does Lending Tree Affect Credit Score?

How Does LendingTree Impact Your Credit Score?

In all instances where one is planning to apply for a loan or credit card, it is always wise to compare to get the best deal in the market. LendingTree is one of the largest lending markets for consumer loans, where you can compare offers from multiple lenders and banks and select the most suitable credit product. However, a frequently asked question is: does the process of obtaining rate quotes on LendingTree impact credit rating?

In a few words, there will be no negative impact on your credit score if you compare the rates using the lending marketplace provided by LendingTree. Here is a closer look at how LendingTree operates and when it might affect your credit.

How LendingTree Works?

LendingTree runs an online lending platform that facilitates borrowers’ access to credit. LendingTree allows you to compare loan offers by providing basic information about you and the type of loan or credit card you want. LendingTree then introduces you to their lending partners without pulling your credit report to do so.

If you are interested in an offer, you can click on it and, then, you will have to fill in more detailed information to a particular lender to apply for an actual loan. It is only at this stage that the lender may engage a hard credit check to assess your application and the specific loan terms.

So in summary

• Using LendingTree to browse rates and offers for loans does not affect your credit score.
• Completing the first questionnaire is NOT a credit check that ‘pulls your credit’.
• When an offer is clicked to reveal more information about it, this COULD include a hard credit check.

Understanding Hard Inquiries and Your Credit Score

Every time you apply for new credit – a mortgage, a car loan, a credit card, and so on – the lender is almost certain to pull a hard credit inquiry before considering the application. This enables them to assess your creditworthiness.

This means that if you make several hard inquiries within a short period, it may be interpreted as a higher risk and result in a few points being deducted from your credit score. However, most of the scoring models know that rate shopping is natural.

For instance, FICO will group all hard inquiries to an auto loan or mortgage that were made within a 45-day window as one inquiry, not multiple hard checks. This helps to avoid your score being reduced when practicing the smart shopping technique.

Therefore, as long as you do not abuse the LendingTree service by applying for credit every time you check rates, there should be no negative effects on your scores.

Why LendingTree is Helpful?

Using LendingTree's lending marketplace can make getting your next loan or credit card easier in a few key ways.

• Compare Rates: Check out loan and credit card offers across multiple banks and lenders without having to apply for credit at any of the institutions.
• Save Time: Save time on filling in several time-consuming forms to shop rates by completing just one form.
• Won't Hurt Your Credit: Browsing offers do not involve a strict credit check and do not harm your credit score.
• May Improve Chances: Having several pre-approved offers is beneficial to your application with the lenders since it indicates that you have a choice.

And that is why LendingTree enables you to be an informed, wise consumer who can compare all the offers at once. So long as you only click through on the offers that you consider you want, there should be no credit repercussions. And the informed borrower can sometimes mean better approvals.

When LendingTree May Conduct a Credit Check?

Generally, LendingTree does not check your credit score when you compare rates and offers on their platform. However, there are a couple of instances where you may consent to a soft or hard credit pull.

Pre-qualification: When it comes to some forms of loans such as mortgages, there will usually be pre-qualification that offers a preliminary approval that entails a soft credit check. This will move you closer to approval but will not adversely affect your score.

Final Applications: When you are opting for a particular loan and then selecting a loan offer with interest for which you are clicking further and providing more information to that particular lender, then you are allowing them to perform a hard credit check to assess the credibility of the application that you have made. This may cause a small temporary decline in your scores.

Just be aware that while browsing and shopping will not affect your credit, applying for pre-qualification may lead to credit checks.

Monitoring Your Credit

To be able to determine how different credit activities affect credit scores, it is useful to track credit reports and scores.

Some credit cards or banks allow users to check credit scores for free and would update in case of any change. This is also available for free, although there are paid services that offer a more detailed credit report.

Monitoring means you will be able to detect any other changes that are not supposed to happen or are fraudulent at a very early stage before they cause a lot of harm.

How to Use LendingTree Wisely Without Affecting Your Credit Score?

As long as you are borrowing through LendingTree’s lending marketplace appropriately, it should not hurt your credit and could potentially improve your loan rates. Here are some quick tips.

• Review multiple bids and select the best one that has a reasonable interest rate.
• You should only pre-qualify if you are planning to apply for a particular product shortly.
• It is advisable to be very picky with the loans to apply for.
• Try to make them as few as possible, especially in a single period.
• Check your credit reports and scores to see how it changes over time.

The Bottom Line

It is important to note that using the LendingTree lending marketplace responsibly to compare loan and credit offers will not have negative effects on your credit score. The credit reporting agencies differentiate between soft inquiries arising from pre-qualifying and the completion of applications for final approval and hard inquiries arising from the actual requests for credit reports to extend credit, but smart shopping leads to better rates.

Keeping a close eye on your credit and minimizing the number of hard inquiries from LendingTree or other platforms will help prevent small drops from being permanent. Thus, use the tools provided at LendingTree to do your homework, obtain the right loan, and manage your credit well.

Ready to boost your credit score? Call +1 888-804-0104 now for the best credit repair services near you! Our expert team is here to help you achieve financial freedom and improve your credit. Don't wait—get started today!