Flipping Frenzy.com is your source for news, information, and commentary on Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud. 
If you believe you have been a victim of real estate or mortgage fraud, start here! Select your state from the pulldown menu below:
LendingTree Warns of Data Breach
Online loan referral service LendingTree has informed customers that some of their confidential data may have been leaked to a handful of lenders by company insiders. From LendingTree by way of Luke Mullins of U.S. News & World Report:
April 21, 2008
Dear LendingTree Customer:
We want you to know that some loan request forms our customers sent to LendingTree may have been seen by lenders without our consent. These lenders then used the forms to market their own mortgage loans to our customers. While we don’t believe that the forms were used for any other purpose, we want you to know what happened and what we did to correct this situation, as well as what you can do to monitor your credit records.
What Happened and What We Did
Recently, LendingTree learned that several former employees may have helped a handful of mortgage lenders gain access to LendingTree’s customer information by sharing confidential passwords with the lenders. When we learned of this situation, we quickly contacted the authorities, and LendingTree is helping with their investigation. We promptly made several system security changes. We also brought lawsuits against those involved.
Based on our investigation, we understand that these mortgage lenders used the passwords to access LendingTree’s customer loan request forms, normally available only to LendingTree-approved lenders, to market loans to those customers. The loan request forms contained data such as name, address, email address, telephone number, Social Security number, income and employment information. We believe these lenders accessed LendingTree’s loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008.
What You Can Do
Again, we don’t believe any identity theft or fraudulent financial activity resulted from this situation. However, we suggest you get a free credit report. Look for any accounts you didn’t open and/or inquiries from creditors that you didn’t initiate. If you see anything you don’t understand, contact the credit bureau. If you see anything suspicious, you may want to file a fraud alert with the bureaus. For more information on how to do this, please refer to LendingTree’s Guide to Protecting Your Credit and Identity.
Where to Get More Information
We regret any inconvenience and apologize for any unwanted mortgage calls you may have received. For more information about this situation, and for more information on what you can do, please refer to the attached Questions & Answers.
Sincerely,
R.L. Harris
What do you think? Is this a simple case of old fashioned corporate espionage, idenity theft, or real estate fraud?
A Ralph Roberts Site, Copyright 2005-2008 |
Actually it is a combination of all three.
I for one, do not like LendingTree’s misleading advertising. They promote themselves as a “bank”. Like many mortgage related advertising, especiallyl TV ads, the “required” disclosures pop up on the screen for just a few seconds. There is too much to read and even if there was time it is too small to be seen. The provierbial “small print”.
Lending Tree is a LEAD generating service. They do not originate loans. Once anyone makes an inquiry with them that inquiry, “lead” is then sold to many.
It could be that those purchasing these leads are reselling or sharing them.
Nevertheless, the information you give to LendingTree is spread out over the nation through their sales and the pre qualifications run by not only the loan originators but by the lenders they would submit to.
If your lead is sold to 10 originators and each of them send it to at least one lender then your information has been exposed to 20 people with no assurance of security from any of them.
LendingTree’s problem is external as well as internal and there is no way to correct that short of people NOT using them.
Comment by Larry Rubinoff — April 25, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
Try both–these customers may be at risk for some time to come.
Comment by Mary Golloway — May 1, 2008 @ 3:05 pm