Last Updated and Effective: August 5, 2022
Notice to California Residents (Click to learn more about your California Privacy Rights and for our Notice of Collection of Personal Information).
This Product & Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) applies to www.lendingtree.com and all websites and mobile apps owned and operated by LendingTree, LLC, and its subsidiaries (collectively, “LendingTree”, “us”, “we”, or “our”) (such websites and apps may be referred to collectively as “Site(s)” or “Platform Services”). This Policy also applies to our “Powered by LendingTree” suite of products and services that allows businesses (“Product Partners”) the ability to integrate LendingTree services or features within their own websites (such services may be referred to as “Product Services,” and together with Platform Services, “Services”). We provide these Product Services to our Product Partners pursuant to platform integration agreements and Development Documentation (collectively, “Agreements”). Please read below, and learn how we collect, protect, share, and use your information as part of our technology platforms and all of our products and services.
Information We Collect
- Identifying Information: We collect information that could identify you such as your name, address, telephone number, mobile number, email address, and Social Security Number. We may collect this type of information from you about others, including co-borrowers. We may also collect additional information, such as demographic information, as directed by our Product Partners.
- Financial Information: We may collect your credit history, credit scores, transaction history, and credit products, rates, and payments in the course of processing an inquiry or application for our financial company partners’ products or services. For additional information relating to your choices about financial information specifically, see our Consumer Privacy Disclosure.
- Other Information: We collect information such as demographic data, data about your online activity, and other information that is not used to identify you.
How We Collect Information
- Information provided by you: We collect information from you when you enter it or otherwise provide it in connection with an inquiry into, or use of, our Services. This information could be provided via an online form, over the phone, or via other means through which you interact with our Services.
- Information from third parties: We collect information from lenders and other third parties in our network that provide products and services you request or that may be of interest to you (collectively, “Network Partners,” and together with Product Partners, “Partners”), as well as credit bureaus, lead generators, and other service providers. These third parties may provide data on your financial profile, home, or other demographic information, as well as your interactions with these third parties. We may collect information from our Product Partners, including via Product Partners’ websites and our technology, such as APIs and SDKs.
- Information from cookies and other tracking technologies: We use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to record your preferences, marketing email responses, track the use of our Services, and collect information. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. You may choose to set your web browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you do so, note that some parts of our Sites may not function properly.
How We Use Information
We may use collected information to:
- Deliver the products and services you request and customize your user experience.
- Communicate with you about products or services that may be of interest to you.
- Improve our Sites and customer service.
- Operate and manage our business and develop our platform.
- Exercise our rights and obligations under our Agreements.
- Create anonymized or aggregated data that does not identify Partners or consumers.
- Comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal requests.
- Prevent or detect fraud or other misuse.
How We Share Your Information
- LendingTree Affiliates: We may share information about you or provided by you with LendingTree affiliates.
- Network and Product Partners: When you submit an inquiry or use a Service provided through our Sites or through our Product Services, you direct LendingTree to share information about you or provided by you with our Partners. PLEASE NOTE: The Partners that interact with you may retain or use your information whether or not you use their services, and their privacy and information-sharing practices are set forth in, and governed by, their respective privacy policies. Pursuant to the contracts between LendingTree and its Partners, if you select a Partner through our Services, LendingTree may receive information about you from that Partner including, but not limited to, the amount or disposition of your loan and other details about your interactions with our Services. LendingTree and its Partners may exchange information about you, your loan terms, and your account(s) in order to provide you with information about financial services and products. LendingTree may maintain this information to assist with litigation, regulatory requests, law enforcement requests, internal analytics, marketing purposes, and any other legally permissible purpose.
- Financial Companies: We may share information about you with other financial companies with whom we engage in joint marketing efforts or who offer financial-related products or services that may be of interest to you. These companies’ privacy and information-sharing practices are set forth in, and governed by, their respective privacy policies.
- Other Business Partners: We may share information about you with other business partners that offer products and services that may be of interest to you. Their privacy and information-sharing practices are set forth in, and governed by, their respective privacy policies.
- LendingTree Service Providers: We may share information with service providers that perform certain services on our behalf including, but not limited to, credit bureaus, marketing partners, or entities providing business analysis or website or product support.
- Other Situations: We may share information about you or provided by you at our sole discretion:
- In response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, court order, request for cooperation from a law enforcement agency, self-regulatory body, or other governmental agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as we reasonably believe is required by law. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us.
- When we believe disclosure is appropriate in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding actual or suspected illegal activity or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of the LendingTree business, our users, our employees, or others; or to enforce our Site’s terms and conditions or other agreements or policies.
- In connection with a substantial corporate transaction involving the LendingTree business, such as a sale of LendingTree or any entity, brand, or division thereof, a divestiture, merger, consolidation, asset sale, or bankruptcy.
- In connection with state or federal licensing requirements regarding the reporting of information contained in the loan inquiries we receive from you. You authorize LendingTree to obtain any and all required information from the entities with whom you have interacted with in connection with LendingTree in order for LendingTree to comply with current laws and regulations as well as with any requests from state or federal regulators. This information could include, but is not necessarily limited to, the loan you selected and the terms of the loan you selected.
- We may share information with third parties that is not personally identifying, such as aggregated or anonymized data that does not identify you or our Partners, in our discretion, where not prohibited by law.
Cookies and Do Not Track
As part of providing our Platform Services, we may use cookies and other technologies such as web beacons and pixels to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services or that may allow a third party to track your online activities over time and across different sites when you use the Sites. The Sites may not respond to Do-Not-Track requests or headers from some or all browsers.
Marketing and Communications
- Communications: You may adjust your communications preferences through your My LendingTree profile. You may modify your preferences by clicking on an unsubscribe link at the bottom of certain emails sent from LendingTree.
- Information from third parties: We may use third-party tracking technology. This technology allows targeted advertisements to you from LendingTree businesses. Please review the “Online Tracking and Opt-Out Guide” section of this Policy below for a detailed list of choices on how to opt out of ad targeting.
Updating and Accessing Your Information
The appropriate method(s) for accessing your information, if any, will depend on which Site or Service you have used. Depending on the respective Site or Service, you may have the ability to view or edit some of your information online using the respective Site or Service’s interface. If you have submitted a loan inquiry through us, you can update your information by contacting our Customer Care Department at customercare@lendingtree.com. Our address is 1415 Vantage Park Drive, Suite 700, Charlotte, NC 28203.
How We Protect Your Information
We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural measures designed to safeguard your information from unauthorized access and disclosure. No system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take steps to secure your information, we cannot guarantee that your information, searches, or other communication will always remain secure.
Changes to this Policy
LendingTree has the discretion to update this Policy at any time. When we do so, we will revise the date at the top of this page. We encourage you to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the information we collect. By using our Site or Services, you acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this Policy periodically and become aware of modifications.
Use of Services from Outside the United States
The Site is designed to provide services in the United States. Our Services are governed by the laws of the United States and are intended for use by consumers connected to the internet from a physical location within the United States only. We make no representation that our Services are governed by, or operated in accordance with, the laws of any other nation.
Compliance with Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
Our Services are not intended for individuals under 18 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under age 18. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a person under age 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete the information. To notify us that we might have any information from or about a person under age 18, please contact us here.
LendingTree ChatBot Disclosure
Our LendingTree chat bot is enabled by Microsoft Bot Framework. The Microsoft Bot Framework is a set of web services that enables intelligent services and connections using conversation channels you authorize. As a service provider, Microsoft will transmit content you provide to our bot/service in order to enable the service. For more information about Microsoft privacy policies please see their privacy statement here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=521839. In addition, your interactions with this bot/service are subject to the conversational channel’s applicable terms of use, privacy, and data collection policies. To report abuse when using a bot that uses the Microsoft Bot Framework, please visit the Microsoft Bot Framework website at https://www.botframework.com and use the “Report Abuse” link in the menu to contact Microsoft.
Online Tracking Opt-Out Guide
Like many companies online, we use services provided by Google, Facebook, and other companies that use tracking technology. These services rely on tracking technologies, such as cookies and web beacons, to collect information directly from your device about your browsing activities, your interactions with websites, and the device you are using to connect to the Internet. There are a number of ways to opt out of having your online activity and device data collected through these services, which are summarized below:
- Blocking cookies in your browser. Most browsers let you remove or reject cookies, including cookies used for interest-based advertising. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
- Blocking advertising ID use in your mobile settings. Your mobile device settings may provide functionality to limit the use of the advertising ID associated with your mobile device for interest-based advertising purposes.
- Using privacy plug-ins or browsers. You can block our Sites from setting cookies used for interest-based ads by using a browser with privacy features, like Brave, or installing browser plugins like Privacy Badger, Ghostery, or uBlock Origin, and configuring them to block third-party cookies/trackers.
- Platform opt-outs. The following advertising partners offer opt-out features that let you opt out of the use of your information for interest-based advertising:Google: https://adssettings.google.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/about/ads
Twitter: https://twitter.com/personalization
- Advertising industry opt-out tools. You can also use these opt-out options to limit use of your information for interest-based advertising by participating companies:Digital Advertising Alliance: http://optout.aboutads.info
Network Advertising Initiative: http://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1
Note that because these opt-out mechanisms are specific to the device or browser on which they are exercised, you will need to opt out on every browser and device you use.
How to Contact Us. If you have questions about this Policy, the practices of any LendingTree business, or your dealings with a LendingTree business, please contact us at:
Compliance Officer
LendingTree, LLC
1415 Vantage Park Drive, Suite 700
Charlotte, NC 28203
Call: 1-888-272-1355
Email: privacy@lendingtree.com
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS
We are required by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) to provide this CCPA Notice to California residents to explain how we collect, use, and share their personal information, and the rights and choices we offer California residents regarding our handling of their personal information.
CCPA Scope and Exclusions
This CCPA Notice, including the description of our Privacy Practices and your Privacy Rights, apply only to California residents whose interactions with us are limited to:
- Visiting our consumer websites,
- Signing up for email alerts,
- Commenting on or contributing to our blogs,
- Establishing an account that does not include financial products or services, or
- Applying for our job openings on our websites (however, note that the CCPA limits some of the privacy rights for job applicants).
This CCPA Notice does not apply to the personal information we collect, use, or disclose about:
- Consumers who initiate or complete the process of applying for financial products or services. This is because this information is subject to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and implementing regulations, or the California Financial Information Privacy Act (“FIPA”), or Representatives of businesses that seek to obtain our products or services, or to provide products or services to us. For additional information relating to your choices about this information specifically, see our Consumer Privacy Disclosure.
Privacy Practices
We do not sell personal information. As we explain in our Privacy Policy:
We use cookies and other tracking technologies to analyze website traffic and facilitate advertising. If you would like to learn how you may opt out of our (and our third-party advertising partners’) use of cookies and other tracking technologies, please review the instructions provided in the Online Tracking and Opt-out Guide.
| How you interact with us | Personal information collection | CCPA-defined categories | Sources of personal information | Purposes for which we may collect and use the personal information | Sharing |
| Sign up for email alerts
Interact with our blogs Establish an account |
Name or alias
Email address |
Identifiers
Online identifiers |
You | Operations
Communications Research and development Marketing |
Shared with service providers
Made public at your direction |
| Visit our websites
Receive and respond to marketing emails |
Device data
Online activity data Information derived from device data and online activity data |
Identifiers
Inferences Internet or Network Information Online identifiers |
Automatic collection | Operations
Communications Marketing Advertising Research and development |
Collected directly by or shared with our service providers
Collected directly by advertising partners |
| Apply for our open positions on our website | Contact information
Professional credentials and skills Educational and work history Other resume data you provide Diversity information you voluntarily provide Disability information where necessary |
Identifiers
Online identifiers Educational information Professional or employment information Protected classification characteristics |
You
References Background check and/or drug testing companies Employment agencies or recruiters |
Facilitate recruitment activities
Process employment applications Monitoring recruitment statistics |
Shared with service providers
Collected directly by or shared with background check and drug testing companies |
Please note that we may also disclose personal information as described in the “How We Share Your Information” section of the Policy.
Privacy Rights
The CCPA grants individuals the following rights:
- Information. You can request information about how we have collected, used, and shared your personal information during the past 12 months.
- Access. You can request a copy of the personal information that we maintain about you.
- Deletion. You can ask us to delete the personal information that we collected or maintained about you.
Please note that the CCPA limits these rights by, for example, prohibiting us from providing certain sensitive information in response to an access request and limiting the circumstances in which we must comply with a deletion request. We will respond to requests for information and access only to the extent we are able to associate with a reasonable effort the information we maintain with the identifying details you provide in your request. If we deny your request, we will communicate our decision to you. You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination.
How to Submit a Request
To request access to or deletion of personal information:
Call: 1-888-272-1355
Email: privacy@lendingtree.com
Identity verification. The CCPA requires us to verify the identity of the individual submitting a request to access or delete personal information before providing a substantive response to the request. We will ask you to verify your identity when you submit a request.
Authorized agents. California residents can empower an “authorized agent” to submit a request on their behalf. We will require the authorized agent to have a written authorization confirming that authority.
Notice of Collection of Personal Information. We list the categories of your information that we collect and the business and commercial purposes for our use as described in the detailed chart above.