LendingTree Provides Borrowers Fast and Easy Online Access to Multiple Loan Offers

Business Wire, June 23, 1998

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1998--

Putting Borrowers in Control of the Loan Process, LendingTree's Universal Loan Qualification Form Matches Borrowers with Lenders Who Best Suit Their Needs

Alleviating the often intimidating and time-intensive experience of applying for a loan, LendingTree (www.lendingtree.com) is the online loan center that quickly connects borrowers to a network of lenders who compete for their business. Matching borrowers to multiple lenders from all over the country, LendingTree gives consumers the opportunity to choose the loan offer that best suits their needs.

LendingTree's business model, designed expressly for the Internet, benefits both consumers and lenders in a way not previously possible.

LendingTree is the online loan center where borrowers apply for a loan -- free-of-charge -- using a universal qualification form for particular loan types that is distributed to multiple lenders. Loan types include personal, auto, mortgage, home equity, credit cards and debt consolidation. Unique among loan centers, LendingTree's proprietary filtering software matches borrowers and lenders in order to maximize approvals and minimize denials across all loan types. The software is designed to steer loan qualification forms to lenders who are best suited to serve a potential borrower's needs, whether it be related to their financial profile, geographic locale or other factors. For optimum security, LendingTree uses sophisticated technology to protect data and transmissions between the consumer, LendingTree and financial institutions.

"LendingTree leverages the advantages of the Internet to provide borrowers a degree of convenience, value and response speed that would not be feasible offline," said Doug Lebda, founder and president of LendingTree. "LendingTree was built with Internet technology from the ground up, unlike traditional business models that are often wedged onto the Web environment."

Securing a loan online through LendingTree involves three easy steps:

1) Applicants fill out one simple online loan qualification form

(that takes 15 minutes or less to complete) for each loan type. The information is then sent to matching lenders in the LendingTree network.

2) Within two days on average (but often in as fast as one hour),

loan applicants will begin receiving replies from up to four lenders in Lending's Tree network. Applicants can check on the status of their loan on the LendingTree site with a secure, unique user I.D. number.

3) After comparing loan offers side-by-side, and studying them in

more detail, applicants can select the loan that best matches their needs. To complete the loan process, applicants can call lenders directly or specify a time the lender can contact them.

By participating in LendingTree's network, banks and other financial institutions are afforded with a loan origination alternative that reduces costs and enables product customization based on credit profiles. Borrowers benefit because increased competition between lenders can lead to better loan terms. Borrowers also gain control of the loan process and gain the added convenience of applying for loans from the comfort of their own computer 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

LendingTree's management team is comprised of industry veterans with extensive financial services, banking and information technology experience. LendingTree's founder and president, Doug Lebda, is a former Price Waterhouse executive. CEO and CFO Robert Wilson served as a general partner with Goldman Sachs for more than 17 years, including three years as president and managing director of Goldman Sachs International Corporation in London. Co-founder, director and vice president of marketing and business development, Jamey Bennett, is a veteran of the Web industry who founded the successful Bookwire, Inc. CTO Richard Stiegler has been developing software for more than 20 years, most recently while serving as vice president of advanced technology at Greenwich Capital Markets. COO Donald Colby worked most recently as executive vice president and group head in retail banking at The Bank of New York. Director Richard Field was a senior vice president of retail banking who helped build The Bank of New York's credit card and installment operations during a tenure of more than 19 years. W. James Tozer, Jr., a LendingTree director, is a private investor, merchant banker, real estate developer and advisor to financial institutions who co-founded the Vectra Banking Corporation, the second largest independent commercial bank in the Denver metro area. LendingTree is also advised by a board of banking and financial service executives.

With more than $482 million in loans originating from the Internet in 1997, Forrester Research predicts that the industry will reach $40.5 billion in 2001. Reflecting this growing market, LendingTree is regularly expanding its network of lenders, which currently include: American Finance & Investment, Bann-Cor Mortgage, Eastern Mortgage Service, Inc., GreenPoint Financial Corp. (NYSE:GPT), The Money Store, National City Corporation, Pacific Capital Mortgage Inc., PNC Bank Corporation, YES Capital Funding, Inc. and Zions Bank. LendingTree will announce several major marketing partnerships in the coming months. LendingTree has already partnered with Switchboard, and has joined with GeoCities to create a co-branded loan center on the main GeoCities site.