QUESTION:

Is Lending Tree approving a $10k loan application-- even if you didn’t apply for one?

ANSWER:

Nope, it’s false.

SOURCES:

Megan Greuling, Director of PR & Communications at Lending Tree

John Henson VP & Head of Compliance at Lending Tree

PROCESS:

A woman received an email stating she was approved for a $10,000 loan application to be paid out over three and a half years from Lending Tree LLC, even though she did not apply for the loan.

WUSA9 Verify researchers discovered errors in the email that included nine instances where a word was capitalized when it shouldn't have been, and a sentence that reads--"Please call at below mentioned number NOW to get money cash within exclamation points forty-five minutes.

WUSA9 contacted Lending Tree, an online lending exchange company that matches people with credible lenders and spoke with public relations director, Megan Greuling. She confirmed the offer is not real. “We have a network of 500 lenders and we match them with up to 5 lenders who then compete for their business… we don’t fund any loans. We’re a loan shopping marketplace, we don’t originate any loans.”

Greuling also confirmed that no one named Henry McClain works at Lending Tree, the contact person listed in the email. Lending Tree’s accounting head is named Carla Shumate and their customer service number is: 1(800)-813-4620.

The PR director also pointed that emails end with @lendingtree.com not a gmail account, like listed in the phony email.

Lending Tree Vice President and Head of Compliance, John Henson says the “Henry McClain” incident has been going on for months. Henson says they’ve reached out to various state officials and even hired a private investigator to track down the alleged scammer, but no leads so far.

FBI special agent Matthew Drake says if you’re not expecting a loan, be wary. You can also report these types of scams to the FBI, by clicking here.