LendingTree Invited By Congress to Capitol Hill to Advocate Financial Literacy
CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 15, 2008 – LendingTree was one of a few selected financial services companies invited to attend Financial Literacy Day on Capitol Hill April 28. The company will meet with staffers and members of Congress to discuss the importance of financial education among Americans.
“LendingTree has been an advocate of financial literacy for many years and we are honored to join the effort to help Americans get their hands on useful and helpful personal finance information,” says Bob Harris, vice chairman for LendingTree. “We look forward to meeting with members of Congress and to play a roll in this extremely important issue.”
LendingTree’s long-standing financial literacy effort is called the Smart Borrower program. The cornerstone of the program is the Smart Borrower Center found at www.lendingtree.com/smartborrower. This Web site is an online education resource that helps visitors navigate the often-confusing world of credit, debt and loans and includes helpful tips, practical guides and articles and easy-to-use calculators that help borrowers make smart financial decisions.
Other LendingTree Smart Borrower resources include:
• Free “LendingTree Guide to Smart Borrowing” booklets, which are available at no cost to consumers and offer helpful tips to borrowers throughout all life stages (found at www.lendingtree.com/livingwithdebt/guide.asp)
• 11 best-in-class mortgage and personal finance calculators
• A free monthly educational e-newsletter
• A fun, weekly column called ‘7 for 7’ (seven tips for seven days of the week) that offers advice on money management)
• Real Simple Syndication news feeds to allow users to subscribe to Smart Borrower Center articles without providing an email address
• A glossary of mortgage terms to help borrowers understand the unique language of lending
• Video tutorials on a variety of finance and home buying topics
• A series of Smart Borrower guides to walk borrowers through key financial decisions such as getting a home loan, buying a home, improving your credit score, and more
• The “Living with Debt” report (found at www.lendingtree.com/livingwithdebt) which details scholarly research underwritten by LendingTree and conducted by noted consumer credit expert Dr. Robert D. Manning
• An annual Smart Borrower Survey that sets out to understand Americans and their debt and contribute to the national dialog about managing debt wisely (results for the 2007 survey can be found here: www.lendingtree.com/debtsurvey)
For more information about LendingTree and the Smart Borrower program, please visit www.lendingtree.com/smartborrower or call 1-800-555-TREE.
About LendingTree, LLC
LendingTree, LLC is the nation’s number one online lending exchange, providing a marketplace that connects consumers with multiple lenders that compete for their business. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 23 million loan requests and $185 billion in closed loan transactions. LendingTree provides access to mortgages and refinance loans, home equity loans/lines of credit, auto loans, personal loans, credit cards and high-yield savings accounts via www.lendingtree.com and 800-555-TREE.
Launched in 1998 with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, LendingTree, LLC also owns and operates LendingTree Loans sm, LendingTree Settlement Services, LLC, GetSmart®, and HomeLoanCenter.com. LendingTree, LLC is an operating company of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI).