How to Stop LendingTree From Running Your Credit: Options Explained

LendingTree performs a soft pull of your credit when you complete an initial loan request. However, LendingTree’s partner lenders have individual policies regarding credit pulls and might conduct their own soft or hard pulls of your credit report (as previously reported) — either after you accept an offer, or before even making you an offer.

There is no way for you to authorize LendingTree to do only one credit pull. By completing a loan request through LendingTree, you agree to the company’s terms of use, customer service representatives told us. The terms of use authorize LendingTree to share your information with lenders. You also authorize both LendingTree and the additional lenders or partners to request one or multiple credit bureau inquiries.

While authorization for credit pulls is built into LendingTree’s customer agreements, you do have options to stop LendingTree and its partners from continuing to run your credit. You will need to cancel your loan request and may want to freeze your credit to prevent further inquiries. We detail how to stop LendingTree from running your credit below.

Contact LendingTree

The first thing to do after you notice a high number of inquiries from LendingTree’s partners is to contact LendingTree. If you know the names of any of the lenders that have pulled or may pull your credit, you may also want to contact them directly.

For the fastest service, call LendingTree’s customer care department at (800) 813-4620. A representative can immediately begin the process of withdrawing your loan request and contacting LendingTree’s partners to instruct them not to consider your application(s). The customer service phone line is available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST, Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST on Fridays; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST on Saturdays.

Customer service representatives are also available by email using the form on LendingTree’s contact page. However, it may take several days to receive a response by email.

The Subscription Center at LendingTree’s website allows you to opt-out of future emails from the company, but note that unsubscribing will not close your LendingTree account or stop LendingTree’s partners from pulling your credit.

Freeze Your Credit

You may want to freeze your credit until you are sure all of your LendingTree applications are closed. Credit freezes prevent lenders from checking your credit report. While you will not be able to apply for any other loans or financing while your credit is frozen, it will prevent LendingTree’s partners from conducting more credit inquiries.

It is free to freeze your credit with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, and freezing your credit will not negatively affect your credit score. There is also no charge to lift the freeze. The credit bureau will usually process your request to place or lift a freeze on the same business day.

Note that even if you freeze your credit, you will still need to contact LendingTree; a credit freeze is a temporary solution to prevent credit pulls until the situation is resolved.

You can request a credit freeze from each of the three major bureaus by phone or online:

Equifax

By phone: (888) 298-0045
Online: Click “Get started with a freeze” on the Equifax Security Freeze page

Experian

By phone: (888) 397-3742
Online: Click “Add a security freeze” on the Experian.com Security Freeze Center

TransUnion

By phone: (888) 909-8872
Online: Download the myTransUnion app from the App Store or Google Play Store or click “Add Freeze” on the TransUnion credit freeze page

Repair Your Credit

In general, past inquiries cannot be removed from your credit report. However, credit pulls typically do not decrease your credit score dramatically, and their effect is only temporary. If your credit score has seen significant damage due to excessive inquiries, you can use the following tips to repair your score:

Prevent future credit inquiries. Take the steps detailed above to stop LendingTree’s partners from continuing to run credit pulls. If possible, you should also avoid applying for other loans or credit cards that require hard credit pulls in the near future. If you already have a large number of recent queries on your report, it is best not to allow other companies to make inquiries until your credit score begins to bounce back.
Make monthly payments on time. Late and missed payments are more damaging to your credit score than credit inquiries. Be sure to make on-time payments for any existing credit card or loan accounts to keep your score moving upward. As previously reported, most credit card issuers report your payments monthly.
Pay down current balances. If you are carrying a balance on one or more credit cards or revolving credit accounts, make a plan to pay off or reduce those balances so your total credit utilization will decrease. Having low utilization can help increase your credit score.