The Truth About Lending Tree

Ghosted for $1,200 in January. Paid in full by September thanks to the NYC Sheriff’s Office.

Months after interviewing with Recruiter Megan Johns for a full time writing role at Lending Tree, I received an email from an editor in the New York office on December 18, 2018 that I had been selected to write six articles at $600 a piece independently. Being a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni who has written about real estate, mortgages and affordable housing for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Realtor.com, Commercial Observer and many other publications, I am a perfect fit to write blogs about loans, HUD, FHA and state-based first time home buyer programs. But there was one caveat. We were on the precipice of the holidays, a time when practically no expert or trusted source answers their email or voice mail. The Lending Tree editor offered a solution. She wrote:

“Good news, team! The assignment gods have smiled on us. The first batch of assignments are going to be first-time home buyer guides for all 50 states. They actually won’t include any expert interviews — just information from state websites. This will help us avoid issues with scheduling interviews during the busy holiday season.”

There was no reason for me to question Lending Tree’s integrity at the time. So, in good faith, I spent hours over the 12 days of Christmas working on these articles, writing, linking and citing from state websites as instructed by the Lending Tree editor. In January, as my sources returned from vacation, I conducted interviews with Certified Financial Planners to quote in my assigned stories.

Thus, I was in a stupor when I received an email that said I would not be paid for any of my work because I had breached Section 2.3 of Lending Tree’s Agreement against plagiarism. This after the editor shamelessly instructed freelancers on December 18, 2018 to forego expert interviews for content from state websites! She wrote:

“This email serves as notice that LendingTree is exercising its right to terminate your contract immediately in the event of a breach of Section 2.3 of our Agreement. As a result, LendingTree shall be withholding all fees due under the Agreement that arose out of such breach, as provided in Section 2.3. In accordance with Section 5.2 of the Agreement, termination will be effective upon one (1) business day prior written notice (email acceptable). Therefore, the effective date of such termination will be January 4.”

After putting up quite a fuss, Lending Tree did pay me but only $2,400 of the agreed upon $3,600 so I sued for the remaining $1,200 in Small Claims Court. The court date was set for February 28, 2019 and Notice of Judgment in the amount of $1,238 was issued in my favor, including $20 plus 9% interest retroactive from January 6, 2019. After 8 months and assistance from the New York City Sheriff’s Office, I finally received payment in the amount of $1,336.91 on Sept. 3.

Have other independent journalists had similar experiences with their clients? Let me know.