Client Name: {name}
Client Email: {email}
Re: Notice of Dispute Concerning LendingTree's Privacy Violations
To Whom It May Concern:
I hereby provide notice of my individual dispute with LendingTree, LLC, together with its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, and related entities (collectively, "LendingTree"), arising out of and relating to LendingTree's digital platform(s) and the interception, recording, disclosure, sharing, and use of my electronic communications and nonpublic personal information through third-party tracking and monitoring technologies, that function as a wiretap, eavesdropping device, pen register, trap-and-trace device, or similar surveillance process, without my prior, informed, or meaningful consent.
Nature and Basis of Dispute
I visited LendingTree's website and/or digital onboarding or application flow to explore or apply for a loan. During that process, I was prompted to enter, and did enter, loan-related information, including the type of loan I was seeking, the purpose or intended use of the funds, how quickly I needed the loan, whether I rent or own my home, my self-reported credit score or credit range, my employment status, and my direct deposit status. Unbeknownst to me, LendingTree caused or permitted the contents of my communications, together with persistent identifiers and session data linked to me, to be transmitted in real time to one or more unannounced, nonaffiliated third-party entities, including but not limited to Google and Microsoft/Bing, through tracking technologies embedded in LendingTree's platform. These transmissions included one or more of the following categories: loan-application information, loan type, loan purpose or use-of-funds information, financial and employment status information, persistent cookies and unique identifiers including the Microsoft MUID and Google session and profile cookies, sufficient to identify, profile, or target me across platforms and sessions. This occurred before any meaningful privacy disclosure, terms presentation, or other notice was provided to me that could have authorized the collection or sharing of my information. Any disclosure or consent mechanism presented later in the process did not supply meaningful prior notice and could not retroactively authorize information that had already been captured or transmitted.
As a financial institution subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. § 6802) and the California Financial Information Privacy Act (Cal. Fin. Code § 4052.5), LendingTree was required to provide clear and conspicuous notice and, where applicable, a reasonable opportunity to opt out before initially disclosing my nonpublic personal information to nonaffiliated third parties. LendingTree failed to do so.
This conduct violated my privacy rights and supports claims under applicable federal and state privacy, financial-information, and anti-wiretapping laws, including laws prohibiting interception, unlawful disclosure or use of intercepted communications, and the procurement, inducement, or assistance of such conduct.
Relief Sought
As a good-faith effort to resolve this dispute informally and without formal proceedings, I demand $5,000 to fully resolve my individual claim, together with appropriate non-monetary relief, including deletion of improperly collected data associated with me and cessation of any ongoing collection, sharing, disclosure, profiling, or monetization of my communications and related data absent valid, informed, and express consent. This demand is subject to amendment as additional facts, information, and evidence are obtained.
If formal proceedings become necessary, I will seek all appropriate monetary, declaratory, injunctive, restitutionary, statutory, and other relief available under applicable law, contract, or the applicable forum's rules, including as applicable under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510–2523, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6802, the California Financial Information Privacy Act, Cal. Fin. Code § 4052.5, and the California Invasion of Privacy Act, including Cal. Penal Code §§ 631, 632, 637.2, 638.52., among others.
Request for Pre-Arbitration Resolution
I am providing this Notice of Dispute before initiating formal proceedings to afford LendingTree an opportunity to discuss an informal resolution of this dispute. If this dispute is not resolved informally within 30 days after this notice is received, I intend to pursue my rights through individual arbitration with the American Arbitration Association. In doing so, I expressly reserve all arguments concerning the interpretation, applicability, formation, enforceability, conscionability, scope, and effect of any arbitration or dispute-resolution provision LendingTree may invoke, including any argument that such provision is unenforceable, inapplicable, waived, or inconsistent with governing law or applicable arbitral rules. I also reject, and do not consent to, any unilateral modification of LendingTree's terms, privacy policy, or any other purportedly applicable terms unless I affirmatively agree in a separate signed writing.
I request that LendingTree preserve all documents, data, and information relevant to my claims, including records concerning my account and session, the tracking technologies deployed at the time of my use, any collection or disclosure of my information to third parties, the disclosures and consents presented in the relevant flow, and the nature, timing, scope, and recipients of any such collection, disclosure, or transmission. I also request that LendingTree provide my counsel, in a reasonably usable electronic format, information sufficient to evaluate and attempt to resolve this dispute. I authorize LendingTree to communicate with my counsel and to disclose relevant account-level and session-level information to my counsel for that purpose.
Nothing in this Notice should be construed as a complete statement of all facts, claims, legal theories, damages, remedies, or grounds relating to this dispute. I expressly reserve all rights, remedies, claims, arguments, objections, and positions, including the right to amend, supplement, refine, or expand the factual and legal basis of this dispute as additional information becomes available.
Please direct all communications regarding this matter to my counsel copied below.
Sincerely,