Bad Move of the Day: E-loan Cancels Affiliate Program

Today I received an email from E-loan stating they were canceling their affiliate program. No scaling it back, not reducing payouts, not trying to increase conversions to make it more profitable, just canceling it. Here is an excerpt from that email:

This situation is unfortunate, but E-LOAN will retain all of its pieces of business, and is on track to expand its product offerings over the next year. On December 7, 2007 Commission Junction will set your account with E-LOAN to expire on December 14, 2007. Your account will just expire - you are not required to do anything.

Wow. E-loan has an EPC on one creative in the upper $90’s. In comparison, Quicken Loans has an EPC of over $1,100 on one creative, but pays considerable less.

What a way to make thousands (guess) of affiliates - people who you’ve built a relationship with over a number of years, stand by your product, help bring in leads, pissed off. Not only that, but when the mortgage industry rebounds and E-loan (should they) decides to bring an affiliate program back, they will have a tough time recruiting. I really hope there is more to this than meets the eye, because I seriously see this as a bad move. Is it just me? Discuss.

Here is the full email as it was sent:

Dear Affiliate Partner,

In order to stay ahead of the current mortgage cycle and enable E-LOAN to maintain its leadership position in the industry, E-LOAN will begin scaling back some operations/programs to reduce its cost structure and unfortunately removing our affiliate program is one of them.

E-LOAN was founded with a clear vision to transform the loan industry by creating a fast, easy, affordable and transparent experience for consumers. Throughout the nine years since our inception, we have continually delivered on that vision and our promise to the borrower. In fact, E-LOAN was just named the top mortgage website by Keynote WebExcellence for the third year running. The resizing of E-LOAN’s work force and reduction in cost structure will not change our vision, and is being undertaken to make us even more effective at delivering on that promise. We are more committed now than ever before. We believe that today’s market climate has proven us right: an open and honest experience that serves the needs and best interests of the consumer is the business model that will win in the long run.

This situation is unfortunate, but E-LOAN will retain all of its pieces of business, and is on track to expand its product offerings over the next year. On December 7, 2007 Commission Junction will set your account with E-LOAN to expire on December 14, 2007. Your account will just expire - you are not required to do anything.

We at E-LOAN, Inc., have enjoyed the opportunity to work with you in this capacity and wish you the very best in future endeavors. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email removed for privacy].

Sincerely,

A’Lisa Tomatis
Sr. Marketing Manager
E-Loan, Inc.
[email removed for privacy]