Hello, LOs!
It's been 54 days since Mat Ishbia took to Facebook Live to announce that mortgage brokers who sent loans to Rocket Mortgage and Fairway wouldn't be able to do business with UWM, which of course is the dominant figure in the wholesale space.
On Friday, a mortgage broker in Florida filed a lawsuit that alleges UWM's gambit violated the Sherman Act and a series of state antitrust laws. The lawsuit, filed by lead plaintiff Dan O'Kavage, seeks class-action status.
In response to the lawsuit, UWM said it was "committed to and focused on the growth and success of over 10,000 mortgage brokers across America who choose to be All In for the broker channel. We are not focused on the roughly 600 who declined to move forward as a partner. We do not comment on legal matters that are currently pending, especially those that have no merit or substance."
Now that the dust has more or less settled, let's talk about UWM's big ultimatum.
I've chatted with a few brokers over the past few days, and have been surprised to hear how little life had really changed. Those who hitched their wagon to UWM have been happy with the rates and service. Most of their LOs were pro-UWM already.
And those who spurned the wholesale giant didn't take the hit they expected. One broker told me he lost just one LO – he expected to lose several more – and he has been happy with Rocket.
Volumes are down across the board and UWM and Rocket are near the top of the rates board on Loansifter, several brokers said. While they were usually on the first page of Loansifter, Rocket and UWM were typically never that high, which means they're still pricing at cut-rate to boost volumes.
Brokers – let's hear from you: has there been any fallout from the UWM ultimatum at your shop? How are you getting on? Please email me anonymously at jkleimann@housingwire.com. We're looking to do a story later this week or early next week on what's happened since the March 15 deadline.
Thanks, see you guys on Thursday!
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