By KIMBERLEY HAAS
A Florida mortgage broker challenging United Wholesale Mortgage’s ultimatum agreement wants to include recent disclosures and statements related to the company’s successes to help prove his antitrust claims.
Daniel Okavage of The Okavage Group in St. Augustine is pursuing a federal class-action suit on behalf of all mortgage brokers that work, or have worked, with UWM and sustained damages after the company’s CEO, Mat Ishbia, announced in March of 2021 they could no longer simultaneously do business with Rocket Pro TPO or Fairway Independent Mortgage.
Okavage’s attorney, Robert Goodman, says thousands of brokers were cut off from opportunities to refer customers to the mortgage lender of their choice, resulting in business losses.
Lawyers for UWM have moved…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Leaders at Rocket Pro TPO are extending their promotion on 30-year conventional purchase loans at or under $200,000 as they gear up to be more competitive in that market this year.
During an IGNITE: Live! webinar on Monday, Executive Vice President Mike Fawaz announced that they are continuing their 37.5 BPS credit on these loans.
Fawaz said they want to make sure that they listen to their broker partners and their feedback.
“This is something we have been extending every single month since December. And the feedback continues to be incredible and positive and broker partners want it,” Fawaz said.
Fawaz explained the philosophy behind the promotion.
“When you think about it, we are very competitive when…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
The executive vice president of Rocket Pro TPO told brokers across the country on Monday that they are willing to indemnify those who choose to fight United Wholesale Mortgage’s anti-competition ultimatum.
During a live-streamed Ignite Live event, Mike Fawaz said he believes the ultimatum was one of the worst things to happen to independent mortgage brokers in 50 years.
“The ultimatum uses lawyers and contracts to limit choice – both for the broker and for the clients the broker services,” Fawaz said. “There’s no other way to put it – the ultimatum is immoral, reduces broker incomes, and increases the rates the clients of brokers will pay.”
Fawaz said that they stand behind brokers who want to…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The new executive vice president of Rocket Pro TPO took to social media on Tuesday to question the actions of United Wholesale Mortgage’s CEO. Mike Fawaz, who served as senior vice president of sales before recently being promoted to EVP, published a piece called “Mortgage Brokers – Still Truly Independent?” on LinkedIn where he said UWM’s President and CEO Mat Ishbia believes they have “pricing power” over brokers. “If he’s right, that presents a very clear danger to America’s mortgage brokers and their clients. One of the most powerful benefits of being a mortgage broker is independence. Independence of choice and real competition is the only effective tool a broker has to ensure someone else doesn’t dictate margin and…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders at Wells Fargo announced this week that they are reducing their home lending footprint and some people are saying it may be big news in the lending space, but will likely not make much of a difference to the average consumer. It was announced Tuesday that the company, formerly the nation’s largest mortgage lender, is exiting the correspondent lending channel and shrinking its mortgage servicing portfolio. Plans are to focus on serving bank customers and members of minority communities. Lawrence White, a professor of economics at the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business, sat down with the Mortgage Note to talk about the news on Wednesday. White said he hopes the move by leaders at…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS A United States district court judge in Michigan has granted in part United Wholesale Mortgage’s motion to dismiss complaints in an ultimatum lawsuit filed by America’s Moneyline. According to court documents, on Dec. 22 Judge Laurie Michelson dismissed fraud and promissory estoppel claims, as well as all but one declaratory-judgment subclaim. Lawyers for America’s Moneyline say that in 2021 leaders at United Wholesale Mortgage issued an ultimatum that forced a number of mortgage brokers, including their client, to choose between doing business with UWM and two of their competitors. AML leaders, relying on alleged promises that UWM would not enforce the ultimatum against it, continued to do business with both UWM and Rocket Pro. After UWM sued…
Rocket Pro TPO’s executive vice president recently turned heads with an opinion piece claiming United Wholesale Mortgage represents a massive threat to America’s mortgage brokers and their future independence. In the piece called “America’s Mortgage Brokers Face an Unprecedented Threat to their Independence,” Austin Niemiec said leaders at UWM have reduced broker optionality by contractually forcing their brokers to choose between Rocket Mortgage and UWM, enforcing that same “ultimatum” contract to eliminate a UWM broker from brokering to Fairway Independent Mortgage, and engaging in a price war to eliminate the competition. “If Mat Ishbia and UWM were truly committed to the real kind of competition that benefits brokers and their clients, he wouldn’t use his lawyers to take away brokers’ options, and he wouldn’t celebrate the demise of other…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Rocket Pro TPO is promising to clear eligible loans in no more than 15 business days and leaders there say they are able to guarantee these closing times because of the company’s investment in technology. Kevin Randolph, Senior Vice President of Operations at Rocket Pro TPO, said they have spent billions of dollars to accelerate their creation of propriety technology. They have rolled out new programs such as PathFinder, a proprietary mortgage guideline search engine. Rocket Connect provides brokers with communication with underwriters and operational leaders directly in the broker portal. Rocket Pro TPO’s new pricing calculator can deliver brokers a pricing estimate quickly and easily, according to the company. Randolph said in an interview with The…
Good Morning! Today is Wednesday, January 26. Federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications that declared former President Donald Trump the winner of states that he lost. Former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Mortgage Note Reports House Price Index: House prices rose 1.1% nationwide in November, according to the latest FHFA House Price Index. HUNT COO: HUNT Mortgage Corporation has hired Bindiya Jain of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts as its Chief Operating Officer. And in other mortgage and housing news… The Fate Of Zillow: Zillow’s near-term fate “hinges upon a delicate market balance the likes of which we’ve never quite seen,” Laura Forman argues in the Wall Street Journal.…
Rocket Mortgage’s Rocket Pro TPO, which works with independent mortgage brokers, announced tech changes to help brokers grow and strengthen their businesses. Rocket Pro TPO Executive Vice President Austin Niemiec outlined the new additions in a presentation. “We believe true leaders help brokers succeed. They view the world with a limitless mindset. The mortgage market is huge, the pie is nearly infinite, and it’s our responsibility to help the brokers who work with us get a bigger piece of it,” he said. “Today’s announcement is about breaking barriers and building bridges – helping brokers leverage the tools, resources, and knowledge Rocket Mortgage has built as the nation’s largest mortgage lender.” Niemiec announced a new tech addition called Client Portal, available…
