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…
Andrew Hubacker has been named Chief Financial Officer at United Wholesale Mortgage, the company announced in a press release.
Hubacker is taking on the role immediately. As CFO, he will oversee the company’s finances, including accounting, reporting, compliance, tax, treasury, budgeting, forecasting, and liquidity management.
“I’m humbled to be named UWM’s Chief Financial Officer,” said Hubacker.
“From helping to take the company public through the largest SPAC in history, to becoming the #1 overall mortgage lender in the nation, my experiences at UWM have been nothing short of extraordinary. The positive mindset and service mentality every single team member and leader have here is truly unmatched. I’m eager to continue elevating and enhancing the role and capabilities of our finance…
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 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…
Last year, United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia raised eyebrows when he promised generous stipends to 133 Michigan State University men’s basketball and football players. Ishbia paid each player, regardless of position, $500 per month in exchange for marketing UWM on their social media pages. NCAA athletes had long been banned from receiving such payments while playing college sports. But the conference changed its player compensation rules last year to allow student-athletes to sign endorsement deals on their own Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). MSU players will receive a $500 monthly payment for a total of $6,000 over the year, regardless of position. While fans of MSU’s men’s sports cheered the move, Ishbia faced backlash from critics over the exclusion…
United Wholesale Mortgage has ended one of its ongoing legal battles by paying $2.7 million to settle a lawsuit claiming the company unfairly treated its employees, including forcing them to work overtime without pay. In a letter to employees, UWM executive vice president Allen Beydoun claimed the company did nothing wrong and workers should not expect the culture inside the nation’s largest wholesale mortgage lender to change. “While we are extremely confident that our account executives were and are fairly and accurately compensated for the work and time dedicated to their business, UWM chose to stop spending additional time and money with attorneys,” Beydoun wrote. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, the arbitrator made no ruling on…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage has come under fire after posting online that he is “disappointed” with Rocket Mortgage’s decision to offer buyouts to members of its workforce. Mat Ishbia posted on LinkedIn last week that this should not be necessary for a company that made over $5 billion in profits last year. “These 2,000+ people will struggle to find new jobs, and I think it’s disgusting that they’re thinking short term and are solely focused on cutting a few million per month in costs… this is the wrong thing to do to people,” Ishbia said. Ishbia went on to write that they have not had a single layoff in 35 years at UWM. The post…
By DARIA BACHMANN United Wholesale Mortgage is facing more public scrutiny as court battles — and backlash from brokers — mount. The second-largest mortgage lender in the nation, UWM has come under criticism over how it treats both its employees and its customers. UWM announced in April it would force brokers to sign an agreement that they will not work with Rocket Mortgage or Fairway Independent Mortgage – or else be banned from work with UWM, the largest wholesale mortgage lender. Mortgage industry leaders called the ban “unethical and uncompetitive.” Bob Broeksmit, head of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said at the time, “MBA does not condone activities designed to thwart competition in the mortgage market and limit loan options available to borrowers.” UWM,…
Shawn Nevin, CEO of California-based America’s MoneyLine (AML), is the target of a $2.8 million lawsuit from lending giant United Wholesale Mortgage, and he has one word to describe it: “Anti-American.” At issue is UWM’s controversial “All In” policy, implemented by CEO Mat Ishbia last year. “If you work and send loans and send business to Fairway Independent or Rocket Mortgage … you can’t work with UWM anymore, effective immediately,” Ishbia said in a Facebook Live message last March. His policy sparked a lawsuit from mortgage brokers that is still working its way through the legal system. UWM claims in its lawsuit that AML has sent 560 loans to Fairway and Rocket, in violation of the “All In” agreement. Nevin responded…
