Last year, UWM issued a controversial ultimatum which pressured brokers to choose between sending loans to them, or have the ability to send loans to Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage. As UWM attempts to enforce that ultimatum nearly one year later with a suit against America’s Moneyline, members of the mortgage broker community have begun to voice their thoughts.
Andy Harris, President of Vantage Mortgage Brokers, had this to say: “Clearly, no Mortgage Broker should violate any agreements they sign with wholesale lenders regardless of the details, but I don’t agree with anything that supports anti-competition or anti-independence in the wholesale lending channel and all ‘true’ independent brokers agree. This contractual change from UWM surprised many, even those not working with Rocket or Fairway. I personally worked with Mat Ishbia and UWM to amend the verbiage of the updated broker agreement in 2021. It was clear I didn’t agree with it, but I wanted to also ensure it didn’t involve additional lenders in the future and protect brokers working with UWM if Rocket or Fairway were to merge with other wholesale lenders retroactively harming them. “This lawsuit and what it represents is really a sad day for the wholesale lending channel, small businesses, and the local consumers they serve. Two main topics to address.
“First- America’s Moneyline signed the agreement and violated the terms of the agreement, even if most can agree the agreement to be flawed. This was clearly unwise.
“Second- The other issue is timing. If it is a clear public record where originators and brokers are sending their business, why not just terminate them immediately if UWM saw they violated the agreement? Were there warnings? Why put 5k per loan toward a small business and why wait nearly a year to build that to 3 Million clearly putting a small business potentially out of business? At the same time based on the data, they sent nearly the same or even more loans to UWM as they did Rocket. How is this good for either party or the consumer?"
However you view this move by UWM, we would love to hear what you have to say. This is a situation that is still developing, and we will continue to monitor it as things change.
Read More:
“UWM sues broker shop for sending loans to Rocket, Fairway”
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/uwm-sues-broker-shop-for-sending-loans-to-rocket-fairway/
“UWM suit against America’s Moneyline tests broker restrictions”
https://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/uwm-suit-against-americas-moneyline-tests-broker-restrictions
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