Funds come from an "All-In" settlement
United Wholesale Mortgage will use lawsuit proceeds from litigation over its “All-In” contract to fortify its mortgage educational portal with marketing and advertising efforts.
In a prepared statement, UWM officials said they are always monitoring for mortgage broker clients who have breached its “All-In” contract that effectively requires broker loyalty to them. One such search found that Mid-Valley LLC had breached the pact, which recently led to a $40,000 settlement. UWM’s “All-In” clause bars brokers working with them from striking similar arrangements with Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage.
“UWM is a very successful company and does not want $40,000 from Mid-Valley,” a company statement read. “However, we are going to take this money, and any future settlements, and put it towards FindAMortgageBroker.com to help educate consumers that the best way to get a mortgage is through an independent mortgage broker and to help support the mortgage broker community overall.”
CEO defends the “All-In” clause
“As we’ve said from the beginning, All-In was put into place to help protect independent mortgage brokers and consumers across the country, and it has been a massive success,” Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of UWM, said in a prepared statement. “We have 11,000 broker partners who are All In and we continue to grow the wholesale channel by educating consumers across America on how to get faster, easier and cheaper mortgages.”
He vowed to continue monitoring for breaches of the “All-In” clause toward expanding the broker channel: “It’s very unfortunate to see a company like Mid-Valley breach their contract,” he said. “But we’re going to continue to do what’s right for the broker community and I’m glad that this money is going to be dedicated to growing the broker channel through FindAMortgageBroker.com.”
To be sure, the “All-In” clause is controversial. Some applaud it for its purported intent to promote local brokers while others condemn it for UWM demanding alignment to just them.
Mortgage Professional America recently interviewed a broker who is troubled by the arrangement.
The broker noted Rocket’s active retail division and its penchant to encourage and help others – real estate agents and insurance agents among them – to become brokers. Both efforts are seen as anti-broker by some, the broker said.
“What really drew a line in the sand is when UWM came out recently, in the last couple of years, and said ‘if you work with Rocket, you can’t work with us,’ which I found to be, honestly, anti-broker if we’re all about freedom,” the broker said. “You don’t put those kinds of constraints on somebody. You don’t have to put an ultimatum on people.”
Instead, the broker suggested a live-and-let-live approach: “Every company will have a business model. How they choose to run their business is none of mine.”
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