Mortgage Brokers: pick a side

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) and Rocket Mortgage are still going at it, this week heating up to a new boiling point.

UWM announced on Facebook Live Thursday that it would not partner with brokers who work with Rocket Mortgage or Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. CEO Mat Ishbia gave brokers until March 15th to sign a loyalty document to pledge their allegiance to the UWM team.

“If you work with them, can’t work with UWM anymore, effective immediately,” Ishbia said. “I can’t stop you, but I’m not going to help you, help the people that are hurting the broker channel, and that’s what’s going on right now.”

After competing Superbowl ads, it looked like the competitors were peacefully building broker networks, but now brokers have to pick a side. Rocket Pro TPO VP Austin Niemiec told the Housing Wire that UWM is attempting to manipulate the broker market.

“What UWM is attempting to do is really manipulate the market and have brokers swear allegiance to one company and literally give them financial penalties if they don’t listen to them,” Niemic said. “That harms their ability to compete, and it harms the consumer. Make no mistake about it, this was a move to benefit one company and one company alone, UWM.”

The feud comes after the stock price of Rocket Companies, Rocket Mortgage’s parent company, spiked in price. Founder Dan Gilbert briefly placed number 16 in Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.

Kevin Travers was a Reporter at deBanked.