Cash incentives don't buy 11 years of broker trust, UWM says in response to Rocket's new push
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has hit back at Rocket Pro's latest broker recruitment campaign, characterizing the program as evidence that competing on service and technology has failed to win brokers over, and that cash is now Rocket's fallback.
Rocket Pro unveiled what it is calling the Moving Squad at its RPX event in Detroit on September 1. The program pairs brokers who choose to leave UWM's ecosystem with a dedicated four-person onboarding team — an account executive, a director of growth, a crew director, and a trainer — with the stated goal of getting a new partner's first loan submitted within 10 days.
Rocket is also offering existing partners a $10,000 cash bonus for those who bring a broker from UWM, once that broker terminates with UWM and they're approved with Rocket Pro..
UWM wasted little time. In a statement provided to Mortgage Professional America, a company spokesperson framed Rocket's move as self-indictment.
"This announcement looks a lot less like a business strategy and a lot more like an admission that competing on platform, technology and service hasn't worked," the spokesperson said.
"After more than a decade of brokers overwhelmingly choosing UWM, it appears Rocket has decided cash incentives are the latest attempt to buy what they've been unable to earn."
A rivalry that won't quit
The conflict has roots in a 2021 ultimatum in which UWM directed its broker partners not to submit loans to Rocket or Fairway Independent Mortgage, a move that triggered a class-action lawsuit and a national debate over broker independence that never fully resolved.
As Mortgage Professional America has documented in its in-depth analysis of how Rocket reshaped the American mortgage market, the strategic ambitions of the two Michigan-based companies remain fundamentally incompatible.
Rocket Pro chief revenue officer Austin Niemiec, speaking to Mortgage Professional America at the RPX event, framed the Moving Squad as a matter of broker autonomy.
"A broker's superpower is choice and freedom, and we are hearing from more and more brokers that they want their independence back," he said.
Rocket claims more brokers moved from UWM's arrangement to Rocket in the past 90 days than in the prior 12 months combined.
UWM's answer: 11 years of evidence
UWM's rebuttal rested on market track record rather than incentives. The company says more than 12,000 brokers — representing over 95% of its eligible partners — have chosen to stay within the UWM network and work across more than 70 wholesale lenders rather than route business through Rocket.
"Independent mortgage brokers are savvy business owners who know the difference between a short-term bounty and a long-term partner," the spokesperson said.
"We've been the #1 wholesale lender for 11 consecutive years because brokers trust our people, technology and results, and that leadership speaks for itself."
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