Rocket alleges UWM breached an agreement covering nearly 182,000 loans worth $65 billion
Rocket Mortgage has filed a lawsuit against United Wholesale Mortgage, alleging its wholesale rival unlawfully solicited borrowers away from nearly 182,000 mortgage loans – triggering what Rocket says amounts to nearly $100 million in damages.
The complaint, filed May 14 in New York State court, centers on a series of mortgage servicing rights (MSR) transactions completed between January and June 2024, when Mr. Cooper (now part of Rocket Mortgage following its October 2025 acquisition) purchased three pools of loans from UWM for $773 million.
The loans carried a cumulative unpaid principal balance of approximately $65 billion.
The dispute concerns a non-solicitation covenant embedded in the purchase agreements. Under those terms, Rocket said UWM was contractually prohibited from soliciting, directly or indirectly, any refinancing of the mortgages within those loan pools.
According to Rocket, UWM violated that agreement by targeting those very borrowers, causing Mr. Cooper to lose servicing rights on thousands of loans it had paid to service.
"UWM intentionally solicited these very mortgage borrowers, resulting in Mr. Cooper losing its servicing rights for thousands of mortgages that it purchased from UWM," the complaint states. "At this time, UWM is liable to Mr. Cooper for nearly $100 million in damages resulting from its wrongful conduct."
Rocket’s lawsuit said UWM was prohibited not only from directly reaching out to borrowers, but also from directing brokers, agents, or independent contractors working on its behalf to do so. The purchase agreements, as cited in the filing, required UWM to cause each of those parties "not to take any action to solicit" borrowers on the loans covered by the deal.
According to the lawsuit, UWM was permitted to run broad, non-targeted advertising campaigns to the general public, and to accept applications from borrowers who independently initiated refinancing contact. Any other targeted solicitation of borrowers within the serviced pools was strictly prohibited under the terms Rocket says UWM agreed to in writing, Rocket said.
Mortgage servicers earn ongoing fees – typically between 0.25% and 0.50% of the outstanding loan balance – for the life of a loan. If a borrower refinances early, the servicer loses that revenue stream. Mr. Cooper paid $773 million specifically to acquire those servicing rights.
UWM fires back, citing timing and Rocket's history
In UWM’s response, a company spokesperson dismissed the lawsuit as "baseless and opportunistic" and questioned the timing of the filing.
"Within months of Rocket's acquisition of Mr. Cooper, and shortly after Rocket's former head of wholesale joined the broker community as a UWM partner, this lawsuit appears," the spokesperson said, referring to former Rocket executive Dan Sogorka.
"The timing speaks for itself. Rocket has long operated on the premise that it owns the consumer relationship – not the broker. The claims in this complaint are baseless and opportunistic, and appear engineered for headlines. This is precisely the conduct we have consistently cautioned the broker community about. We will defend this matter vigorously and remain singularly focused on the independent mortgage brokers and the borrowers they serve."
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