The new program is designed to make leaving fast and painless for brokers
Despite calls for more unity in the wholesale mortgage channel, there continues to be a divide in the space between Rocket Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortgage.
It dates back to a 2021 ultimatum issued by UWM for brokers working with them not to send loans to Rocket.
Rocket Pro says that dynamic is driving more brokers to reconsider who they work with. The company claims more brokers have left UWM for Rocket in the past 90 days than in the prior 12 months combined.
At Rocket’s RPX event in Detroit on Tuesday, the company announced a new internal team built specifically to make that move easier.
Austin Niemiec (pictured top), chief revenue officer of Rocket Pro, said the new program is designed to remove the friction that keeps hesitant brokers from switching lenders even when they want to.
"I've never believed in the UWM ultimatum," Niemiec told Mortgage Professional America. "A broker's superpower is choice and freedom, and we are hearing from more and more brokers that they want their independence back.
“From day one, we have said this ultimatum is bad for the broker community. Brokers need choice, they need strong lenders, they need optionality."
Rocket’s ‘Moving Squad’
Rocket Pro is calling the new program the Moving Squad. Niemiec said it pairs each broker who switches with a dedicated four-person team made up of an account executive, a director of growth, a crew director and a trainer.
That structure means the broker deals with one group throughout the process, Niemiec said, rather than being handed off between departments.
The goal, according to Niemiec, is to get a new partner's first loan submitted within 10 days. The team then stays with the broker through onboarding and into their first 60 days of production.
Niemiec said 140 team members have been trained for the moving squads at launch.
The company is also offering existing partners a $10,000 cash bonus for every broker they help move away from the ultimatum. That bonus is payable after the new broker's first closed loan, according to Rocket Pro.
The program exists, Niemiec said, because switching lenders carries real risk for brokers, not just paperwork. His characterization of that risk is his own, and Mortgage Professional America has not independently verified specific claims about brokers facing litigation for leaving UWM.
"It's kind of sad and embarrassing for our industry that brokers are scared to get sued if they leave to get a better price for their clients," he said. "We've made it very simple and easy to be able to answer those questions, help them move, and do it stress-free."
Niemiec's message to brokers
Niemiec pointed to Rocket's most recent quarter as evidence the company is positioned to make good on that pitch. He cited record purchase and refinance market share and what he called the company's highest profitability in more than four years.
He drew a sharp contrast with what he described as struggles at unnamed competing lenders.
"You saw others literally need a bailout and are on a lifeline," he said. "Other companies have removed their CEOs, and stocks are declining rapidly."
He attributed Rocket's position to a strategy of diversifying across its wholesale and retail channels along with its Mr. Cooper and Redfin businesses, rather than depending on any single line of business.
"We built an all-weather company that's durable in any market," he said.
Niemiec took aim at lenders that bet everything on a single strategy instead of diversifying.
"Other companies who have pounded their chest and say we're going to go all in and only focus on one single thing are seeing the results of that, and are crumbling," he said. "It's resulting in uncertainty, and it's resulting in a higher price for brokers."
Rocket Pro also used RPX to announce other changes. Niemiec said brokers are frustrated with how complicated pricing has become.
"The biggest frustration they have about pricing in general is that it's gamified, and pricing shouldn't be gamified," he said. "They shouldn't need a calendar, a calculator, a protractor, a cheat sheet, or have to watch videos or talk to their AE or play games or click buttons and jump through hoops just to get a good price. They want simple. They want aggressive, they want reliable, they want transparent pricing."
The company is folding its existing 60 basis point purchase and refinance credits directly into standard pricing across conventional, FHA and VA loans.
Niemiec said the moment belongs to brokers, not to Rocket.
"This is a big moment, but it's not a big moment for Rocket," he said. "It's a big moment for brokers to finally put their foot down and say, this is my superpower, I'm going to protect it, and give my clients the best option and the best price."
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