Rocket sues UWM over contract

Rocket Mortgage filed suit against United Wholesale Mortgage on May 14 in New York Supreme Court, accusing its rival of breaching non-solicitation agreements tied to mortgage servicing rights that Mr. Cooper bought from UWM in 2024. Rocket, which acquired Mr. Cooper in October 2025, said the alleged conduct damaged the value of those servicing rights and is seeking nearly $100 million. The case adds a courtroom fight to a long-running rivalry between Rocket chairman Dan Gilbert and UWM chief executive Mat Ishbia. UWM said the claims are “baseless and opportunistic” and that it will fight the suit. ### Which contract is Rocket actually suing over? The complaint centers on three pools of mortgage servicing rights that Mr. Cooper purchased from UWM between January and June 2024 for about $773 million. Those transactions covered roughly 182,000 mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of about $65 billion, according to the complaint summarized by RISMedia. As part of those sales, UWM allegedly agreed not to solicit those borrowers to refinance for the life of the loans. (ace.rismedia.com) Rocket says it can sue because it now owns Mr. Cooper and inherited the economic harm from the alleged breach. The filing says UWM’s conduct caused Mr. Cooper to lose servicing on thousands of mortgages and reduced the value of the book Rocket bought in the October 2025 acquisition. ### What does Rocket say UWM did? Rocket alleges UWM ran a multi-step campaign to refinance borrowers whose loans had been sold with servicing attached to Mr. (ace.rismedia.com) Cooper. The complaint points to a “Refi75” program launched in September 2024, which allegedly offered brokers a 75-basis-point discount to refinance prior customers, including borrowers in the sold servicing pools. One week later, UWM rolled out a system called KEEP that Rocket describes as an AI-powered tool to identify and target Mr. Cooper borrowers with refinance offers, according to the complaint. Rocket says the most aggressive step came in March 2025, after Rocket announced its Mr. Cooper deal, when Ishbia introduced “Refi Shield 100,” which allegedly offered a 100-basis-point rate reduction for loans sold to Mr. Cooper. (ace.rismedia.com) ### Why is Mat Ishbia named so prominently in the case? Rocket’s complaint quotes Ishbia’s own broker-facing remarks as evidence that the campaign was intentional. RISMedia’s account of the filing says Rocket cited a weekly video in which Ishbia said he would “lose money just for fun” to keep loans from going to Rocket and told brokers to target loans UWM had sold to Mr. Cooper. (ace.rismedia.com) The Detroit News report, carried by Yahoo Finance, said the complaint also cites Ishbia using profane language about Rocket. Those statements matter because Rocket is framing the alleged breach as willful, not accidental. ### Where does the $100 million figure come from? Rocket says the targeted loans prepaid at about 2.5 times the rate of comparable portfolios. (ace.rismedia.com) Because servicing fees depend on borrowers continuing to make payments on outstanding principal, faster refinancing can sharply cut the value of mortgage servicing rights. The complaint says that elevated prepayments wiped out nearly $100 million in servicing revenue and value. (finance.yahoo.com) Rocket is asking for compensatory damages of about $100 million, plus interest, attorneys’ fees and other relief. ### How is UWM responding? UWM said the lawsuit is a publicity play tied to Rocket’s ownership of Mr. Cooper and to competition in the broker channel. (ace.rismedia.com) In a statement quoted by The Detroit News, UWM said the “timing speaks for itself” and accused Rocket of operating as if it “owns the consumer relationship — not the broker.” The company also said the claims are “baseless and opportunistic” and were “engineered for headlines.” UWM said it would defend the case vigorously. ### What happens next in practical terms? The next step is UWM’s formal response in the New York Supreme Court’s Commercial Division, where the complaint was filed on May 14. (finance.yahoo.com) Court filings should show whether UWM moves to dismiss, contests damages, or pushes the case into discovery focused on the servicing-rights contracts, broker programs and borrower prepayment data. (ace.rismedia.com)