From HousingWire Spring summit Thursday, UWM CEO Mat Ishbia sat down with HousingWire CEO Clayton Collins to discuss UWM’s strategy for this buying market.

However, as Ishbia had Just announced this UWM would no longer partner with mortgage brokers who also work with Rocket mortgage Where Fairway, the discussion has evolved into a larger conversation about the overall lender strategy to increase brokerage share.

Speaking about the brokers announcement, Ishbia distinguished between other wholesale lenders that brokers could work with and Rocket and Fairway, saying both of these companies are actively undermining brokers.

“There are 75 wholesale lenders… brokers can use all 75 – but if they use those two, I don’t want to partner with them. It’s our belief system. I have no problem if they want to work with [those two] but I’m not going to give you our proprietary technology, it’s not for the people funding broker channel competition, ”Ishbia said.

UWM will require its broker partners to sign an endorsement by March 15 stating that they will not be working with Rocket or Fairway. Ishbia said this would only affect about 25% of the 12,000 brokers currently partnering with UWM.

“Rocket goes straight to realtors and helps them get a loan officer license and says ‘we’ll pay you a fee if you don’t send to brokers’… that’s not good for brokers. I do not like it. Let’s win together as a family, as a team, ”said Ishbia. “I support all brokers… all brokers are winners with this decision and that’s how I think about it. “

In the high profile interview, Ishbia said that UWM is well positioned for the purchasing market and to grow its market share. UWM is the best wholesale lender in the country and No. 2 overall, after Rocket.

“I don’t have on my board of directors my goal is to be the number two lender overall, it’s to be the number one and we are going to do it.”

Ishbia said the efficiency of UWM will serve brokers well this year as one of the features of the company is closing quickly.

“UWM concludes loans in 16-17 days… In a buying market, you can’t miss the contract date. It’s so much more important to be quick to buy than to refi. You have to be fast and efficient and UWM wins with our technology.

Ishbia also spoke about the new Jumbo Prime Product, launch on March 17, which will have an LTV of up to 89.99%. As many lenders, UWM pulled jumbo last spring during pandemic uncertainty, but Ishbia said UWM’s new jumbo will be even better, with the ability to fund loans up to $ 2 million. Based on UWM’s volume, Ishbia estimated that jumbo activity could reach $ 1.5 billion per month.

“Our job is to give [brokers] the tools to compete. I bet on brokers all the time – as long as they can compete they will win.

UWM said Thursday that it has refined its pricing across the board, but Ishbia said the company has won business based more on certainty and fast turnaround times than price. He also said that the company’s investors (after his public debut in January) understood the value of UWM’s long experience in the mortgage industry.

“Our investors understand our history of growth in all markets. We are much less cyclical than our biggest competitor, ”Ishbia said. “We provide a better opportunity for those who want to invest in the long term mortgage… We have been here for 35 years. I have been here for 18 years and will be here for a while.

One of those long-term games is to retain the rights to manage the mortgages. Ishbia said UWM ended 2020 with around $ 185 billion to $ 190 billion in MSR, and said he expects UWM to increase that figure to around $ 300 billion this year. He said the rates on these are in the high 3 or 2 and that they will see “immense value” when the rates rise.

When asked why UWM started withholding MSRs, Ishbia said, “It’s about accessing capital issues… when you get big enough you can take advantage of the fact that it wastes money too. money, this is one of the biggest advantages of the IPO. “

Ishbia said the modus operandi of UWM will not change in its new public structure.

“Investors have been clear: ‘keep doing what you are doing’. I always say, “What brought us here will get us here.” ”