How Does United Wholesale Mortgage Work?

One oddity within the mortgage world as of late is that the nation’s high lender, United Wholesale Mortgage, is because the title implies, a wholesale lender.

This implies you’ll be able to’t apply for a house mortgage with them immediately. Regardless of that, they nonetheless command an enormous lead on the high of the mortgage lender rankings.

They fund many billions extra in loans than their nearest rival, Rocket Mortgage, which excels within the consumer-direct house.

So how on Earth did UWM get so huge and the way do you apply for a mortgage with them anyway?

Permit me to elucidate.

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) Is the #1 Mortgage Lender in America

• UWM is the nation’s largest mortgage lender general (2024 and 2023)
• However they’re a wholesale lender that means you’ll be able to’t work with them immediately
• The one technique to get a mortgage with UWM is through an middleman often called a mortgage dealer
• Regardless of this the Pontiac, MI-based firm funded roughly $138 billion in house loans final yr
• That was practically $50B greater than #2 general Rocket Mortgage
• It’s unusual that the highest lender isn’t consumer-facing (up to now brick-and-mortar banks had been the highest mortgage lenders)
• However the firm has considerably boosted the wholesale lending channel, which beforehand peaked throughout the lead as much as the GFC within the early 2000s

This in all probability sounds tremendous bizarre, however you’ll be able to’t apply for a house mortgage immediately with United Wholesale Mortgage.

Sure, you learn that proper. You can’t name UWM and communicate to a mortgage officer (they don’t have them).

Nor are you able to go to a UWM department and apply for a mortgage in particular person (they don’t have them).

You may’t even go to their web site to use for a house mortgage (sure, they’ve an internet site, however not for shoppers).

However apparently none of that issues as a result of enterprise is booming on the Pontiac, Michigan-based firm, which received its begin all the best way again in 1986.

Actually, they had been the nation’s largest mortgage lender in 2024 (and in 2023), beating out the likes of Rocket Mortgage, CrossCountry Mortgage, Chase, U.S. Financial institution, and lots of others.

And by a really massive margin. Final yr, UWM funded about $138 billion in mortgages, whereas #2 Rocket solely mustered mortgage quantity of $92 billion.

So it’s not even shut.

You Might Have Heard of UWM. However There’s No ‘Apply Now’ Button

As a client, you might need heard their title and might be considering, “Hey, I need to examine them out.”

You would possibly even go to their web site and search for the “apply now” button, solely to be left upset.

As a substitute, you’ll see a B2B web site that talks about partnering with the nation’s #1 mortgage lender.

Confused but? Effectively, you ought to be. It’s fairly bizarre.

Let’s clear it up. Because the title suggests, UWM is a wholesale mortgage lender, which suggests they work with impartial mortgage brokers.

That makes them a B2B firm as a result of they don’t work immediately with most people.

As a substitute, they rely on these mortgage dealer intermediaries to promote their product.

These brokers might function a small mom-and-pop store underneath their very own title, or run a bigger brokerage with their very own branding and a number of workers.

Both approach, the one technique to get a mortgage from UWM is to work with certainly one of their accredited companions, which can be certainly one of these brokers.

So it’s form of a two-step course of. It’s essential to attain out to a mortgage dealer first, and in the event that they select UWM amongst their many companions, they’ll ship your mortgage particulars on to UWM, which then extends financing.

However right here’s the form of difficult half. Mortgage brokers can have a lot of completely different lender companions.

Actually, that’s form of the primary function of being a dealer. You don’t work with a single lender, however slightly a number of corporations to hunt out the very best financing on your purchasers.

For instance, a mortgage dealer may match with UWM, Rocket Professional (which is Rocket Mortgage’s wholesale division), Pennymac, Newrez, Freedom Mortgage, and lots of others.

They’ve mainly received a bunch of lenders at their disposal that they’ll store on behalf of you, the borrower.

If it seems UWM is the most suitable choice based mostly on their purchasing, your mortgage ought to be positioned with the corporate.

You Can’t Really Select UWM for Your Mortgage Wants

What this implies is it’s fully out of your fingers to “select UWM” except you by some means explicitly informed your dealer, “Hey, I need you to make use of UWM.”

However that wouldn’t actually make sense as a result of shoppers don’t have entry to UWM’s mortgage charges, charges, mortgage applications, course of, and so forth.

It’s all inner, B2B stuff reserved for his or her mortgage dealer companions. They work to woo mortgage brokers, not shoppers.

Solely after the actual fact would possibly you discover out that your mortgage was positioned with UWM.

And after the mortgage funds, your mortgage might be serviced by UWM, that means they acquire month-to-month funds and deal with escrow accounts.

Nonetheless, if and when it got here time to refinance or purchase one other property, you couldn’t go to UWM and ask them to present you a mortgage.

You’d have to return to your mortgage dealer (or one other dealer) and undergo the identical course of.

That dealer would then want to find out a second time if UWM was the very best match on your mortgage situation.

Possibly they aren’t this time. Maybe a unique wholesale lender has higher pricing on a fee and time period refinance or subsequent house buy mortgage.

So once more it might be left to likelihood the place your mortgage finally ends up. It might be UWM once more, or it might be Rocket Professional, Pennymac, and so forth.

Now it may not matter a lot anyway as a result of the dealer is the one offering you with service throughout the mortgage course of.

And as soon as the mortgage funds, it’ll be the identical 30-year mounted (or no matter mortgage product) you would get from any variety of completely different banks/lenders.

As well as, the mortgage servicer you wind up with after funding may not be all that completely different (or the mortgage might even be offered off to a third-party firm that isn’t affiliated together with your lender).

Solely a Dealer Can Select to Place Your Mortgage with UWM

Lengthy story brief, you’ll be able to’t select UWM as your mortgage lender. However your dealer might ship your mortgage to them.

After all, UWM is the nation’s high lender (even greater than all retail lenders), so clearly so much brokers are willingly selecting to ship their loans there.

In different phrases, in the event you work with a mortgage dealer, there’s a reasonably good likelihood you’ll get a mortgage from UWM regardless.

If you happen to do occur to go to the UWM web site, there’s a part devoted to “Homebuyers” together with a blurb about connecting you with an area mortgage professional.

Assuming you click on that hyperlink, it should take you to Mortgage Matchup, which is UWM’s mortgage dealer listing.

When you join with a dealer on that website, they could or might not ship your mortgage to UWM. As a result of as famous, brokers work with a lot of completely different wholesale lenders (aside from UWM).

However you’ll not less than be within the wholesale realm, the one enterprise channel during which UWM operates.