Detroit-based home lender Rocket Mortgage filed a lawsuit Thursday against local archrival United Wholesale Mortgage for alleged breach of contract.
The suit marks the latest escalation in a bitter personal and business feud between Rocket Companies Chairman Dan Gilbert and UWM CEO Mat Ishbia.
The filing from Rocket to the New York state Supreme Court seeks $100 million in damages from UWM for allegedly breaking an agreement with a mortgage servicing company called Mr. Cooper, which Rocket acquired in October 2025. Rocket said that UWM, which previously worked with the mortgage servicer, violated a contract with Mr. Cooper, doing business as Mr. Cooper Group Inc., by trying to siphon business away after its rival took over the company.
The complaint quotes past statements it said Ishbia made, including that he would “lose money just for fun” in efforts to raid Mr. Cooper’s servicing portfolio and that he “f—— hate[s] [Rocket] with all [his] heart.”
The lawsuit, in its opening statement, says Rocket “seeks to hold UWM accountable for the significant harm caused by its willful and wanton breach of non-solicitation contractual obligations it owes to Mr. Cooper.
“Mr. Cooper paid UWM hundreds of millions of dollars for the servicing rights to nearly 182,000 loans, and in return UWM contractually agreed in writing that it would not attempt to solicit the mortgage borrowers on those loans away from Mr. Cooper’s servicing platform.”
“Nevertheless, in blatant breach of its contractual obligations, UWM intentionally solicited these very mortgage borrowers, resulting in Mr. Cooper losing its servicing rights for thousands of mortgages that it purchased from UWM. At this time, UWM is liable to Mr. Cooper for nearly $100 million in damages resulting from its wrongful conduct.”
UWM downplayed the lawsuit as a publicity stunt and vowed to “vigorously” defend itself against the allegations.
“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 timing speaks for itself. Rocket has long operated on the premise that it owns the consumer relationship — not the broker,” the company said in a statement.
The UWM statement continues: “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.”
gschwab@detroitnews.com
@GrantSchwab
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Rocket Mortgage sues rival UWM for $100M
Reporting by Grant Schwab, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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