Should you’ve seen commercials for “Mortgage Matchup” these days, maybe throughout an NBA recreation, or on the courtroom itself, you may be questioning what they’re all about.
That is truly an attention-grabbing query and reply as a result of they’re an organization that doesn’t work straight with the general public.
But they promote on to shoppers on a regular basis, which isn’t a quite common association.
Additionally they occur to be owned by the biggest mortgage lender in the US, an organization generally known as UWM.
Luckily, I can absolutely clarify how their enterprise works so you can also make sense of all of it.
Mortgage Matchup Is an On-line Mortgage Dealer Listing Owned by UWM
- A web-based mortgage dealer listing owned by wholesale lender UWM (nation’s #1 lender)
- Permits customers to discover a native unbiased dealer to work with to get a mortgage
- A dealer is required to use for mortgage with UWM (can’t apply straight)
- The web site additionally promotes the mortgage dealer enterprise mannequin vs. going retail/direct
- Mortgage Matchup is the official mortgage companion of the NBA and WNBA
In a nutshell, Mortgage Matchup is an internet listing powered by UWM that means that you can discover and companion with a neighborhood mortgage dealer in an effort to apply for a house mortgage.
When you arrive on this web site, there’s a subject to enter your deal with to “discover your native residence mortgage professional.”
However what’s unusual is a few of these specialists might not even work with UWM, which pays for and maintains the web site. I’ll communicate extra to that in a second.
First, let’s speak about mortgage brokers and wholesale lenders.
The large distinction between a direct lender and UWM is that the latter depends upon mortgage brokers, that are third-party mortgage originators.
Brokers don’t characterize one lender, however relatively have a number of lender companions the place they will ship your mortgage.
A mortgage dealer acts an middleman between residence consumers (or householders) and lenders.
Their job is much like a loan officer that works at a financial institution, however they aren’t captive to a single financial institution.
They’ve the power to buy your mortgage with all of their companions, then select the one they really feel is one of the best match.
This may very well be as a result of greatest pricing, the bottom mortgage rate, a novel mortgage program, and/or the lender’s means to shut the mortgage on time (or in any respect!).
A superb analogy is an unbiased insurance coverage agent, who represents a number of insurers, not only one firm.
These brokers can store your price with 10 completely different insurers to search out the bottom price and greatest protection.
In the meantime, a captive agent who works for say State Farm will solely be capable to promote you a coverage from State Farm. That’s it.
So brokers have extra selection and the power to buy in your behalf, with out you having to elevate a finger.
Who Is UWM? And Why Did They Create Mortgage Matchup?
Now again to the proprietor of Mortgage Matchup. As famous, it’s owned by UWM, which is brief for United Wholesale Mortgage.
Because the title implies, they’re a wholesale mortgage lender (based mostly in Pontiac, Michigan), which suggests they aren’t consumer-facing.
So you may’t go to UWM and apply for a house mortgage straight. Should you tried, they’d let you know to discover a mortgage dealer who’s accepted to work with UWM.
Whereas which may sound unusual, that is simply the truth of the wholesale lending channel.
Not like retail or direct-to-consumer lending, the wholesale channel is B2B, so it’s solely accessible through an middleman, specifically a mortgage dealer.
UWM additionally simply so occurs to be the biggest mortgage lender within the nation by mortgage quantity, beating out its closest rival Rocket Mortgage.
Nonetheless, not like Rocket, they don’t do any retail or DTC lending. It’s wholesale solely, which is definitely fairly outstanding given they’re #1 within the nation.
However in an effort to drum up extra enterprise, they launched Mortgage Matchup to type of lengthen their attain with out getting into the retail channel straight.
In different phrases, a client can go to the Mortgage Matchup website, discover a dealer to work with, then apply for a mortgage at UWM.
However provided that the dealer recommends that they ship the mortgage to UWM. Brokers might have a dozen lender companions or extra, and should select a unique wholesale lender.
So there’s no assure UWM would be the beneficiary, though they’re those paying for the web site and the promoting (which may’t be low cost).
Nonetheless, UWM doubtless hopes to get a good chunk of this mortgage dealer enterprise in doing so.
Simply be aware {that a} dealer itemizing on the Mortgage Matchup web site doesn’t represent an endorsement or advice from UWM.
UWM Is Selling Mortgage Brokers through the Mortgage Matchup Model
Merely put, UWM is selling mortgage brokers through this web site, and not directly their very own firm.
They’re advocating for the wholesale channel, and inspiring shoppers to get a house mortgage through a dealer as a substitute of going direct.
There are many benefits to utilizing a dealer, specifically their means to buy your mortgage with a number of lenders.
This might end in financial savings, with the Mortgage Matchup web site citing a examine that discovered working with a broker can save you $10,662 on average.
Whereas your mileage might range, which is why I all the time say to compare mortgage brokers too, these unbiased mortgage originators even have entry to extra mortgage applications.
They usually additionally are typically extra educated than captive financial institution mortgage officers, who might have much less expertise attributable to restricted publicity to outside-the-box situations.
You possibly can learn extra about banks vs. mortgage brokers for an in-depth comparability.
Notice: In mid-January 2024, UWM rebranded the outdated FindAMortgageBroker.com web site to Mortgage Matchup, maybe to make it extra interesting to shoppers who discovered the dealer factor complicated.
Why Doesn’t UWM Simply Enter the Retail Mortgage Enterprise?
This all begs the query, if UWM is the nation’s #1 mortgage lender, and so they’re already promoting to the general public, why doesn’t it simply enter the retail lending enterprise?
Couldn’t they make much more loans if prospects may apply straight, whereas additionally sustaining their present enterprise?
In spite of everything, they’ve an internet site, Mortgage Matchup, and the attain to amass a number of enterprise straight from shoppers.
They usually’re already paying for the promoting. So why not? Effectively, that’s not completely clear since we don’t know what UWM is considering.
But when I needed to guess, I’d say working wholesale solely permit them to save cash on operational prices, worker overhead, and so forth.
As a result of they’ve a bunch of unbiased companions they work with, they will lower your expenses, even when these companions don’t ship them each mortgage.
They don’t must pay them a wage or advantages, nor do they want extra workplace area.
Nonetheless, in the event that they maintain offering these companions with useful instruments to make their job simpler, whereas additionally providing aggressive pricing, they will probably get one of the best of each worlds.
And to date it seems to be working as a result of as I mentioned, they’re the top mortgage lender in the country and don’t look like surrendering that place anytime quickly.
(picture: Bernd Eckenfels)
