United Wholesale Mortgage
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| United Wholesale Mortgage | |
| Formerly | Shore Mortgage |
| Company type | Public company |
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| Industry | Wholesale mortgage |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder | Jeff Ishbia |
| Headquarters | Pontiac, Michigan, U.S. |
Key people | Mat Ishbia (CEO) |
| Brands |
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Number of employees | 7,000 (June 30, 2022) |
| Website | uwm |
| Footnotes / references | |
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), formerly United Shore Financial Services, is an American wholesale mortgage lender headquartered in Pontiac, Michigan. Underwriting loans for independent brokers, UWM is the largest wholesale mortgage lender in the United States.
History
United Wholesale Mortgage was founded by Jeff Ishbia in 1986 while working as an attorney. He founded the company as a side business under the name Shore Mortgage. It started off focusing on conventional and FHA loans and the name was later changed from Shore Mortgage to United Wholesale Mortgage. By 2003, the company had 13 employees. It experienced large growth during the 2000s United States housing bubble after larger banks such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America exited the wholesale mortgage lending market.
Jeff's son Mat Ishbia was the president of the company until he was named CEO in 2013. Under the younger Ishbia, UWM grew from a local mortgage lender to a large-scale, national lender.
In 2018, UWM settled a lawsuit from account executives who claimed they were not paid overtime while working for the company.
United Wholesale Mortgage went public in January 2021 through a merger with Gores Holdings IV, and the formation of a special-purpose acquisition company. The deal made the company the highest valued company to be purchased by a special purpose acquisition company to date, valued at $16.1 billion. The deal became the subject of a shareholder lawsuit in 2023, alleging breach of fiduciary duties to stockholders.
In 2021, Mat Ishbia announced that the company would no longer do business with any broker doing business with competitors Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage. At the time, Ishbia claimed the decision was due to the practices of those companies, including working directly with realtors instead of mortgage brokers in securing home loans. In response, a lawsuit seeking class action status was filed against UWM and Ishbia in 2021. A year later, United Wholesale Mortgage filed a lawsuit against America’s MoneyLine for continuing to do business with Rocket Mortgage in breach of its agreement; America's MoneyLine filed a countersuit against the company shortly after.
Employees have also claimed that the company has a toxic work culture, an accusation that United Wholesale Mortgage has denied.
Services
United Wholesale Mortgage underwrites loans for independent mortgage brokers.