If you’ve seen commercials for “Mortgage Matchup” lately, perhaps during an NBA game, or on the court itself, you might be wondering what they’re all about.
This is actually an interesting question and answer because they are a company that doesn’t work directly with the public.
Yet they advertise directly to consumers all the time, which isn’t a very common arrangement.
They also happen to be owned by the largest mortgage lender in the United States, a company known as UWM.
Fortunately, I can fully explain how their business works so you can make sense of it all.
Mortgage Matchup Is an Online Mortgage Broker Directory Owned by UWM
- An online mortgage broker directory owned by wholesale lender UWM (nation’s #1 lender)
- Allows you to find a local independent broker to work with to get a mortgage
- Using a broker is the only way to apply for loan with UWM (can’t apply directly)
- The website also promotes the mortgage broker business model vs. going retail/direct
In a nutshell, Mortgage Matchup is an online directory powered by UWM that allows you to find and partner with a local mortgage broker in order to apply for a home loan.
Once you arrive on this website, there is a field to enter your address to “find your local home loan expert.”
But what’s strange is some of these experts may not even work with UWM, which pays for and maintains the website. I’ll speak more to that in a moment.
First, let’s talk about mortgage brokers and wholesale lenders.
The big difference between a direct lender and UWM is that the latter relies upon mortgage brokers, which are third-party loan originators.
Brokers don’t represent one lender, but rather have multiple lender partners where they can send your loan.
A mortgage broker acts an intermediary between home buyers (or homeowners) and lenders.
Their job is similar to a loan officer that works at a bank, but they aren’t captive to a single bank.
They have the ability to shop your loan with all of their partners, then choose the one they feel is the best fit.
This could be due to the best pricing, the lowest mortgage rate, a unique loan program, and/or the lender’s ability to close the loan on time (or at all!).
A good analogy is an independent insurance agent, who represents multiple insurers, not just one company.
These agents can shop your rate with 10 different insurers to find the lowest rate and best coverage.
Meanwhile, a captive agent who works for say State Farm will only be able to sell you a policy from State Farm. That’s it.
So brokers have more choice and the ability to shop on your behalf, without you having to lift a finger.
Who Is UWM? And Why Did They Create Mortgage Matchup?
Now back to the owner of Mortgage Matchup. As noted, it’s owned by UWM, which is short for United Wholesale Mortgage.
As the name implies, they are a wholesale mortgage lender (based in Pontiac, Michigan), which means they aren’t consumer-facing.
So you can’t go to UWM and apply for a home loan directly. If you tried, they’d tell you to find a mortgage broker who is approved to work with UWM.
While that might sound strange, this is just the reality of the wholesale lending channel.
Unlike retail or direct-to-consumer lending, the wholesale channel is B2B, so it’s only accessible via an intermediary, namely a mortgage broker.
UWM also just so happens to be the largest mortgage lender in the country by loan volume, beating out its closest rival Rocket Mortgage.
However, unlike Rocket, they don’t do any retail or DTC lending. It’s wholesale only, which is actually pretty remarkable given they’re #1 in the country.
But in order to drum up more business, they launched Mortgage Matchup to kind of extend their reach without entering the retail channel directly.
In other words, a consumer can go to the Mortgage Matchup website, find a broker to work with, then apply for a loan at UWM.
But only if the broker recommends that they send the loan to UWM. Brokers may have a dozen lender partners or more, and may choose a different wholesale lender.
So there’s no guarantee UWM will be the beneficiary, even though they’re the ones paying for the website and the advertising (which can’t be cheap).
Still, UWM likely hopes to get a decent chunk of this mortgage broker business in doing so.
Just note that a broker listing on the Mortgage Matchup website doesn’t constitute an endorsement or recommendation from UWM.
UWM Is Promoting Mortgage Brokers via the Mortgage Matchup Brand
Simply put, UWM is promoting mortgage brokers via this website, and indirectly their own company.
They are advocating for the wholesale channel, and encouraging consumers to get a home loan via a broker instead of going direct.
There are plenty of advantages to using a broker, namely their ability to shop your loan with multiple lenders.
This could result in savings, with the Mortgage Matchup website citing a study that found working with a broker can save you $10,662 on average.
While your mileage may vary, which is why I always say to compare mortgage brokers too, these independent loan originators also have access to more loan programs.
And they also tend to be more knowledgeable than captive bank loan officers, who may have less experience due to limited exposure to outside-the-box scenarios.
You can read more about banks vs. mortgage brokers for an in-depth comparison.
Why Doesn’t UWM Just Enter the Retail Mortgage Business?
This all begs the question, if UWM is the nation’s #1 mortgage lender, and they’re already advertising to the public, why doesn’t it just enter the retail lending business?
Couldn’t they make a lot more loans if customers could apply directly, while also maintaining their existing business?
After all, they have a website, Mortgage Matchup, and the reach to acquire lots of business directly from consumers.
And they’re already paying for the advertising. So why not? Well, that’s not entirely clear since we don’t know what UWM is thinking.
But if I had to guess, I’d say running wholesale only allow them to save money on operational costs, employee overhead, and so on.
Because they have a bunch of independent partners they work with, they can save money, even if these partners don’t send them every loan.
They don’t have to pay them a salary or benefits, nor do they need additional office space.
However, if they keep providing these partners with helpful tools to make their job easier, while also offering competitive pricing, they can potentially get the best of both worlds.
And so far it appears to be working because as I said, they are the top mortgage lender in the country and don’t appear to be surrendering that position anytime soon.
(photo: Bernd Eckenfels)
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 19 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on Twitter for hot takes.