Consumer Case Study: Best Place to Get a Mortgage
At the center of the recent dispute between Quicken Loans and United Wholesale Mortgage a major question has emerged. Where is the best place for consumers to get their mortgage? In this article I will provide side by side comparison of what rates/fees a consumer look like going directly through Quicken Loans Retail or Rocket Mortgage versus if they went to a local independent mortgage broker that brokered that same consumers loan through Quicken Loans Wholesale Division.
Quicken Loans is best known for being the number one retail mortgage lender in the country with massive marketing spends and a consumer focused digital mortgage offering "Rocket Mortgage". However a fast growing percentage of Quicken Loans volume comes from their wholesale channel (origination via mortgage brokers) an area of it's business Quicken Loans fails to disclose to Inside Mortgage Finance. Quicken Loans has been aggressively working on growing their wholesale marketshare.
Image Below from Thomson Reuters reports almost 1/4 of Quicken Loans overall Purchase Volume as originated by mortgage brokers (July 2018).
Comparison: Quicken Loans Retail/Rocket Mortgage vs Independent Mortgage Broker utilizing Quicken Loans Wholesale Consumer Profile Utilized to "Shop Rates": Utilizing the same EXACT consumer profile for this comparison, I went on Nerd Wallet a consumer facing website that Quicken Loans Retail and Rocket Mortgage advertise its rates on. Then I used the same EXACT consumer profile and went on LoanSifter a well known mortgage industry price engine used by mortgage brokers to compare the rates offered by various wholesale mortgage lenders.
Image Below: NerdWallet on the Left. LoanSifter on the Right.
Independent Mortgage Brokers are not a 'middleman' they are independent loan originators that are not biased to one bank or mortgage lender. They are biased to the consumer and only work for the consumer. Independent Mortgage Brokers work with dozens of banks and mortgage lenders with the sole objective of finding the best mortgage at the lowest interest rate and cost for the consumer. You can find a local independent mortgage broker by visiting FindAMortgageBroker.com
