The suit filed by the wholesale giant accuses Atlantic Trust of sending 71 loans to Rocket Mortgage or Fairway Independent Mortgage since December 2022 "intentionally and directly undermining the entire purpose of the All-In Intuitive." As such, UWM is seeking $355,000 in damages, according to the suit filed in Michigan federal court Jan. 26.

The wholesale lender notes the breach of contract has damaged it in various ways "including but not limited to, allowing Atlantic Trust to reap the benefits of UWM's investments in and services provided to it as a broker partner, including UWM's proprietary technology."

UWM will continue to enforce ultimatum breaches, a UWM spokeswoman warned. 

"Atlantic Trust Mortgage is one of the companies who signed a contract and then knowingly breached it, therefore we will follow the agreed upon contract and win damages," the company spokeswoman said Monday. "This company is one of [the] very few companies we have found that has knowingly breached the contract, and we will continue to hold people accountable to the contracts they sign." 

An executive at Atlantic Trust disputes some of UWM's allegations, claiming their company never signed an All-in addendum in December 2022, which technically should've voided the contract. Additionally, the executive alleges UWM was aware that Atlantic Trust went on to do business with Rocket and that prior to the filing the suit, the wholesale company was still trying to "earn back the business." 

Atlantic Trust, based in Jacksonville, Florida, was founded in 2003 by Scott Goldstein. It currently has over 15 mortgage loan originators, court documents show.

Similar litigation was also lodged against District Lending in late December. 

UWM alleges the independent mortgage broker sent 84 loans to Rocket or Fairway since pledging in March 2021 to abide by UWM's All-In initiative. The lending giant claims District Lending's flouting of their agreement resulted in damages of at least $420,000. The case is still pending.

Alongside enforcing its ultimatum, UWM is also policing the content shared online about it.A cease-and-desist notice to former broker partner Ramon Walker, owner of Client Direct Mortgage, asked the originator to cease all improper use of UWM's intellectual property and delete any false and defamatory content in a Facebook group he created called "Rocket Pro TPO vs. UWM."

The creation of the group, which came to fruition in November,  is "improp[er]" and "threatens to interfere with the relationship between UWM and its brokers, which is impermissible," the company's notice from January read.

The group's 4,000 users discuss broker-related topics including loan products offered by Rocket or UWM, the latter lender's ultimatum, comparisons of both companies' technology and Federal Reserve interest-rate policy.