United Wholesale Mortgage is trying to erase the remnants of a lawsuit which prominently scrutinizes the megalender's relationship with its thousands of mortgage broker partners.

A federal judge gutted the racketeering class action suit last fall, which accuses the wholesale leader of conspiring with loyalist brokers to steer customers to higher-cost home loans. The court however allowed individual consumer protection and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act claims to stand, suggesting they could have merit. 

In a ruling last September, U.S. District Judge Brandy R. McMillion analyzed the RESPA statute and focused on plaintiffs' highlighting of UWM offering brokers a "thing of value" in marketing programs and "lavish trips." 

"As plaintiffs aptly point out, the second pleading requirement — agreement or understanding — is met, by showing a 'thing of value' is received repeatedly and is connected in any way with the volume or value of the business referred," she wrote.

The plaintiffs alleged UWM-dependent brokers failed to shop for mortgages —- an argument attorneys for the lender have framed as a "no services" case. In a mid-December filing, the company said the plaintiffs conceded the brokers provided many services, which negates the RESPA claim. 

"Plaintiffs try to frame this as a "no services" case but cannot erase the many services alleged and conceded," wrote counsel for UWM. 

The court hasn't spoken on the latest filings between the parties. The Pontiac, Michigan-based originator is one of several major home loan companies defending itself from RESPA claims by borrowers in recent months. 

On Monday a spokesperson for UWM reshared the company's statement following the judge's decision on the racketeering claims. The lender said there was "no merit from the start" to the accusations, and that it was confident the remaining claims would resolve in its favor. 

Attorneys for both sides didn't return requests for comment. 

RESPA claims linger

The complaint was filed in April 2024, following hedge fund-backed newsroom Hunterbrook's large investigative report into the company's relationship with brokers. The class action filing, citing the article's findings, accused the lender of aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duties to borrowers as thousands of independent brokers sent 99% or more of their loans to UWM in recent years. 

McMillion, in dismissing nine of 11 civil counts, found borrowers didn't meet the legal burden for those accusations. The judge also cited the lender's victory in numerous "All-In" lawsuits as legitimizing the company's much-scrutinized agreement within the broker space. 

Two plaintiffs hold onto the active RESPA claims, while a third is clinging to an accusation that the lender violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. UWM argued last month that the court would have to perform individual analyses for each hypothetical RESPA claim, making class certification impractical. 

The sides have debated whether the question around RESPA's safe harbor requires a loan-level analysis. Borrowers said they still deserve an opportunity to present evidence at this stage of the litigation. 

Lawsuit invokes CFPB's (lack of) oversight

In another plea to keep their case moving, plaintiffs invoked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Trump Administration's shutdown of the regulator "emphasizes the need for consumer class actions," an attorney for borrowers wrote. 

Their November filing cited feds' dismissal of a RESPA suit earlier this year against Rocket Homes, which was accused of coordinating a kickback scheme with a large real estate agency.  UWM responded to the CFPB mention, as part of an unrelated back-and-forth about historical RESPA guidance. 

"Plaintiffs' protests about the 'threat[s]' to the CFPB ring hollow, when they ask the court to reject the CFPB as a persuasive authority for RESPA," the lender argued.