Rocket Mortgage is suing a broker for originating loans for his customers with United Wholesale Mortgage days before the Detroit giant funded additional loans for those same borrowers.

The lender's repurchase lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Michigan, does not accuse UWM of wrongdoing, nor does it name the company as a defendant.  The complaint seeks $194,183 from defendants Reynaldo Reyes and California-based Sharp Loan Inc., over Rocket's repurchases of three loans which were originated in March 2020. 

According to the suit, Rocket determined the borrowers of those loans obtained five undisclosed mortgages with UWM in the weeks preceding the Rocket originations, all with Reyes' approval. The complaint doesn't describe the types of home loans, nor why there were allegedly 5 UWM loans compared to Rocket's three mortgages. 

The three mortgages Rocket funded were originated on the same day, for amounts of $290,500, $301,000, and $330,000. The lawsuit also doesn't name the investors Rocket was forced to repurchase the loans from. 

Rocket has sued at least six brokerages in recent years for losses stemming from repurchases, in which shops allegedly misrepresented borrowers' income and employment statuses, according to a review of court records. None of those specific lawsuits involve a scenario similar to Reyes' alleged conduct, let alone involving another major wholesale lender.

Summons were issued Wednesday to Reyes and Sharp Loan. Neither spokespersons for Rocket, UWM nor Reyes responded to requests for comment. 

The originations in question also occurred a year before UWM's "All-In" initiative barring its broker partners from doing concurrent business with competitors Rocket and Fairway Home Mortgage. While UWM sued companies who allegedly flouted the ultimatum, neither Rocket nor Fairway, which exited wholesale in 2024, responded in kind with their own formal broker mandate. 

Rocket in 2023 also announced a "Bully Shield" to indemnify brokers facing pressure from UWM, and Rocket's chief legal officer has since represented several brokerages in lawsuits from the Pontiac, Michigan-based competitor. UWM has prevailed meanwhile in other All-In litigation, securing six- and seven-figure judgments from smaller brokerages for violating the mandate.