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Mat Ishbia, CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss his company’s IPO in the largest SPAC deal in history.
Video transcript
AKIKO FUJITA: United Wholesale Mortgage is the latest release to market through a SPAC. The nation’s second-largest mortgage provider, thanks to a $ 16 billion merger with The Blank Check Company, backed by The Gores Group. This makes it the largest PSPC transaction in history.
Let’s invite United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia to join us from Michigan today. Mat, congratulations on signing up. Let’s talk about the timing of it all. It was certainly, without a doubt, a very strong year for PSPCs, as well as for IPOs, surprisingly. Why now and what exactly are you going to do with the money raised here?
MAT ISHBIA: Yeah, no, we’re excited. You know, we’re having a great year here. Obviously, it has been a troubling year in American markets across the country. And in a mortgage company, we believe it really is our obligation to make an impact by helping more consumers. And with low rates, we were able to do a great job with it. And we are also excited for the future.
And so we think the opportunity will really level the playing field with us. We are the second largest mortgage loan provider in America. But helping – educating consumers about it – is the best way to get a mortgage, through an independent mortgage broker. Whether they come from us or from another lender, we will help you get a great deal. And so, some of the money we raise goes to really educating consumers, boosting marketing, and hopefully taking our business from number two to number one in the near future.
ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, number two to number one behind Quicken out there, in terms of the wholesale mortgage lender in the country. You have about 1/3 of the market share in this category. Talk to me – it’s a very interesting time, I guess, for the mortgage industry, because we’ve seen interest rates so low. I mean, tell me about the growth you’ve seen here, as we get into this environment where we’re here with near zero rates. How do you think that might change over the next couple of years?
MAT ISHBIA: Yeah, absolutely. These are the lowest rates ever. In our business we’ve obviously had a great year this year, but we’re really shining in a buying market, where a lot of our competitors are refinancing, whether it’s the country’s big lender or others, they’re doing a lot more than refinances that we. We are really less cyclical.
So in the mortgage industry we are looking forward to the time when – if the rates go up, we will be able to help more people, from a buying perspective, to grow our market share in this. perspective. And so when the rates are low or the rates are – you know, if the economy gets a little better, which is what we all want in America, as an American, we can really support our growth and hopefully. -le, continue to take more market share in a purchasing environment.
AKIKO FUJITA: I mean, even with that said, we’ve seen tremendous growth in the housing market this year, thanks in large part to these low mortgage rates. I am curious about what you have seen on the market. Has there been – you know, in terms of the change that we’ve seen as a result of these rates, it seems almost so contrary to what we’re seeing in the rest of the economy. Part of that is inventory. But of course, a lot of it depends on the rates.
MAT ISHBIA: Yeah, you know, really low interest rates, everybody can save money. And so, the benefit to the economy is that if you pay off a mortgage now and you could probably save $ 100 a month, it saves a lot of people money, and you can use it for that. other things in your life.
And so, you know, 30-year fixed rates within 2. If you’re not within 2, you refinance it. And if you buy a house, you used to be able to afford a $ 300,000 house with a 3.5% rate, but now you can afford a $ 320,000 house with a 2.5% rate. %.
So it gives more accessibility. So if there are more buyers in the market – and obviously people refinancing – you know you have to find an independent mortgage broker to, you know, get you a low rate, take out a loan quickly and really. , a process with the technology we have and other lenders.
AKIKO FUJITA: And this … Zack is alluding to the fact that you are currently the second largest wholesale mortgage lender. You have not hesitated about your ambitions here to become number one, at the head of Quicken. I mean, how do you differentiate yourself, and what do you think is your market advantage that brings you to that number one spot?
MAT ISHBIA: Yes, no, so to be clear, we are the number one wholesale mortgage lender in the country. We have been for six consecutive years. What – we don’t do retail. Quicken is number one overall, retail and wholesale combined.
So what will take us to number one is simply educating consumers. Because when people realize that the best way to get a mortgage – it’s cheaper, faster, and easier to go to a mortgage broker. So you go to FindAMortgageBroker.com. You find a local mortgage broker and they shop. They send you to me at UWM or Quicken or whatever is the best deal for you, but you get a lower rate.
You know, our 30-year fixed rates in November were 2.76%, which is lower than the rest of the market. So cheaper, faster, easier thanks to a mortgage broker. And so when more people understand that, they’ll go through the broker channel, and we’ll continue to grow and eventually become the # 1 mortgage company overall, with the # 1 wholesale lender.
ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, and you know, Mat, which is interesting here too – and I don’t want to forget that. Because originally when we greeted you last year, we were talking about the culture of UWM here and why it’s such a great place to work for millennials, especially . We told you about the holiday season and the handing over of Cadillacs to certain employees, your raffles. You had the Chainsmokers at your holiday party. How much of a culture do you intend to change here, perhaps, by becoming, you know, a publicly traded company here? And what could it do to change it?
Because the other part of that, your story here, you know, you started the business in 2003, a business that your father founded. You’ve been working all the time now to run it. Maybe tell me about how it’s changing now, as a publicly traded company?
MAT ISHBIA: Yeah, you know, so when I came in in 2003 there were 12 people at UWM, and now we have about 7,200 team members here. But the culture and the family atmosphere have not changed. So we were very small then, and we are obviously bigger now. This is the key and the critic.
So obviously with COVID a lot – most of our employees work from home. But when everyone’s back, we can throw parties like this again next year and do great things. But we’re still going to celebrate because it was the best year in the company’s history, and we expect 2021 to be significantly better than 2020, so we’re excited about this opportunity.
But culture and family cannot change that. It’s the secret sauce. If you start to change the family atmosphere, the culture, the team vibe, you know, that’s the problem. And so we don’t change that, and that’s one of the key parts of – we make it public. The bottom line is – and I will still own the vast majority of the stock, and we will continue to run the business in the right way for our team members, our customers, and consumers across America.
AKIKO FUJITA: OK, well, Mat Ishbia, definitely a new chapter for your business today, the CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage. Appreciate your time.
MAT ISHBIA: Thank you for.
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