Washington, D.C. — In response to news that Rocket Companies, America’s largest mortgage lender which also has its hand in other aspects of the homebuying business, is acquiring Mr. Cooper Group, America’s largest mortgage servicer, for $9.4 billion—just three weeks after Rocket entered an agreement to buy real estate brokerage and listing platform Redfin for $1.75 billion, and one month after the Trump Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped a lawsuit against Rocket for paying illegal kickbacks to real estate brokers who steer homebuyers to Rocket for loans—the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“After receiving a corporate pardon from the hollowed-out Trump CFPB over charges that it paid real estate brokers illegal kickbacks in exchange for steering customers, an emboldened Rocket is charging ahead with its ambition to capture all stages of the homebuying process,” said Matt Stoller, Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Given Rocket’s history of leveraging brokers to entrench its leadership in mortgage originations, its expansion into brokerage through Redfin should set off alarms at the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. The Mr. Cooper deal, which would give Rocket a major leg up in ‘recapturing’ refinancing opportunities within the largest mortgage servicing base owned by any company, is a major step towards creating a flywheel that will reproduce this steering dynamic across additional adjacent markets—potentially creating a Live Nation-Ticketmaster-style racket in the homebuying industry. The DOJ should investigate Rocket’s acquisition spree without delay.”

Rocket Companies operates a broad “ecosystem” of related companies: Rocket Mortgage, a mortgage originator, Rocket Close, a provider of title insurance, property valuations and settlement services, Rocket Homes, a search platform and agent referral network, personal finance verticals Rocket Loans and Rocket Money, as well as other companies not under the Rocket brand.

The Redfin acquisition would give Rocket a major brokerage presence, and expand its footprint in the search platform space. Redfin employs more than 2,200 agents across 42 states, and draws 50 million monthly visitors to its platform. The Mr. Cooper acquisition would create a combined servicing book of $2.1 trillion across almost 10 million clients, representing one in every six mortgages in America. Rocket has already been investing in expanding its servicing book, which positions its mortgage-making business for refinancing opportunities.

In December 2024, the CFPB sued Rocket for paying illegal kickbacks to real estate brokers—and awarded brokers through its Rocket Homes referral network—in exchange for steering homebuyers to Rocket for loans. According to the CFPB, under this scheme, Rocket “pressured real estate brokers and agents not to share valuable information with their clients concerning products not offered by Rocket Mortgage,” including “the availability of down payment assistance programs, which often save homebuyers thousands of dollars.”

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