Andrii Yalanskyi – stock.adobe.c
A top-performing Cincinnati branch left UMortgage to start its own company, dubbed UMC Capital.
The branch, which was until recently named UMortgage Cincy, was with the lender for a little less than half a year. Before then, it was part of a franchise network at Motto Mortgage and went by the name of Motto Mortgage Apex.
In mid-December Breon Price, the branch manager, announced his operations were acquired by UMortgage. Shortly after, Motto filed a lawsuit against UMortgage accusing the company of poaching its franchise.
Around the same time, UMortgage also moved to acquire NXT Mortgage. The details of both transactions were not disclosed.
Staff at the newly formed UMC Capital did not respond to inquiries about why they left UMortgage. UMortgage also did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite Price’s branch launching as its own company, UMortgage is still involved in litigation that accuses it of “unlawfully soliciting” and “inducing” the Motto franchise to jump ship. The suit claims pressure from UMortgage resulted in Price and his associates breaching their contracts with Motto, which stipulate that members cannot “operate, manage, own, or have any ownership interest in any mortgage company,” was in effect from Dec. 1, 2018 to Dec. 1, 2025.
The Denver, Colorado-based company claims that Anthony Casa, CEO of UMortgage, was fully aware that bringing this team over to his shop would result in a violation of said contract. The company is seeking “an amount to be determined at trial.
“Motto is pursuing legal action against UMortgage for tortious interference after the company intentionally sought to impede on Motto Mortgage franchisee contracts,” a spokeswoman from Motto wrote in an email in March. “Motto Mortgage will not allow a competitor to misrepresent the nature of their business acquisitions and induce Motto Mortgage franchisees to violate/terminate their franchise contracts.”
