Uwm And Bilt Partner To Redefine The Mortgage Servicing Experience

As mortgage competition tightens and customer acquisition costs remain high, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is exploring a new way to stand out: borrower engagement. In partnership with Bilt, borrowers can earn rewards on their mortgage payments, their largest monthly expense, while brokers gain a tool to stay top-of-mind long after closing. UWM Chief Marketing Officer, Sarah DeCiantis, shares that the move adds a layer of borrower value without sacrificing speed or price, reshapes servicing, strengthens broker retention, and connects high-intent renters moving into homeownership with local mortgage experts.

HousingWire: The industry has spent the last decade competing on speed and price. Is the UWM-Bilt partnership an attempt to compete on engagement instead?

Sarah DeCiantis: I wouldn’t say it’s instead of speed and price. It’s in addition to them. Speed and price are still table stakes in this business, and in many situations, speed wins. What this partnership adds is another layer of value: borrower engagement.

Consumers are used to being rewarded for spending. They get points for coffee, travel, hotels, fitness — almost every part of daily life. But historically, mortgages haven’t worked that way, even though for most people it’s their largest monthly expense. The partnership with Bilt lets borrowers earn rewards for making their mortgage payments and use those rewards through Bilt’s broader neighborhood benefits ecosystem. It takes the value of working with a UWM broker and extends it in a way borrowers already understand and expect. 

HW: For brokers, the real challenge is staying relevant for the next transaction five to ten years down the road. How does this platform meaningfully extend broker-client relationships beyond closing day?

SD: One of the biggest challenges for brokers isn’t service quality or experience — it’s memory. A borrower may have a great experience, but if they don’t refinance or buy again for five or seven years, they often don’t remember who they worked with.

That’s where this partnership becomes especially powerful. The broker’s headshot, company logo, and contact information are prominently displayed in a variety of places including in the payment portal, so every time a borrower makes a payment, they’re seeing that originator again. And if they are set to autopay, their payment confirmation email also includes the same broker info. We’ve always had originator information on paper statements, which will continue but many customers are now paperless. Now, this visibility is part of the digital experience too.

It’s a practical way to solve a real retention problem in wholesale: staying relevant between transactions. If a borrower had a good experience and sees that broker consistently over time, the odds are much better that they return when they’re ready for the next loan. 

HW: Mortgage servicing has traditionally been transactional and mostly invisible to borrowers. How does embedding rewards into servicing change the psychology around monthly payments?

SD: Servicing has historically been very transactional and, frankly, pretty sterile. It’s the exchange of money. It’s necessary, but not usually the part of the process that anyone gets excited about. When we brought servicing in-house, we wanted to do it better — and do something different.

Rewards change the mindset from “I have to do this” to “Why not get something back for doing it?” Borrowers still have to make the payment, but now they’re also earning points on that payment. That aligns mortgage servicing with how consumers experience the rest of their financial lives.

There’s also a broader ecosystem effect. Bilt is already familiar to many renters, especially in major cities. As these renters move into homeownership, there’s a natural continuation: they can stay within a platform they already know, but are now connected to a mortgage broker and mortgage payment rewards. That familiarity matters, and it’s one reason UWM believes this kind of reward-based servicing could become an industry expectation over time — not just a novelty. 

HW: Beyond the payment portal, how does this meaningfully extend the broker-borrower relationship after closing?

SD: The payment portal is one touchpoint, but it’s not the only one. Brokers will also be able to use Bilt points as part of ongoing borrower engagement, including “surprise and delight” moments. That could be a birthday, a new baby, or simply a check-in to stay connected.

What makes this different from a standard drip campaign is that it’s tied to everyday spending and tangible value. Borrowers can connect credit cards, earn their normal credit card rewards plus Bilt points on neighborhood purchases, and use those points in multiple ways — including travel rewards, other benefits, and even principal paydown. That creates more frequent, more relevant touchpoints than a periodic email.

In other words, the broker relationship is no longer tied only to a one-time transaction. It becomes part of the borrower’s broader financial routine and day-to-day spend, which is a much stronger foundation for long-term loyalty. 

HW: Bilt’s partnership with UWM links the entire housing lifecycle, offering mortgage brokers unique advantages. How does this platform help brokers keep clients engaged and connect with high-intent leads?

SD: This is one of the most interesting parts of the partnership. Bilt already has a large base of renters making payments on its platform, and roughly 400,000 Bilt users per year move off the platform and into homeownership.

Within Bilt’s “Buy a Home” experience, users can now click a button to connect with a local mortgage expert. They answer a short set of questions — credit profile, income, target area — and get matched with a broker. Because Bilt knows key signals like when a lease is expiring, these aren’t random leads. They’re often renters approaching a natural decision point and already engaging with a housing-focused platform they trust.

That’s a very different lead profile than a generic purchased lead. There’s more context, more intent, and a stronger likelihood of contact and conversion because the borrower is already active in the Bilt ecosystem, wants to stay in it and is choosing to move forward within it. 

HW:  How does UWM’s partnership with Bilt change the broker’s conversation with their client after closing?

SD: UWM is supporting brokers with the education and marketing materials needed to explain both UWM and Bilt as part of the closing conversation. For many borrowers, the broker is the main point of contact, so UWM’s job is to make sure brokers can clearly communicate what the partnership means.   

That changes the closing-day message. Instead of just saying, “We got you a great rate and got you closed on time,” brokers can now add, “You’ll also earn rewards on your mortgage payments, access neighborhood benefits, and have additional options through the Bilt platform.” UWM is also building campaign assets for brokers through its Brand 360 marketing platform so they can continue that communication after closing.

It gives brokers a more compelling value proposition to bring into the relationship—one that extends beyond loan terms and into the customer’s ongoing ownership experience. 

HW: If this UWM model succeeds, do you believe rewards-based engagement becomes a wholesale channel advantage and eventually redefines retail and correspondent expectations?

SD: Yes, this is part of a broader consumer shift: people increasingly expect rewards tied to spending, and mortgages are too large a payment to remain outside that model forever. 

The point is simple: it’s getting harder to name transactions that don’t reward consumers than those that do. If borrowers can earn something meaningful from everyday purchases, they’ll begin to expect the same from their mortgage payment, too. In that sense, UWM isn’t just trying to create a differentiator — it may be helping set the standard for what borrowers expect from servicing going forward. 

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