A brand new class motion lawsuit accuses Optimal Blue and 26 lenders of worth fixing and inflating mortgage prices for thousands and thousands of customers.
The grievance says the business’s largest gamers violated antitrust regulation in sharing delicate house mortgage information with rivals and subsequently elevating fee spreads. Borrowers particularly scrutinize Optimal Blue’s aggressive analytics and Competitive Data License instruments rolled out in 2019.
The lawsuit was first reported by Law360.
In a press release Wednesday, attorneys for the 4 named plaintiffs mentioned algorithmic pricing and knowledge trade platforms proceed to unfold to extra industries.
“Plaintiffs allege that these practices within the mortgage business are anticompetitive, have positioned American debtors on the receiving finish of inflated mortgage charges, and justify class aid,” mentioned Robin A. van der Meulen, companion at New York-based Scott + Scott, in an electronic mail.
The potential class spans doubtless thousands and thousands of members, whereas neither attorneys nor the grievance speculated on the quantity of damages plaintiffs might understand.
The lawsuit focuses on fee spreads, or the distinction between a mortgage’s annual share fee and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s common prime supply fee. Since 2020, plaintiffs say mortgages issued by Optimal Blue customers have been round 2.68 foundation factors greater than non-users.
“More damning nonetheless, Optimal Blue customers’ fee spreads after 2019 — controlling for pandemic results and different variables — have been 9.6 foundation factors greater than their pre-2020 baseline, representing an enormous windfall extracted from American homebuyers,” wrote counsel for plaintiffs.
In a press release Wednesday, Optimal Blue mentioned it does not agree with plaintiffs’ assertions, but it surely couldn’t present additional remark throughout the authorized course of.
“We are assured that we will show how Optimal Blue’s merchandise truly foster competitors within the mortgage business,” the assertion mentioned.
Which firms are accused of price-fixing?
The grievance names 29 firms as defendants, claiming the originators on the listing used the Optimal Blue instruments in query for not less than a portion of their originations between 2019 and 2024. Of the 26 lenders, 11 responded to National Mortgage News and declined to remark.
The unbiased mortgage banks being sued are: Rocket Mortgage and Mr. Cooper, United Wholesale Mortgage, Loandepot, Fairway Independent Mortgage, Freedom Mortgage, Rate, Newrez, CrossCountry, Pennymac, Guild, New American Funding, CMG Mortgage, Amerisave Mortgage, Better Mortgage, Churchill Mortgage, Movement Mortgage and Beeline Loans.
The depositories and their house lending arms named as defendants are Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Citibank, (*26*) Bank, Firstbank Mortgage, and First Community Mortgage.
Also being sued are former Optimal Blue supplier Black Knight and that firm’s present proprietor, Constellation Software. Representatives for these firms did not return requests for remark.
Why debtors are calling the companies a cartel
The owners, who obtained loans between 2022 and 2025, level to the information hubs wherein originators share their real-time, delicate mortgage and revenue data to Optimal Blue “as the value of admission to this cartel.”
The nonpublic data contains mortgage originators’ margins, loan-level pricing changes, concessions, servicing launch premiums, mortgage officer compensation, and borrower credit score profiles sortable right down to LO, department and geographic ranges.
“Defendants freely share this intelligence as the value of cartel membership, making certain uniformly inflated mortgage costs for American households,” the swimsuit reads.
Attorneys wrote that Optimal Blue claims to work with 3,500 lenders, though they didn’t reply to a query Wednesday why they named the 26 particular lender defendants.
Plaintiffs say the conspiracy has compounded the present affordability disaster, wherein debtors right this moment are beset by excessive house costs and mortgage charges sitting over 6%. The grievance states Optimal Blue customers’ fee spreads averaged round 4.52 foundation factors decrease than different lenders on common, previous to its rollout of enterprise analytics instruments.
Optimal Blue, which additionally publishes frequent public experiences on market dynamics, was acquired by Toronto-based Constellation in 2023. The Canadian firm paid $700 million for the platform which Intercontinental Exchange divested throughout its buy of Black Knight.
