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If youve been searching online for Quicken Loans reviews, you may have noticed that many of the reviews youre finding are from a few years back. Thats because Quicken dipped out of the mortgage business back in 2021. Heres whats going on with Quicken Loans.
Curious about getting a mortgage? Check out our comprehensive guide for first time home buyers or NerdWallets review of Rocket Mortgage.
Quicken Loans is one of the largest mortgage lenders in America, but is it privately owned or part of a bigger corporation? The history of Quicken Loans is an interesting one, going through many changes over the years. Let’s take a closer look at who owns Quicken Loans today.
The Early Days as Rock Financial
Quicken Loans started out in 1985 as Rock Financial, a mortgage broker founded by Dan Gilbert, Ron Berman, Lindsay Gross, and Gary Gilbert in Detroit, Michigan. In 1988, Rock Financial transitioned into a mortgage lender. The company grew rapidly and went public with an IPO in 1998.
Acquired by Intuit
In 1999, Intuit, the makers of Quicken, TurboTax and other financial software, acquired Rock Financial for $370 million. The company was rebranded as Quicken Loans to align with Intuit’s Quicken software brand.
Gilbert Buys It Back
Quicken Loans didn’t remain part of Intuit for long In 2002, founder Dan Gilbert partnered with a group of private investors to buy Quicken Loans back from Intuit This returned ownership of the mortgage lender to private hands.
The Growth of Quicken Loans
Under Dan Gilbert’s renewed leadership, Quicken Loans grew rapidly in the 2000s. It pioneered online mortgage lending and became one of the largest retail mortgage lenders in America. Quicken Loans surpassed $1 billion in annual lending volume in 1993 and has now funded over $1.75 trillion in mortgage loans.
Launch of Rocket Mortgage Brand
In 2015, Quicken Loans introduced Rocket Mortgage, their fully online mortgage experience This new digital mortgage process allowed customers to apply for and receive a mortgage completely electronically. Rocket Mortgage helped drive even more growth for Quicken Loans
Rocket Companies IPO
Quicken Loans parent company Rocket Companies had an initial public offering (IPO) in August 2020, listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RKT. This allowed public investment into the company, but did not affect ownership and control.
Who Owns Quicken Loans Today?
Today, Quicken Loans remains a privately-owned company. Here are the owners:
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Dan Gilbert – Gilbert has been the majority owner of Quicken Loans since buying it back from Intuit in 2002. He owns 93.2% of Rocket Companies, the parent of Quicken Loans. This makes him the controlling owner.
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Rocket Companies – The publicly traded Rocket Companies owns 6.8% of itself. But Dan Gilbert maintains controlling interest with 93.2% ownership.
So while Rocket Companies has public shareholders, the majority owner is still founder Dan Gilbert. His controlling interest keeps Quicken Loans privately held.
Quicken Loans Renamed Rocket Mortgage
In July 2021, Quicken Loans officially changed its name to Rocket Mortgage. This aligned the mortgage lending business under the Rocket brand. But the ownership remained the same, with Gilbert as majority private owner.
Is Quicken Loans a Private Company?
To summarize, yes Quicken Loans (now Rocket Mortgage) is a private company majority owned by founder Dan Gilbert. While parent Rocket Companies had an IPO, Gilbert retained controlling interest.
Quicken Loans has grown from a small mortgage broker in the 1980s into one of the largest mortgage lenders in America while remaining privately owned the entire time. It has innovated in online lending and continues to be a leader in the fintech mortgage space. So while you can now buy shares of Rocket Companies, majority control remains in the hands of Dan Gilbert.
How is Quicken Loans related to Rocket Mortgage?
A quick(en) history lesson: Quicken Loans came about in 1999, when Intuit purchased mortgage lender Rock Financial and combined it with its burgeoning online home loan marketplace QuickenMortgage. In 2002, when a group of investors led by Rock Financials founder bought Quicken Loans from Intuit, they kept the Quicken Loans name.
Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans, the first fully-online mortgage application experience, launched in 2015. Both Rocket Mortgage and Quicken Loans had their own websites, but Rocket Mortgage was really a Quicken offering.
In 2021, that relationship flipped. Rocket Companies — the parent to Quicken Loans as well as other Rocket brands — announced that Quicken Loans would be renamed Rocket Mortgage. Quicken Loans still existed as a name, but all of the lending was through Rocket.
What does Quicken Loans do now?
More recently, Rocket Companies has transitioned Quicken Loans away from solely supporting Rocket Mortgage. The Quicken Loans name has been licensed to Rocket Companies subsidiary LMB Mortgage Services, which now powers the Quicken Loans website.
Quicken Loans is not back in the mortgage business, though its website features a considerable amount of information about home purchase and refinance loan options. Clicking on buttons like “Get Started” or “Buy a Home” will take you to a series of questions about home purchasing or refinancing that lead up to providing your contact information, similar to what youd see on a lender site if you were looking to get a rate quote or apply for mortgage pre-approval. Sharing your information will allow Quicken partners — including, potentially, Rocket — to reach out to you with more specific offers.
Quicken Loans Honest Review – Watch Before Using
FAQ
Who owns Quicken Loans?
In August 2020, Quicken Loans went public under the name Rocket Companies and made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “RKT”. As of 2020, Gilbert remained the majority owner, controlling 79% of the company’s shares.
Is Quicken Loans public?
On August 6, 2020, Rocket Companies, Inc. went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RKT, raising $1.8 billion. Quicken Loans was the largest subsidiary of the newly formed, public traded entity that also included Rocket Homes, Rocket Loans, Amrock and other tech-driven personal finance companies.
What is the Quicken Loans controversy?
The Justice Department sued Quicken Loans in 2015 for granting mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Authority to unqualified borrowers. The Justice Department on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against Quicken Loans, after the company agreed to a $32.5 million settlement with the United States government.
Is Rocket Mortgage a Chinese company?
About us. Rocket Companies® is a Detroit-based company made up of businesses that provide simple, fast and trusted digital solutions for complex transactions. The name comes from our flagship business, now known as Rocket Mortgage®, which was founded in 1985.