Mortgage vendor sues former exec for poaching lender clients

A mortgage vendor is suing one of its former executives for starting a competing company while employed and soliciting some of its bigger-name customers.

New Jersey-based Flatworld Mortgage Solutions sued Rajeev Kumar last week in a federal court, accusing its former executive vice president of breaching various employment agreements. Kumar, who claims he was a co-founder of FMS, is the co-founder and CEO of OwnGCC, an outsourcing firm founded earlier this year. 

Flatworld offers a variety of mortgage processing services for industry firms including lenders, title companies and appraisers. OwnGCC, which is not named as a defendant in the complaint, says it helps companies set up and manage global capability centers, or offshore hubs for operations.

The lawsuit claims Kumar, who was employed at FMS between 2021 and 2025, breached his nonsolicitation agreement by marketing his new company to Flatworld customers including Angel Oak Mortgage, eLend, Mutual of Omaha and The Lender. None of those lenders are named as defendants in the lawsuit. 

During his time at Flatworld, Kumar allegedly launched OwnGCC. While employed he allegedly entered into a secret side deal with another company to help it set up a captive call center, for Kumar's benefit. The lawsuit names the company as "NAF", although it does not state the company's full name. 

According to a May cease-and-desist letter filed by Flatworld's attorneys, Kumar solicited the company's employees to join his company. He also allegedly shared Flatworld's confidential business information with a separate, non-mortgage business. 

When contacted by National Mortgage News Tuesday, Kumar said he wasn't aware of the lawsuit. Neither the attorney who filed the case, nor a representative for Flatworld responded to requests for comment. The company is seeking an injunction to prevent Kumar from soliciting more of its customers.

While lenders often file similar lawsuits against competitors and loan officers following bad breakups, industry vendors have increasingly become litigious. A smaller vendor sued Pennymac earlier this year for allegedly lifting its platform, while communication vendor Ringcentral sued Amerisave Mortgage earlier this year for nonpayment. Both of those cases remain pending.