CUSTOMER Q&A: Rocket

How Rocket is reimagining homeownership

Buying a home is one of life’s biggest financial decisions—but it doesn’t have to be one of the hardest. At Rocket, CEO Varun Krishna is leading the charge to transform the entire homeownership journey into a seamless, integrated experience. By pairing Rocket’s expansive platform with Plaid’s data connectivity and insights, the company is using AI, automation, and trusted partnerships to simplify a process historically filled with friction.

With products spanning Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Money, Rocket Loans, and new additions like Redfin and Mr. Cooper, the company is scaling a future where homeownership is not only more accessible—but more sustainable. In this interview from Plaid Effects, Co-founder and CEO of Plaid, Zach Perret, sat down with Varun at Rocket’s Detroit headquarters to talk about culture, innovation, and how Rocket is using data and technology to build something truly transformative.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Perret: Let’s start with culture. What makes Rocket unique—and how does that connect to the city of Detroit?

Krishna: Rocket has a special energy, and much of that comes from its culture, which existed long before I arrived. We’ve been around for nearly 40 years and have invested more than $200 million into community and philanthropic efforts in Detroit since relocating here in 2010. That speaks to our core mission, which is to help everyone achieve safe, sustainable homeownership.

What makes Rocket really special is our set of values, called our ISMs. They reflect who we are, how we act, how we show up. There are 16 of them, and they’re not just words on a wall—they’re how we interact with one another. You’ll hear things like "we are the they," which is about extreme ownership, or "we’ll figure it out," which speaks to being solution-centric. These values are part of how we interact, from the mortgage production floor to our servicing team.

Perret: In 2023, you left Southern California—and a strong career in fintech—to take the Rocket CEO role in Detroit. What inspired that decision?

Krishna: It was many things. I’d spent time at PayPal working on payments, and later at Intuit focused on taxes and credit. A big motivator for me has always been the desire to build a better financial system. Frankly, a lot of the current system isn’t designed to truly benefit consumers.

I got deeply involved in the tax space, which gave me access to a lot of interesting data. From there, I started to think more seriously about housing. To me, housing is the last frontier of fintech. It’s the foundation of the American dream and represents about 20% of GDP—a massive market. Rocket had this unique combination of a big unsolved problem, a treasure trove of proprietary data, and a culture that is both kind and driven to win.

The opportunity to use data to build new, AI-driven experiences really excited me. But just as important was the culture. I met the leadership team and fell in love with them. It felt like a place where I could make a real impact.

Perret: You’ve spoken about AI revolutionizing the mortgage industry. How is that going?

Krishna: It’s still early, and the future is evolving fast, but Rocket is naturally positioned to benefit from AI in big ways. If you look at the home financing experience—setting aside home search and servicing—it’s a highly structured, data-driven process that still involves a lot of human interaction.

You speak to someone on the phone, get qualified for financial products, submit documents, go through verification, underwriting, title, and insurance. It’s a workflow filled with manual steps. AI helps us streamline that entire journey. We're using it to automate document collection, enhance the coaching and support clients get on the phone, simplify underwriting, and improve our telephony systems. It even extends into servicing, where long-term client relationships are key.

This year alone, we expect AI to save our team members about 1 million hours. That’s not just efficiency for efficiency’s sake—it allows us to focus on growing the business and improving the client experience.

Perret: If you could snap your fingers and modernize the consumer lending experience, what would you change?

Krishna: I’d eliminate the word "experience." The best experience is no experience at all. Right now, lending requires a lot of effort—you gather documents, wait, wonder, and constantly check your status. It’s filled with friction.

I envision a world where the system does the work for you. Why can’t consumers be underwritten in real time? Why can’t prequalification be instant? Much of the pain comes from legacy systems that don’t talk to each other. You end up giving the same data to multiple parties. That’s what we’re working to fix.

Perret: How has the partnership with Plaid helped you do that?

Krishna: It’s been an incredibly strong and collaborative partnership. Plaid is like the data backbone of Rocket. We use Plaid across Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Money, and Rocket Loans.

In Rocket Mortgage, Plaid helps clients verify assets easily. In Rocket Money, Plaid powers insights that help users manage their budgets, understand their cash flow, and build better credit. Rocket Loans uses Plaid for financial verification that helps streamline qualification. What I appreciate most is that Plaid simplifies access to financial data for all kinds of use cases.

Perret: You’ve mentioned a data contribution framework. What does that look like?

Krishna: It’s an idea we’re excited about. By combining data sets—homeownership, credit, banking, investing—you can build a more holistic and verified financial identity for a consumer. That opens up the possibility of improving the entire credit system. Think better qualification, more fairness, and new types of financial experiences.

The insights that exist between our data sets and Plaid’s are powerful. The sky is the limit on what we can do together to create more equitable and empowering financial tools.

Perret: You’ve made big moves with acquisitions of Redfin and Mr. Cooper. How do these pieces fit into your broader vision?

Krishna: People often ask whether we’re a mortgage company or a tech company. I think it’s the wrong question. Technology is how we do what we do—it’s not what we are.

Our vision is to build an integrated homeownership platform. Home search, mortgage financing, and servicing are deeply connected but currently operate in silos. By bringing them together, we can create a "super funnel" that simplifies the journey for clients and allows us to participate across the entire value chain.

Redfin brings us a massive top-of-funnel opportunity, with 62 million monthly users. Mr. Cooper adds depth in servicing, representing 1 in 6 mortgages. Together, they significantly increase our data and allow us to build smarter, more seamless workflows that benefit the consumer.

Perret: What role does Rocket Money play in all this?

Krishna: It’s huge. Rocket Money helps people get financially ready to buy a home and stay financially healthy once they’re in one. It’s like financial fitness. You need good credit, savings, and cash flow to qualify. Then once you own a home, you need to manage your mortgage, taxes, and other responsibilities. Rocket Money helps with all of that, and it strengthens our client relationships over time.

Perret: Shifting gears for just a moment—how has your leadership style evolved since joining Rocket?

Krishna: The further I go in my career, the more I realize I have to learn. The mortgage and homeownership business is complex, and Rocket has many seasoned professionals with deep expertise. My first job was to listen and learn.

I focused on building a balanced leadership team—elevating internal talent while bringing in external voices—and making sure they worked well together. I try to avoid the illusion of mastery. Leadership for me is about shared decision-making. Yes, there are moments to be decisive, but I believe in winning and losing as a team.

Perret: What’s next for Rocket? What are you most excited about?

Krishna: Integration is our near-term focus, but we’re laying the groundwork for much bigger things. AI is not just about automating workflows—it’s enabling entirely new technologies. Think 3D printing, robotics, and advanced materials. These innovations could help us manufacture and deliver homes in radically more efficient ways.

Ultimately, our mission is to make homeownership simpler, more accessible, and more sustainable. That’s what we’re building toward.