As residential loan performance slowly improves, staffing needs for distressed mortgage servicing are quickly fading. But some servicers are still adding employees.
Homeward Residential Inc. advised officials in Florida and Texas last week that it is laying off nearly 700 employees.
Bank of America Corp. confirmed last month that it was cutting back on its servicing staff, while rival JPMorgan Chase & Co. is reducing servicing headcount by nearly a thousand employees.
Some of the displaced workers, however, might find opportunity at Carrington Mortgage Services LLC.
The Santa Ana, Calif.-based company announced Wednesday plans to add around 600 jobs this year.
New recruits will either work in Fishers, Ind., where staffing is expected to expand by 150 percent, or at its California headquarters, where the number of employees is expected to double.
Headcount at both locations was up 100 percent during 2012.
Around 50 new jobs are expected to be added at each location during the first quarter.
“Within the past year, loan servicers have started to return to their core businesses, with traditional servicers focusing on efficient processing of performing loans, and specialty servicers concentrating on curing defaults and assisting distressed borrowers,” Carrington said. “As regulatory requirements become more stringent, and occurrences of short sales and proprietary loan modifications multiply, traditional servicers are increasingly contracting out their distressed portfolios to those specialty servicers uniquely equipped to manage these heightened requirements while providing the customer service necessary to manage loans in default.”
Another company adding servicing jobs is U.S. Bank, which plans to hire 260 employees in the St. Louis area.
