Banks, mergers and failed reverse mortgage lenders were responsible for most of the nearly 2,500 mortgage-related layoffs recently tracked by MortgageDaily.com. Just three firms accounted for 1,600 of the job losses.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported in Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notifications filed in three states that it plans 840 layoffs. None of the filings specified whether the positions were mortgage- or bank-related.
California accounted for 756 of Chase’s planned layoffs, while 45 will be in Washington and 39 are in New Jersey. Around 274 of the job cuts will occur in the second quarter, while 204 are slated for the third quarter and another 362 are planned for the fourth quarter.
Published reports indicated that Chase was closing six mortgage offices in Massachusetts. But a Chase spokesman didn’t respond to a request for the number of employees who are impacted.
U.S. Bank, N.A., which last year acquired the banking operations of Newport Beach, Calif.-based Downey Savings and Loan Association, F.A., after it failed, plans 514 Newport Beach layoffs this year, according to WARN filings with the California Employment Development Department. The filings indicated that 186 of the layoffs occurred in the second quarter, 326 will occur in the current quarter and two a planned for the fourth quarter.
Over at IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, 249 Southern California employees were eliminated during May, state filings said.
Most of the 231 layoffs recently reported by Bank of America Corp. will occur in the Golden State. California employees accounted for second-quarter layoffs of 150, and 81 will happen during the third quarter in Tampa, Fla.
As part of its integration plans with Wachovia Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. is cutting 132 Wachovia mortgage jobs in Jacksonville, Fla., during July and August, spokesman Don Vecchiarello confirmed to MortgageDaily.com. Some of the impacted employees might find other jobs withing Wells Fargo.
“With the Wells Fargo and Wachovia integration, we have evaluated the business needs for our combined mortgage company and have decided to eliminate certain positions within our appraisal, valuation and settlement services groups,” Vecchiarello stated.
Another 109 California employees were laid off in May at Bank of the West, WARN filings indicated.
Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corp. issued a bulletin Wednesday to its third-party customers that it was “terminated and/or suspended” as a seller-servicer of Freddie and would “cease all originations operations effective immediately.” The move has already impacted at least 100 employees who filed for unemployment with the Citrus-Levy-Marion Workforce Connection in Florida, the Star-Banner reported Friday.
During September Banco Popular North America plans 98 California layoffs, according to several WARNÂ filings in that state. Popular Inc. subsidiary E-LOAN Inc. laid off nearly 800 employees beginning in November 2007 as it was winding down operations, while another 160 Popular mortgage servicing employees in New Jersey were let go late last year and 627 employees were terminated in January 2007 when Popular Financial Holdings exited the wholesale nonprime mortgage origination business.
A WARN filing by The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. with Ohio indicated 74 Miamisburg, Ohio, positions would be eliminated at National City Mortgage. The layoffs will begin on Sept. 30 and be completed by Dec. 28.
The layoffs are a result of the merger with National City Corp. Among the displace staff are a mortgage operations manager, lending product managers and final documentation auditors.
At 1st Reverse Financial Services LLC — where parent WSFS Financial Corp. reported in its second-quarter earnings report that the reverse mortgage lender would be shut down — all of its approximately 65 employees would be laid off, the Mortgage Lender Implode O Meter reported.
The State of Michigan received a WARN notice from reverse lender World Alliance Financial Corp. on July 10 indicating 62 Troy employees would be let go. The Melville, N.Y.-based firm reported last month than it stopped accepting new loan applications and would immediately begin scaling back operations and directing prospective borrowers to other lenders.
