Wells Fargo & Co. is cutting more jobs from its Charlotte, North Carolina-area mortgage operation, announcing on Wednesday 91 layoffs in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
It’s the latest sign that U.S. lenders are not through slashing staff in their mortgage units as foreclosures continue to decline and higher interest rates shrink demand to refinance home loans.
Wells Fargo spokesman Josh Dunn described the Fort Mill layoffs as part of 125 the lender announced nationwide. He said he did not have a list of the other affected locations.
In recent years, banks boosted their mortgage staff to meet then-booming demand from consumers to refinance loans amid low interest rates. As rates have ticked higher and made refinancing less attractive, banks have laid off thousands of those employees.
Lenders have also shed thousands of employees who had worked with borrowers struggling to repay mortgages as the number of those loans has continued to fall amid an improving U.S. economy.
In March, Wells Fargo announced approximately 1,142 nationwide layoffs in its unit that deals with troubled mortgage borrowers, including 20 layoffs in the Charlotte region.
Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. has also cut mortgage staff. In February, it announced the layoff of 250 mortgage and technology workers in Charlotte as the bank continued reducing its portfolio of bad loans.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo employs roughly 23,000 in the Charlotte metropolitan area, its biggest employment hub.
Dunn said Wednesday’s layoffs were made after “carefully evaluating market conditions and consumer needs.” Employees were given 60 days’ notice and are eligible to receive pay and benefits through Sept. 19.
“Wells Fargo is committed to retaining valued team members and, where possible, we will work to identify other opportunities within Wells Fargo,” he said.
