GMAC Mortgage LLC is beefing up its servicing staff and adding production positions.
The company plans to hire around 700 new servicing employees nationally this year, Jeannine Bruin, director of mortgage communications, told MortgageDaily.com in an interview and subsequent written statement today.
GMAC began expanding its servicing staff in October 2008 but picked up the pace last month as the Obama administration unveiled plans to step up loan modifications.
She said GMAC Mortgage expects to be halfway through the hirings by summer. New employees go through five to six weeks of training, with new training sessions starting every other week.
The positions being filled include customer care jobs, loss mitigation staff and collection employees. The hirings will occur at servicing centers in Burbank, Calif.; Dallas; Fort Washington, Pa.; and Waterloo, Iowa — where 250 of the positions are being added. Since Jan. 1, 67 of the Waterloo positions have been filled.
Bruin said 12 of the people hired were among 20 servicing employees who were laid off as part of 5,000 cutbacks that were made in September 2008 by parent Residential Capital LLC.
In addition, she said that 300 positions are being added to accommodate increasing refinance activity. Those employees will be housed in the four servicing centers as well as a large call center in Charlotte, N.C.
