Mortgage Sales Jobs Grow at Chase

From October through February, the New York-based company has hired 256 new loan officers, spokesman Tom Kelly told MortgageDaily.com.

He said 228 of the new hires were recruited from competitors and confirmed 20 of the originators were hired in the Seattle area. Published reports suggest 40 more loan salespeople are planned for the area.

In October, Chase announced it had grown its mortgage sales force to more than 5,000 over the prior 12 months.

But the company cut 54 subprime jobs and laid off 450 home equity lending employees during March on top of 430 HEL processing jobs it eliminated during October.

Overall mortgage industry employment has fallen from 535,400 in October 2005 to 360,100 in March 2008, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Chase, which reported $53.8 billion in first-quarter production, ranked as the No. 3 mortgage originator during the first quarter, according to data compiled by MortgageDaily.com.

“We will continue to look to hire strong originators,” Kelly added.

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