The servicing staff at Wells Fargo & Co.’s mortgage unit has increased by more than 6,000 employees during the past six months. Many of the hirings supported the government’s loan modification program.
In August 2009, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage reported that it added 4,000 loss-mitigation employees during the first half of 2009 — bringing its U.S.-based servicing staff to 11,500.
Wells noted at the time that the expansion was made to eliminate a backlog of pending modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program. The government recently reported that Wells Fargo Bank, NA, had completed more HAMPÂ modifications than any other servicer as of January: 17,652.
As of Feb. 28, the Des Moines, Iowa-based lender’s servicing staff climbed to 14,771 employees, according to data reported yesterday by Moody’s Investors Service. The staff operates out of nine U.S. servicing locations.
Wells previously noted that it hired 7,600 servicing employees during all of last year.
Moody’s, which rates the quality of residential mortgage-backed securities as well the servicers managing the loans, said Wells Fargo Home Mortgage serviced 8,820,400 loans for $1.55 trillion as of the end of February.
