Ameriquest Closing All Offices
How bad is it in the loan origination business these days? Ameriquest is the nation's largest sub-prime mortgage lender and things have been going great, right??
The parent company of Ameriquest Mortgage Co. and Town & Country Credit said Tuesday it will close 229 branch offices and lay off 3,800 employees nationwide as part of a plan to consolidate its retail mortgage lending operations.
The job cuts amount to a one-third reduction of ACC Capital's work force of 11,000. All branch offices of Ameriquest and Town & Country will be closed, with operations consolidated in several large regional locations.
The downsizing came as rising interest rates have put a damper on the once-booming loan refinancing market, particularly the sub-prime business...
And its not just sub prime lenders that are hurting, mainstream prime lenders such as Washington Mutual are also scaling back and laying off.
WaMu expects to relocate more of its operations to lower-cost domestic markets and increase its use of offshore resources. WaMu recently laid off 33% of its Chatsworth, CA workforce and announced plans to close 10 home-loan support offices around the country and lay off another 2,500 employees.
We have not seen the last of this story, as this is just the tip of the iceberg, the "new" economy (read Titanic) is about to take a big hit. Remember, around 60% of the new jobs created in the last four years are housing sector related jobs.
In the near future, as the housing bubble fizzles and deflates, there will be countless layoffs in the mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, escrow, title, real estate agent and construction industries.
Full Article
The parent company of Ameriquest Mortgage Co. and Town & Country Credit said Tuesday it will close 229 branch offices and lay off 3,800 employees nationwide as part of a plan to consolidate its retail mortgage lending operations.
The job cuts amount to a one-third reduction of ACC Capital's work force of 11,000. All branch offices of Ameriquest and Town & Country will be closed, with operations consolidated in several large regional locations.
The downsizing came as rising interest rates have put a damper on the once-booming loan refinancing market, particularly the sub-prime business...
And its not just sub prime lenders that are hurting, mainstream prime lenders such as Washington Mutual are also scaling back and laying off.
WaMu expects to relocate more of its operations to lower-cost domestic markets and increase its use of offshore resources. WaMu recently laid off 33% of its Chatsworth, CA workforce and announced plans to close 10 home-loan support offices around the country and lay off another 2,500 employees.
We have not seen the last of this story, as this is just the tip of the iceberg, the "new" economy (read Titanic) is about to take a big hit. Remember, around 60% of the new jobs created in the last four years are housing sector related jobs.
In the near future, as the housing bubble fizzles and deflates, there will be countless layoffs in the mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, escrow, title, real estate agent and construction industries.
Full Article
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