Many Layoffs Expected in Mortgage Industry
Countrywide expects total mortgage origination volume to drop 25 percent in volume in 2008 compare with 2007. In the past two weeks alone the many mortgage companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 16,000 jobs amid the falling volume and rising mortgage defaults.
Calabasas, California-based Countrywide Financial, the biggest mortgage lender in Colorado said it would cut up to 12,000 jobs by the end of the year. It is not known how many of those jobs cuts will be in Colorado, where Countrywide employs about 400 people over three lines of business.
Colorado Law requires large employers who plan to cut more than 500 jobs or 33 percent of their active workforce in a 30-day period to file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with the state. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment hadn’t received any notice as of this week from Countrywide. In August BNC Mortgage LLC, eliminated more than 12,000 jobs but didn’t have any offices in Colorado. California based IndyMac, announced it would cut 1,000 jobs, Cleveland Based National City Corp said it would eliminate 1,300 jobs and Kansas City -based NovaStar Financial said it would cut 275 jobs in Kansas, California and Ohio.
Title companies such as LandAmerica Financial Group announced September 13th it’s plans to cut 1,100 jobs nationwide. “We are starting to see a ripple through effect through the whole industry”, said Erin Toll, director of the Colorado Division of Real Estate.
