A mortgage company accused of an illegal kickback scheme has slashed jobs, citing “lower industry-wide demand” in the mortgage business
Yet another mortgage company is slashing jobs, adding to the growing number of lenders axing staff as rising rates drive down refi demand.
PHH Mortgage Corp., a New Jersey-based mortgage servicer, has announced that it will lay off 135 employees in its Amherst, N.Y., office, according to Buffalo Business First. PHH spokesperson Dico Akseraylian told the journal in an email that the cuts were necessitated by “lower industry-wide demand” in the mortgage business.
Pink-slipped employees will receive 90 days of pay and benefits. Meanwhile, the company will continue construction of a $34 million office building in the Amherst area – a project for which it received $4.5 million in tax incentives, according to Buffalo Business First.
PHH is hardly the first company in recent weeks to slash jobs. Last week, Nationstar Mortgage gave 115 St. Louis-area employees their walking papers. The week before, Bank of America laid off about 280 people in the St. Louis area and around 450 employees along the West Coast.
Other mortgage giants, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, have cut thousands of positions in their mortgage units in the last 12 months as the refi boom evaporated. Bank of America itself cut about 3,000 mortgage employees in the last quarter of 2013.
PHH, meanwhile, has more on its plate than just job cuts; last month, the CFPB accused the company of having orchestrated an illegal kickback scheme for almost a decade.
PHH Mortgage Corp., a New Jersey-based mortgage servicer, has announced that it will lay off 135 employees in its Amherst, N.Y., office, according to Buffalo Business First. PHH spokesperson Dico Akseraylian told the journal in an email that the cuts were necessitated by “lower industry-wide demand” in the mortgage business.
Pink-slipped employees will receive 90 days of pay and benefits. Meanwhile, the company will continue construction of a $34 million office building in the Amherst area – a project for which it received $4.5 million in tax incentives, according to Buffalo Business First.
PHH is hardly the first company in recent weeks to slash jobs. Last week, Nationstar Mortgage gave 115 St. Louis-area employees their walking papers. The week before, Bank of America laid off about 280 people in the St. Louis area and around 450 employees along the West Coast.
Other mortgage giants, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, have cut thousands of positions in their mortgage units in the last 12 months as the refi boom evaporated. Bank of America itself cut about 3,000 mortgage employees in the last quarter of 2013.
PHH, meanwhile, has more on its plate than just job cuts; last month, the CFPB accused the company of having orchestrated an illegal kickback scheme for almost a decade.
