“Lehman, the biggest underwriter of U.S. bonds backed by home loans, and National City, Ohio’s largest bank, announced the dismissals [850 and 1,300 people respectively] less than a day after 900 people were cut by Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage firm.”
“The bulk of the firings at New York-based Lehman will be at Aurora Loan Services LLC, the U.S. unit that makes so-called Alt- A loans to borrowers whose credit ratings fall just short of standards for regular prime mortgages.”
“Countrywide said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday that it cut 900 jobs as demand for home loans waned at the Calabasas, California-based company.”
∙ Lehman Brothers, National City Cut Jobs as More Home Loans Sour [Bloomberg]
More mortgage news from Bloomberg this morning:
IndyMac Bancorp Inc., the second- biggest U.S. mortgage company, plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and may report a loss for the first time in at least eight years as housing sales falter and defaults on home loans climb.
The company eliminated all subprime loans except those it can sell to U.S. government-sponsored enterprises, it said today. IndyMac also “substantially cut all other non-conforming products” and curbed lending to homebuilders, according to the filing.
The tighter restrictions was necessary because of “panicked and illiquid markets,” IndyMac said.
Looks like Countrywide estimate above was a little light…they just axed 12,000 people after market close.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070907/countrywide_job_cuts.html?.v=11