California-based mortgage lender WinnPointe Corporation, doing business as Interactive Mortgage, has started a reduction in its workforce of around 180 employees, after suffering more than $1 million dollars in losses.
The company announced that, in the last 12 months, it laid off 128 employees, including underwriters, loan officers, processors, administrative and funders. However, pink slips will start arriving to more 51 employees by April 7.
WinnPointe sent a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) to the California Employment Development Department in early February disclosing its layoff plans.
“In part due to the economic collapse triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the dramatic recent increase in interest rates, the company has suffered more than a million dollars in losses,” the lender said in the WARN notice.
According to the company, which is helmed by Evette DeLong, the layoffs are permanent and will continue to happen as determined by the needs of management.
“The decision on who to layoff will not be based exclusively on seniority, but we may use seniority as a basis.”
The company did not return HousingWire’s request for a comment.
According to the WARN notice, 128 employees have been laid off over the last year, including six underwriters, 20 LOs, 26 processors, 51 admins, and 25 funders. Of the 51 employees who will be laid off in April, three are underwriters, 15 are LOs, 11 are processors, 19 are admins, and three are funders, the WARN notice says.
The company says on its website that it provides a “full range of low-rate options: FHA, VA, and conventional loans for purchase and refinances.”
The layoffs at Interactive Mortgage are but one example of the recent bloodletting in the mortgage business. Homepoint, the nation’s second-largest wholesale lender, laid off about 10% of its employees last summer to control rising expenses. Consumer direct lender Wyndham Capital Mortgage announced the layoff of 35 LOs in January, while refi shops Better.com and Interfirst mortgage both laid off significant portions of their workforces. Santander Bank announced earlier this month that it would be shutting down its mortgage lending business and laying off its divisional staff.
Those industry layoffs mostly occurred before mortgage rates really jumped in February. The average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.89% for the week ending Feb. 24, compared to 2.97% at the same time last year. Borrowers not buying points are seeing rates in the low-to-mid 4% range.
