EverBank laying off 302 in response to loan declines

[mtraininjax]

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a pink slip. I have a friend who was part of the 302 let go, sucks for her and her family!

EverBank is laying off 302 employees in Jacksonville, the company confirmed Wednesday.
Michael Cosgrove, vice president of corporate communications, said 194 positions in mortgage servicing have been eliminated because of the bank's recent agreement to sell a piece of its mortgage-servicing business to Green Tree Servicing.

Those employees were informed last week, he said, and Feb. 28 will be their last day.

Green Tree, he said, is keeping about 500 EverBank employees when the sale is final in the first quarter of 2014. It's also taking over three floors in the EverBank Center downtown on Bay Street.

Another 108 employees are losing their jobs in the loan-origination division, in part because of Green Tree but also because of a general slowdown, particularly in refinancing.

They were told Tuesday, and their last days will be between Feb. 1 and March 31. Eligible employees will receive a severance package, Cosgrove said, but he couldn't say what it was.

The company has 4,096 employees nationwide including 2,599 in Jacksonville, he said.

In the Green Tree sale, announced last month, EverBank is selling rights to service $13.4 million in loans that are considered higher delinquency risks and sub-servicing rights to $7 billion in government and Ginnie Mae loans.

EverBank's layoffs are the latest affecting employees involved in home mortgages.

In October, PHH Mortgage announced it would lay off 365 employees in Jacksonville, most of which were because of the drop in refinancing, a spokesman said. That month, Bank of America said it was laying off 1,200 around the country for the same reason.

In August, Wells Fargo announced it was laying off 95 people in Jacksonville and 2,300 across the country because refinancing had slowed. It followed that in September with 17 more layoffs in Jacksonville and 1,865 nationwide.

In July, EverBank cut 48 jobs in Jacksonville and 100 elsewhere when it left the wholesale home-lending business.

Note these are tied to re-financings, not new loans. The banks are not loaning out to homeowners, either good or bad, but one thing is for sure, Banks make A LOT of money on loan originations. They also have shareholders to answer to, so 2014 will be fun in Real Estate and Finance!

[David]

It's a volatile time in the mortgage servicing industry.

My old company Homeward Residential was also shutdown in May of 2013. We had about 370 people at the time, down from 500 a few years prior. 

A lot of my former coworkers went over to EverBank so I feel for them. 

[pierre]

Locally Citibank hired several hundred people last year for their mortgage groups. Most of them are temporary jobs. There was a backlog in a lot of mortgage companies. Once they get "caught up" the need for alot of these workers just is not there.

[fieldafm]

The banks are not loaning out to homeowners, either good or bad

That was certainly not true in 2013.  Staring in Jan 2014 is the introduction of Dodd-Frank, and you will see tightening of guidelines imposed by new gov't regulations.

[mtraininjax]

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/PHH-braces-for-cuts-possible-sale.html

More good news from PHH and their business model in Jacksonville.

[mtraininjax]

And yet more good news from banks and their mortgage processing business....

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/25/jpmorgan-chase-job-cuts/5803057/

JPMorgan to cut 8,000 jobs, The real culprit: rising interest rates are nixing the flood of refinancings that helped to bolster bank profits.

[JayBird]

And yet more good news from banks and their mortgage processing business....

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/25/jpmorgan-chase-job-cuts/5803057/

JPMorgan to cut 8,000 jobs, The real culprit: rising interest rates are nixing the flood of refinancings that helped to bolster bank profits.

This is good news for Jacksonville, as the layoffs are not local yet a portion of those 3,000 positions will be coming to Jax.

[I-10east]

EverBank closes a 10.3 billion dollar deal with Green Tree Lending. Green Tree Lending will hire 500 EverBank employees, and occupy three floors (of EverBank's space) at the EverBank Center.

www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/03/31/everbank-closes-on-11-billion-deal-with-green-tree.html