GMAC Mortgage’s Ditech Home Loans division is closing its mortgage underwriting center in Phoenix and laying off 103 workers.
The work volume will be handled at Ditech’s main offices in Costa Mesa, Calf., said GMAC spokeswoman Jeannine Bruin.
Bruin said the Phoenix center does mortgage underwriting, processing and pre-funding. The center, located on Cotton Center Boulevard near Interstate 10 and Broadway Road, will close in November. Bruin said employees can apply for jobs in Costa Mesa or other GMAC locations. She would not comment on severance packages.
The lease on the 3-year-old Phoenix center expires soon, and Ditech had space available at its headquarters in Orange County, Calif., to handle the work being done here, Bruin said. With the mortgage center’s closure, GMAC’s presence in Arizona will be substantially diminished.
“We will have a handful of employees remaining in Phoenix in commercial finance and auto finance roles,” said Bruin, who would not disclose specific numbers.
The mortgage lending sector has been hit by the housing slump, the recession and a consumer credit crunch that has constrained lending. The Valley has lost 11,600 financial services jobs since the recession started in late 2007, going from 151,200 in December 2007 to 139,600 in July of this year, according to the Arizona Department of Commerce.
The Valley’s unemployment rate for July was 8.4 percent, up from 3.5 percent in November 2007. The state’s July jobless rate was 9.2 percent, up from 4.2 percent in November 2007, according to ADOC.
GMAC Mortgage/Ditech
Address: 4405 E. Cotton Center Blvd., Phoenix Layoffs: 103 Date: Nov. 6 Reason: Work to be moved to Ditech’s Orange County, Calif., headquarters HISTORY: Established 1995, acquired by GMAC in 1999 Web: www.gmacmortgage.com or www.ditech.com
Phoenix Business Journal - by Mike SunnucksFriday, August 28, 2009
