Citigroup today cut 100 mortgage-related jobs nationwide — including eight in Orange — as part of a previously announced consolidation plan, said Mark Rodgers, a company spokesman.
He said Citi employed more than 430 folks in Orange before the job cuts. He declined to comment on whether the remaining employees will be retained.
The Implode-o-Meter Web site, which alerted me to the layoffs, quotes an anonymous source inside the company saying 50 sales reps will remain of close to 500 and the office will be closed by June.
Rodgers said the Web site has its facts all wrong.
A little background: Last summer Citi bought the subprime wholesale operation Argent Mortgage and the loan servicing unit of ACC Capital Holdings owned by Roland Arnall, who died yesterday. Rodgers said Citi did not buy any loans in the deal.
Citi previously said it is consolidating operations under the CitiMortgage name and will shift its production to 90% eligible for sale to government-sponsored buyers like Fannie Mae from 65% in 2007. That doesn’t bode well for the Argent folks, since Argent was subprime.
Word on the street is everyone will be let go. That’s straight from several Argent employees. They had a meeting today at 9 am to inform the staff.
I’ve also heard that the loan servicing aquired from ACC will be dismantled over the next two years. That may be more rumor than truth but maybe Rodgers could elaborate. I would take his version with a grain of salt.