With delinquencies and foreclosures waning, JPMorgan Chase is reportedly cutting 1,800 more jobs in its mortgage servicing unit, many of them call center workers charged with soliciting payments from past-due borrowers.
Most of the layoffs will occur at JPMorgan Chase facilities in Albion, N.Y., and Tampa, Fla., according to a CNBC report. The bank announced in February that it would be reducing its workforce by up to 17,000 by the end of 2014. More than half of those layoffs are already completed, according to the report.
With the economy improving and many homeowners refinancing their mortgages, delinquencies and defaults have been steadily decreasing for the past two years. As a result, most of the big banks have been scaling back their mortgage servicing operations.
The one exception has been Bank of America, which has been plagued with delinquencies and foreclosures as well as litigation resulting from its acquisition of troubled home lender Countrywide in 2006.
As the big banks scale back their mortgage servicing operations, it frees them up to focus on the more lucrative business of originating loans.
