COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday it will cut 76 jobs, plus more later, as it closes a customer service center here that handled home equity loans and lines of credit.
The cuts at Wells Fargo Equity Direct are expected to begin Sept. 21, and will include customer service representatives, loan document specialists and consumer loan underwriters, according to a July 23 letter Wells Fargo sent to Mayor Lionel Rivera.
All cuts were to be completed by Dec. 31, when the customer service operation will close, The Gazette reported.
Company spokeswoman Mary Berg would not say how many people work at Wells Fargo Equity Direct.
The cuts are due to a drop in business, Berg said. “We’re not getting as many applications, and we’re not fulfilling as many loans,” she said.
Well Fargo has said lower home prices around the country have hurt customers’ ability to borrow against their home equity.
Work that had been done at the Colorado Springs center will shift to Phoenix and Des Moines, Iowa, Berg said. Some of the laid off employees will be offered a chance to work elsewhere within San Francisco-based Wells Fargo.
Employees will receive severance packages based on their years of service, employee classifications and salaries, the letter to Rivera’s office said.
Wells Fargo said last year it employed about 1,200 people in the Colorado Springs area at its banks and elsewhere.
