Wells Fargo laying off 20 in Charlotte region

Wells Fargo said 20 people in the Charlotte region will be laid off as part of approximately 1,142 nationwide job cuts it announced Wednesday in its mortgage operation.

All the laid-off employees are in the lender’s unit that works with troubled mortgage borrowers. Approximately 1,000 of the laid-off employees work in Milwaukee, where the company is closing an office that services home loans.

According to the company, 13 of the affected employees work in Charlotte and the other seven work in Fort Mill, S.C. Wells Fargo spokesman Josh Dunn said the lender will work with the employees to help them find other jobs within the company. All of the affected employees will be eligible to receive pay and benefits until May 24, he said.

“The decision to reduce our workforce is made with great concern for the team members who are affected,” Dunn said.

The layoffs are part of an ongoing industry trend in which lenders continue to cut staff in their mortgage operations as fewer borrowers fall behind on mortgage payments, creating less need for employees who handle delinquent loans.

Over the past several years, Wells Fargo has laid off thousands of mortgage staff nationwide, including those involved in the refinancing of home loans. Like other lenders, Wells Fargo began laying off such employees when a rise in mortgage rates that started in 2013 dried up borrower demand to refinance.

Charlotte-based Bank of America has also cut thousands of mortgage jobs in recent years, including in the Charlotte area. As recently as February, it announced plans to lay off 250 mortgage and technology workers in Charlotte as it continues to reduce its portfolio of bad loans.

Even as Wells Fargo has cut mortgage staff in Charlotte, it has been adding employees elsewhere. The lender says it employs roughly 23,000 in the Charlotte region, up from about 22,700 last year. Charlotte remains the San Francisco-based company’s largest employment hub.

Wells Fargo reported having 264,500 total full-time equivalent employees worldwide as of the end of last year.

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Wells Fargo laying off 20 in Charlotte region."