CompuCredit Holdings Corp. is planning to lay off more than 300 collection agents and supervisors at two Atlanta-area collection call centers that will be closed by March 31.
A representative for the Atlanta company, whose core business is marketing credit cards and car loans to subprime consumers, said Wednesday that the move is a response to declining credit card accounts serviced by the company.
CompuCredit has been hit hard by the collapse of the credit markets. It posted a loss of $499.9 million for the first nine months of 2009 and an $87 million loss for the first nine months of 2008.
CompuCredit also plans to cut nearly 400 collectors and managers in two call centers in Wilkesboro, N.C., and Salt Lake City. The Atlanta-area call centers to be closed are in Duluth, Ga., and Sandy Springs, Ga. CompuCredit's call centers in Las Vegas, Lake Mary, Fla., and St. Cloud, Minn., will remain open.
In December, CompuCredit announced plans to spin off its payday lending businesses into a new, publicly traded company called Purpose Financial Holdings Inc. CompuCredit currently offers loans of less than $500 (it calls them microloans) for terms of 30 days or less. Purpose Financial will operate CompuCredit's chain of 316 retail short-term loan offices in Alabama, Colorado, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
