Lay-Offs Sweep Through Mortgage Industry

NEW YORK – Mortgage lenders were laying off employees by the thousands this week as the meltdown in the subprime market continued to spread. More than 11,000 job cuts have been announced since last Friday, according to one consulting firm. Capital One Corp. said it will close its GreenPoint Mortgage unit and terminate its 1,900 workers; SunTrust Bank announced 2,400 lay-offs, most of them in mortgage lending. Troubled Countrywide Corp., the nation’s largest lender, said it will trim almost 600 jobs. Bear Stearns, which was forced to close two hedge funds because of subprime mortgage losses, said it will cut 240 positions. Meantime, officials with Countrywide were reassuring depositors in its savings and loan unit yesterday that the parent company will be able to withstand the liquidity crunch that forced it to tap an $11.5 billion short-term line of credit. Depositors were lining up to withdraw funds from Countrywide Bank, the federally insured S&L, which has $107 billion in assets at 105 bank branches across the country. Shares in the beleaguered mortgage giant closed up 10% yesterday to $21.79, after losing more than 50% of their value over the past three months.