TMCnet News
HSBC office closings to cost 100 N.J. jobs(Record, The (Hackensack, NJ) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Mar. 4--The 800 sub-prime consumer loan offices in the U.S. that London-based banking giant HSBC Holdings Plc plans to close include 19 in New Jersey. HSBC's U.S. consumer-lending unit includes the Household Finance and Beneficial brands, and state records show the company has eight active Household Finance offices in New Jersey, including one in Bergenfield. It has 11 Beneficial Mortgage offices around the state, none in Bergen County. Employees answering phones at the sub-prime mortgage lenders' offices in Bergenfield and West Orange referred questions Tuesday to HSBC spokeswoman Kate Durham, who confirmed that all the New Jersey offices will be closing, although she did not know when. HSBC, which reported a 70 percent drop in earnings on Monday, will eliminate 6,100 jobs in the U.S. Those include about 100 jobs in the New Jersey loan offices, according to an employee who asked not to be identified. The move underscores a trend. Lending offices that sprung up like wildflowers in the state between 2002 and 2006 have been disappearing about as fast. At the end of last year, 1,489 licensed mortgage-lending offices were operating in the state, down from 2,441 at the end of 2006. HSBC had more than 40 loan offices in the state six years ago after its $14 billion acquisition of Household International. Since then, "there has been some consolidation," Durham said. Employees will receive severance pay and at least 30 days' notice, Durham said. They also will get information on outplacement services and job openings in other parts of the company. She declined to be more specific. Consumers with good credit can still get home loans at 20 HSBC branches in New Jersey, she said. To see more of The Record, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.NorthJersey.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Record, Hackensack, N.J. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |