ACC Capital Holdings, the parent of subprime mortgage lender Ameriquest Mortgage, plans to cut about 3,800 jobs, including some local positions at its Orange headquarters.
The layoffs are part of a restructuring at Ameriquest Mortgage and Town and Country Credit, another ACC unit that makes loans directly to borrowers.
The layoffs make up about a third of ACC Capital’s workers.
The cuts stand to impact some at ACC’s Orange headquarters, where corporate operations are being consolidated, company officials said. ACC declined to say how many local jobs would be cut.
The company is closing 229 retail branches across the country. The majority of layoffs are coming from the branch closures, the company said.
The branches are being consolidated into call centers in Sacramento, Arizona, Illinois and Connecticut.
Ameriquest’s regional centers are set to assume loans in process at the branches and make new loans.
It’s the second big job cut ACC has made in the past six months. In November, the company cut 1,500 jobs, including about 325 in OC.
Another ACC unit, Orange-based Argent Mortgage, which gets loans from brokers, also cut about 600 workers companywide late last year.
The moves are designed to cut costs amid falling profits for mortgage lenders. Higher interest rates have driven up what Ameriquest and other lenders pay to holders of mortgages packaged as bonds.
What Ameriquest and others take in from mortgages has gone up more slowly, putting a squeeze on profits.
