Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. plans to keep a large number of loan officers who no longer are making loans to help it attract a buyer for its shuttered loan lending business.
The company asked a bankruptcy court recently to approve payments for upward of 1,300 loan officers, according to a Bloomberg story.
Keeping the employees will increase the value of its lending business, New Century’s lawyers said.
The subprime lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday in Delaware. In conjunction with the filing, New Century agreed to sell its loan servicing unit for about $139 million. It also said it was eliminating 3,200 employees, more than half of the company.
The company stopped making loans a month ago, when its lenders stopped funding its subprime deals.
