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| As one subprime unit of National City Corp. was sold, another closed its doors and laid off workers.
While Saturday’s sale of First Franklin to Merrill Lynch & Co. was to include Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Preferred Advantage, which focused on mortgage origination and retention, the deal was modified and job cuts resulted, National City told MortgageDaily.com in an e-mail statement Wednesday. “Due to recent developments in the overall strategic landscape associated with the transaction, Preferred Advantage was not included in the sale,” the statement read. “As such, we have made the difficult decision to close the Preferred Advantage operation, effective today.” National City spokesman Bill Eiler declined to give a specific number, but said “less than 50” workers were laid off, thereby a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing was not necessary. The WARN Act requires most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “We do not disclose numbers, largely because they would not reflect redeployment opportunities that may be available,” National City said in the statement. “All affected employees have been notified and will have the opportunity to apply for other National City positions.” Severance benefits and other resources are being provided for the affected workers, according to the statement. The $1.3 billion sale to Merrill Lynch reportedly did include Pittsburgh-based National City Home Loan Services and Lake Forest, Calif.-based NationPoint. |
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