New American Funding (NAF), an independent mortgage lender based in Orange County, Calif., said Tuesday it has reduced its workforce by about 240 positions this week.
Broker Solutions Inc., doing business as New American Funding (NAF), is a family-owned S corporation under California law. Founded as a loan processing and underwriting consumer call center in 2003, the company is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae direct lender, seller, and servicer that operates its own builder- and real estate-based lending divisions.
In an emailed statement, NAF said, “As a result of current mortgage market conditions, New American Funding took action this week to reduce its workforce. In total, the company separated approximately 240 positions from multiple locations, with the majority of the reduction in force impacting mortgage operations.”
It did not disclose the locations affected by the job reductions. It also did not say whether it is providing a severance package to affected employees, nor how many employees remain on its staff.
The company did state that “Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification (WARN) notices were not triggered by this reduction in force,” likely because none of the layoffs at any of the locations were large enough to trigger the notification requirement.
So far this year, the company said, it has cut 941 jobs as part of its effort to “right-size the company based on the state of the mortgage industry.”
“The past two years have seen unprecedented highs in the mortgage industry, but since spring, the environment has retreated from those peaks,” CEO Rick Arvielo said in an emailed statement. “The mortgage market slowdown is, unfortunately, affecting our entire industry. We are all working hard to determine the best way to operate in today’s market. It is our duty as stewards of this company to ensure that we are properly positioned and able to responsibly navigate the current marketplace.”
As a result, Arvielo said, NAF has “made the difficult decision to make a reduction in force as part of an effort to align our company for continued success now and in the future. These situations are never easy, and these are decisions that we do not take lightly. We recognize the enormous contributions that each of these valued team members has made to our company, sincerely thank them for their efforts, and wish them all success going forward.”
NAF’s loan-servicing business is based in Austin, Texas, and has 233,350 loans under management, representing an unpaid principal balance of $52.5 billion, Fitch Ratings said in a recent ratings report. Approximately 60% of new loan origination business is sourced through NAF’s retail channel, while about 40% is sourced through its call center operations, the company said.
According to data from Inside Mortgage Finance, NAF was the 31st largest lender by volume, at $12.3 billion, through the first three quarters of this year. That was down 46% from the same period in 2021.
