Ocwen will not replace jobs lost in HomeEq purchase

Ocwen Financial, which last week closed the acquisition of mortgage firm HomEq Servicing, said that it will absorb any job losses and will not rehire staff elsewhere. “The [HomeEq] loans will be serviced by Ocwen employees, regardless of their location,” said a source for Ocwen who asked not to be named. A person claiming to be a former Ocwen listing agent contacted HousingWire and said she often had conversational contact with a call center in India. And, it is possible some of the former HomeEq work flow may route through there. However, Ocwen is “not firing people in the U.S. and hiring people outside the U.S.,” the source said. “We have the existing capacity to service more loans so we purchased HomEq and are integrating it into their existing platform.” In May, Barclays Capital agreed to sell HomEq to Ocwen Loan Servicing for about $1.3 billion. The deal combines the top two converters of mortgage modification, from temporary to permanent, under the home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), into one firm. HomEq has two offices, one in Sacramento and one in Raleigh, N.C. HomEq employee layoffs in California will come in two waves at the end of 2010. According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN) issued by Ocwen, 452 employees will be laid off Oct. 31 and another 453 will be let go Nov. 19. The HomEq office in North Carolina plans to terminate 242 jobs Oct. 31. Ocwen did not say the layoffs were directly correlated to the acquisition, but added it does “regret the loss of HomEq jobs” and is “grateful to those employees for their service and commitment to that firm,” the company said. Write to Christine Ricciardi.

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