National Mortgage News today confirmed rumors that have been circulating about Merrill Lynch-owned First Franklin Financial Corp., saying that the company has let go of an “undisclosed number” of employees. From the story:

The spokesman for the subprime lender said he could not elaborate much, except to say that “We have adjusted our staffing levels.”

The news of layoffs at First Franklin comes as various rumors regarding another subprime outfit, Nationstar Mortgage, suggest the subprime lender has also made moves recently to cut its staffing levels. Private equity investor Fortress purchased the subprime mortgage banking operations of homebuilder Centex in March 2006 in a deal worth approximately $575 million, which it then renamed Nationstar Mortgage.