THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505180698
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
First Union Corp. said it will close its mortgage-processing office in Virginia Beach because of slack demand for home loans and to become more efficient.
Loan documentation, underwriting and other activities at the First Union Mortgage Corp. facility in Virginia Beach will be shifted to a larger mortgage-processing center in Raleigh, David J. Scanzoni, a First Union spokesman, said Wednesday.
The Virginia Beach office, which has 22 employees, processes residential mortgage applications from Virginia, Washington and part of Maryland.
With the sharp decline in mortgage-refinancing applications last year, First Union Mortgage slashed the work force at its Virginia Beach office from 60 to 33 during 1994. In March, it let go of 11 more employees.
Employees at First Union Mortgage's local office will be able to bid for 50 jobs at the company's Raleigh service center and will be given preference for job openings at First Union National Bank offices in Hampton Roads, said George Rosario, a senior vice president at the company's Charlotte headquarters.
Last year, First Union Mortgage originated $3.6 billion of residential mortgage loans, which was down 43 percent from $6.3 billion of originations in 1993.
``We were sitting here hoping that the business was going to come back,'' but a recovery in loan demand has not yet materialized, said Al Brown, senior vice president and chief operating officer of First Union Mortgage.
The company's decision to halt mortgage processing in Virginia Beach has not reduced First Union Mortgage's effort to make home loans in the region, Brown said.
First Union Mortgage said it also will close processing offices in Charlotte and Memphis, Tenn., in the consolidation. It has 62 employees at its Charlotte processing office and 34 at the Memphis office. by CNB