Mortgage business changes at Citizens
Mortgage business changes at Citizens
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
JEAN SPENNER
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Changes in how Flint-based Citizens Banking Corp. delivers mortgage loans and other banking needs are leaving 44 workers looking for other jobs, including six in Saginaw, a regional president said.
Citizens is partnering with PHH Mortgage, a subsidiary of Mount Laurel, N.J.-based PHH Corp., for its mortgage loan business. The bank also is combining its commercial and consumer banking departments, bringing the support staff into one group, said Gary Glaza, regional president for northern Michigan.
Joining with PHH will “improve our delivery service for our residential mortgage clients,” Glaza said.
The realignment “will improve the ability to apply for a loan in the channel of a customer’s choice — with a (loan) officer, Internet or phone,” he said.
Those channels, some with 24-hour daily accessibility, were more limited previously, he said.
Displaced workers — 2 percent of the bank’s 2,258 employees — can apply for other spots in the bank as they open up. The transition should become complete by the middle of the third quarter.
“The employees were informed (Monday),” Glaza said. “It was not a surprise. We’ve been sharing communications that we’ve been working on this initiative. (Monday) was the day we were able to deliver a more specific account of the changes.”