CitiGroup Layoffs to Hamper HAMP?
American Banking News - 12/30/09
Bank of America and Citigroup Polar Opposites on Home Loan Modifications
Bank of America and Citigroup are both participating in the government’s Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP), however they are polar opposites in their performance.
Many have said that Citigroup has been one of the most successful institutions in making modifications for homeowners that have been delinquent on their loans, whereas Bank of America has received a lot of criticism for having a general lack of customer service to homeowners and has generally been viewed to have a state of unwillingness to make mortgage modifications.
It now appears that the two firms may differ in another way during 2010 as Bank of America has made a commitment to increase small business lending and step up its efforts to make home modifications while Citigroup says that they will be cutting their staff budgets further after already having laid off more than 100,000 workers worldwide over the last two years.
Some have said that Citigroup’s layoffs can be seen as understandable considering the state of the global economy during the last year, however it will be difficult to maintain the level of customer service under the Making Home Affordable Program if they continue with their planned layoffs. Most banks that have fallen short on making home modifications have said that having a lack of staff is one of the primary reasons that they have not made as many modifications as they would have liked. It will be difficult for Citigroup to keep up their mortgage modification efforts with a reduced work force.
Meanwhile, Bank of America has made a statement that they will be increasing their hiring during 2010, but the firm has yet to begin significant amounts of hiring.
Citigroup does have a record of helping homeowners and has even suspended foreclosures through the middle of January 2010. It will take time to see whether or not Citigroup can maintain their commitment to keep up their levels of home loan modifications.
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