Washington Mutual Cutting 900 More Jobs

by Mike Bevel CollectionIndustry.com

When not coming up with grating primetime commercials lauding themselves for free checking and tapping the young urban market, it seems that the executives at Washington Mutual also enjoy cutting jobs. Nine hundred, most recently, according to a Reuters story.

This has been a great year for getting fired from Washington Mutual. Back in February, Washington Mutual announced that it would cut 2,500 support employees in its Seattle mortgage unit. Then in may May, it was reported that WaMu was laying off 1,400 workers in Washington state and Florida (in order to increase offshore jobs). Then in June, the bank announced that it would also cut an additional 220 jobs from its Austen, TX, center.

Washington Mutual spokeswoman Olivia Riley said 350 of the most recently cut 900 jobs would be in its home loan group as it moves to outsource residential appraisals. The remainder of the jobs were “mostly back office support” positions in its retail banking group, she said.

Washington Mutual ? as well as many other banks and savings & loans ? are feeling a definite cooling in interest rates and housing markets, which could explain the recent spate of terminations. Still: free checking!