National City Home Equity - HELOCS

Many have written in today to notify us that National City Home Equity is no more. Per an article on Reuters regarding the closure of National City Home Equity:

... One of the largest U.S. regional banks, on Thursday said it would fold its home equity business into National City Mortgage Co., a move designed to cut costs and respond to deteriorating mortgage markets.

Cleveland-based National City said some National Home Equity staff will join National City Mortgage's wholesale division, but many sales and support jobs will be eliminated.

"We are continuing to closely monitor the market and will continue to take steps to ensure originations are appropriately in line with market conditions," National City Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Kelly said in a statement.

The move comes 10 days after National Home Equity, which originates loans and credit lines through mortgage brokers, suspended approvals as demand dried up in secondary mortgage markets.

...

"We believe that the reduction in marketability of many mortgage products will continue for some time," Kelly said.

National City spokeswoman Kristen Baird Adams had no comment about the number of job cuts or the estimated financial impact of the move.

The following email from an ex-Account Executive of National City Home Equity was forwarded on to us today:

It is with sadness that I have to type this email. National City Home Equity has joined the long list of banks that is no more. We all met with HR and our last day is tomorrow. ...

We are unsure at this time how many are affected by this closure/merging. One has estimated that "hundreds laid off on the home eq side".

Original post to Ailing/Watch list from 2007-08-06:

As many have written in to note, National City Home Equity has stopped accepting applications for HELOCs. Marketwatch reports:

National City Corp. said on Monday that its National City Home Equity unit has suspended approvals of addition loans or lines of credit in response to market conditions. "This is one of a number of steps National City has taken in recent weeks to help ensure that originations are in line with existing and anticipated market conditions," the bank said in a statement that was e-mailed to MarketWatch. "We are continuing to closely monitor the market and take the appropriate steps to best navigate market conditions."

We are keeping a close eye on National City; if you hear anything regarding their operations, please let us know.