Home equity loans down.  Student loans up!  Yay!  (sigh) ...

Chase to cut about 100 jobs in Indy

By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com

One of Downtown Indianapolis' largest employers let about 100 workers know they'll be out of a job by May.

JPMorgan Chase says it is cutting staff in the company's home-equity lending division at Chase Tower.

The affected employees were given 60 days' notice on Wednesday, spokeswoman Nancy Norris said today. Those employees provide loan-officer support, account maintenance and document-handling services. Another 350 home-equity workers that work for chase are being let go, primarily in Rochester, N.Y.

"The reason is the mortgage slowdown," Norris said by phone.

Chase's home equity business began to show a sharp decline in the second half of 2007, and the bank expects to process only about half as many home equity loans this year as it did in each of the two previous years.

JPMorgan Chase will employ 2,400 in Indianapolis after the layoffs, including 800 at Chase Tower, where it will still be a major tenant and retain naming rights to the high-rise office building.

Norris pointed out that the company has added 250 to 300 employees in the past year to its student loans' division, based in Indianapolis.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend