GMAC RFC cuts 260 jobs

by Gill Montia

Story link: GMAC RFC cuts 260 jobs

GMAC RFC, the UK’s tenth largest mortgage lender, is making 200 staff redundant in response to the global credit squeeze.

The company, which is based in Bracknell, is shedding over a quarter of is workforce and is also closing its Newcastle-based subsidiary, High Street Home Loans, with the loss of a further 60 jobs.

The lender operates in the sub-prime sector and also specialises in buy-to-let and self-certificated loans.

It is owned by General Motors, the US carmaker, and the private equity group, Cerberus; it finances lending through the sale of mortgage-backed securitisations.

In 2006, GMAC RFC provided home loans to the value of £12 billion, to the self-employed, buy-to-let landlords and borrowers with impaired credit histories.

Simon Knight, the company’s chief executive, explained the job losses by saying “We have to react quickly to change and these moves are designed to put us in a very strong competitive position for next year and beyond. While the majority of our business is in the prime space, we are not immune to the unprecedented volatility in the global credit markets which lenders have been facing.”