Wells Fargo Cutting More Mortgage Jobs

1,800 positions in addition to 2,300 already announced

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, is eliminating about 1,800 more jobs in its home-loan production business as rising mortgage rates curtail borrowers' demand for refinancing.

The reductions are in addition to 3,000 earlier this quarter, Tom Goyda, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based bank, said in an interview yesterday. Those included 2,300 announced Aug. 21 and smaller cuts prior to that, Goyda said.

Wells Fargo is cutting jobs as higher borrowing costs slow refinancings and new home purchases fail to compensate for the decline. The bank may originate about $80 billion in home loans in the third quarter, a 29 percent drop from the three months that ended June 30, Chief Financial Officer Timothy Sloan said Sept. 9.