Ameriquest parent closes call centers, loan center

NEW YORK (Reuters) - ACC Capital, the parent of subprime lender Ameriquest, has shuttered four of its call centers nationwide as part of job cuts in response to a "very challenging" market in loans to less creditworthy individuals, the company said.

ACC, which last month struck a deal in which Citigroup Inc. (C.N) agreed to extend it additional working capital and obtained an option to buy its origination and servicing units, also said it is closing one of three loan processing centers.

ACC did not disclose how many people it was laying off. Its Argent wholesale mortgage lender, which is closing its White Plains, New York state-based processing center, employs more than 1,000, according to its web site.

Ameriquest was the third-largest U.S. mortgage lender to people with weak credit in the third quarter of 2005 but had fallen to 12th-largest by the third quarter of 2006.

An ACC spokesman said its Ameriquest consumer lending unit will close call centers in Schaumburg, Illinois; Shelton, Connecticut; Phoenix, Arizona and Sacramento, consolidating those activities in Orange, California, where ACC is based.

ACC employed about 6,000 people across its three main units prior to the layoffs.

"This is a very challenging non-prime market," the company said in a statement issued on Thursday. "Only companies with the ability to control costs and improve loan quality are going to be successful.

Orange, California-based ACC last May said it was laying off 3,800 employees, or about a third of its work force, as it closed 229 branch offices in a bid to cut costs.

ACC announced its relationship with Citigroup after what it said was a review of strategic alternatives available to it.