Wells Fargo cuts 150 jobs in Charlotte, NC area

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Wells Fargo & Co. will lay off about 150 workers in the Charlotte area as the company's home mortgage refinancing business slows.

The cuts announced Wednesday come after the bank laid off more than 280 workers in Charlotte last month.

Rising interest rates have slowed home mortgage refinancing across the country.

Bank of America Corp. recently eliminated about 2,000 jobs across the country in its mortgage unit.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Christine Shaw said the 150 workers were given 60-day notices Wednesday. Shaw said 48 workers in Raleigh were also given layoff notices.

"There's a need to continue to right-size that business," she said.

The bank will try to find other jobs for affected workers, she said.

"It's not a reflection on their performance. It's what we're seeing in the industry right now," Shaw said.

BB&T of Winston-Salem has largely been avoided the wave of mortgage-related layoffs, but that will change early next year, Chief Financial Officer Daryl Bible told investors Wednesday.

BB&T already has been doing a large-scale restructuring of its mortgage operations, Bible said.

He said the bank would start to "right-size our business" around the first half of 2014.