NATION

NATION

National City to lay off
1,300, cut mortgage loans

CLEVELAND — National City Corp. said Thursday it is laying off 1,300 workers to shrink the bank’s struggling mortgage business. The cuts will be spread out among several states.

The Cleveland-based bank said scaling back its home lending businesses and shifting the mortgage loans on its books will cost about $200 million before taxes.

National City said it is cutting back on issuing home loans the bank cannot sell to government agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Demand for mortgage debt not guaranteed by a government-sponsored enterprise has rapidly dried up in the past six weeks.

Layoffs to come as VW
moves U.S. headquarters

HERNDON, Va. — Volkswagen is moving its North American headquarters out of the Detroit area — the nation’s automotive capital — to the suburbs of the nation’s capital and will cut 400 jobs in the process, the German automaker said Thursday.

Volkswagen of America’s move from Auburn Hills, Mich., to Herndon, Va., will begin in April 2008 and be completed by the end of next year, the company said. It said that 600 of the current 1,400 staff will remain at Auburn Hills in call center and technical services positions, while 400 jobs will be transferred to Virginia.

Associated Press