Wells Fargo to lay off 68 local workers

Sixty-eight employees of Vancouver’s Wells Fargo call center were told on Tuesday that they will be laid off this month.

A reduced need for debt collectors was the reason, said Tom Unger, a Portland-based Wells Fargo spokesman. Unger said debt collections have dwindled since June, when the San Francisco-based bank closed Wells Fargo Financial, its unprofitable credit card division.

Collection services have also slowed as consumers have increasingly worked to pay off debt. That trend has triggered job losses across the country, including a January layoff of 1,900 American Express employees from a North Carolina call center. This month, another 163 employees were laid off at a collection center operated by West Asset Management in Wausaw, Wis.

“All sorts of employment is created by debt, and if debt goes down, it will affect those jobs,” Unger said.

Now that Wells Fargo has closed its credit card division, Unger said he could not speculate on the outlook for the remaining 332 employees of the Vancouver call center, which opened in 2003 at 521 S.E. Chkalov Drive.

Severance packages will be offered to employees being laid off from the center, which operates from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.