Texas-based USAA Bank to cut more than 90 jobs

It’s unclear if the San Antonio-based company has notified the Texas Workforce Commission of the cuts as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) Notification Act. The labor law is designed to protect employees by providing for a 60-day notice of mass furloughs.

According to Investopedia, the company was founded in 1922 as a way for a group of US Army officers to insure each other’s vehicles. Since those early days, the company has grown to become one of the nation’s top fully integrated financial services organizations.

The news comes three months after another Texas-based firm, Stearns Lending LLC, revealed plans to lay off 348 employees in a move prompted by the closure of its wholesale channel after its acquisition, according to a notice to state regulators. Headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, the company last January was purchased by Guaranteed Rate, one of the nation’s largest retail mortgage lenders. In a January 05, 2021, Press release, the acquiring firm described Stearns as a “…national top 25 lender with more than $20 billion in origination volume in 2020.” Stearns was founded in 1989, with operations in all 50 states through retail, joint venture, partnership, and wholesale channels, according to the Press release.

But one year later, Guaranteed Rate opted, after a “strategic review”, to discontinue third-party wholesale channel Stearns Wholesale Lending, according to various reports. In a letter circulated by various media outlets, Guaranteed Rate CEO and president Victor Ciardelli alerted brokers of the decision to close Stearns – which was originally purchased with an eye toward making Guaranteed Rate the number one lender, according to the letter.