Chrysler Financial to Fire 350

As a result of the still declining vehicle sales, as well as of the shifting of Chrysler Group's subvented retail business to GMAC, Chrysler Financial announced yesterday it will begin a major restructuring process which will translate into some 9 percent of its staff getting laid off.

As the company says, effective June 30, there will be workforce reductions in each of the Company's eight Business Centers and at the Corporate Headquarters in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

As a result, all US retail credit acquisition activities will be consolidated into the Great Lakes Business Center in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Kansas City Customer Contact Center in Overland Park, Kansas will be closed starting August 31.

"While these were difficult decisions to make, they are necessary in light of our declining portfolio. We have made every effort to limit the number of job losses and to ensure the affected employees are treated fairly," Tom Gilman, Chrysler Financial CEO upon announcing the restructuring.

As a result of the restructuring, 350 workers of the 3,900 the company now employs will be left without a job. 240 of them will come from the Kansas City Customer Contact Center alone.

Chrysler Financial will continue to offer dealership insurance and consumer retail financing products, as well as servicing and collecting its on-going loan portfolio, which today stands at around $45 billion. It will do so as a 100 percent Cerberus Capital Management owned company.

Chrysler financial has already applied to become an industrial bank holding corporation, hence eligible for federal funding. The process is though lengthy and made Chrysler Financial withdraw the application.