First Fidelity T&L; Lays Off 29 in Bid to Slow Its Pace

IRVINE —  First Fidelity Thrift & Loan, the state’s fourth-largest such facility, laid off 29 employees Wednesday as part of a consolidation of its operations.

The laid-off employees, who will receive pay through Aug. 15, represent 15% of the Irvine thrift’s work force. They are primarily appraisers and loan-sales officers at the thrift’s three Orange County branches and at seven other offices in neighboring counties.

“Hopefully, this is all there will be, all the major layoffs,” said Jeffery Rippee, First Fidelity’s president.

Rippee, in noting that the company’s management had decided to trim expenses, said: “We were overstaffed in some areas. Throughout this year, we are trying to streamline and centralize some operations.”

First Fidelity, the largest Orange County thrift and loan with $442 million in assets at the end of June, relies on real estate values in making its loans. Every loan is backed by real estate, Rippee said, pointing out that the real estate economy is in a slump.

Though it has been profitable--it earned $4.2 million in the first six months--its bad loans have grown to 11.5% of total loans since the end of June, when the figure was 7.8%. Regulators don’t like that ratio to go above 3%.

The growing amount of bad loans was attributed partly to the thrift’s rapid increase in assets. It grew 52% in 1989, 17% last year and, Rippee said, will likely achieve 20% growth this year. The thrift, he said, has to slow down to digest such growth and to restructure management to cope with the changes.

Despite the high ratio of past-due loans, Rippee said, First Fidelity typically collects the money owed it. Of $750 million loaned out in the past five years, he said, the thrift has charged off only $300,000 as a loss.

Even so, he said, the thrift will try to reduce that ratio to 6% or 7% by the end of the year.

Meantime, it is revamping its credit policies and underlying loan documentation to “make more efficient loans and to make better-quality loans,” he said.

Thrift and loans are hybrids between banks and finance companies, and their deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which also insures bank deposits. They are often confused with savings and loans, which are also called thrifts.