Preferred Credit Announces More Job Cuts, Transfers

Preferred Credit Corp. is laying off 41 of its approximately 300 workers and transferring 21 others from its Irvine headquarters to Texas.

The moves are part of an ongoing restructuring of the mortgage lender by the Minneapolis investment firm NJK Holdings, which acquired Preferred last October. Last month, about 25 workers were dismissed.

Under the restructuring, Preferred will focus on the wholesale loan business, while Cashnet Financial Group Inc., a Plano, Texas-based firm that NJK also recently acquired, will handle retail loans.

About a year ago, Preferred settled a case filed by the state Department of Corporations that accused the company of overcharging borrowers by a total of about $1.5 million. Preferred paid a $1-million fine and agreed to repay borrowers. After it acquired Preferred, NJK ousted the company’s founder, Todd A. Rodriguez, as chief executive.