The Portland Business Journalyesterday reported thatWealthbridge Mortgage Corp.(view snapshot) had let go of 16 workers and would “lay off the remainder of its 109-member staff” as of 2010-10-15 based on a recent filing with Oregon under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

“Wealthbridge Mortgage Corp. intends to close its business and permanently lay off employees due to unforeseen circumstances outside of the company’s control and its inability to obtain the necessary capital to remain in business,” President Scott Everett said in a letter to local and state officials.

Based in Beaverton, OR, the company had changed its name to Wealthbridge Mortgage from Gateway Financial Services at the beginning of 2008. Information given to us at the time implied the company had been hit with a lot of repurchases due to first payment defaults, although we did not see any evidence to support the allegation. An inside source reported a large number of LO’s and telemarketing staff were let go in the early months of 2008 as a result of the alleged buybacks, along with a handful of managers.

The company originated an average of $16.62 million per month in residential mortgage loans during 2008, down from the previous year’s average volume of nearly $20 million per month.

Cited most recently as the reason for the company’s “collapse” was the failure by Delaware investment firm Venn Capital Group Holdings LLC to close a deal to purchase the company on 2010-09-20. Branch offices in MN and NV will also be closed.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/09/20/daily45.html