Firstplus Financial Group

After failing to find a buyer, beleaguered home equity lender FirstPlus Financial Group said Thursday that it will sell off several affiliates, fire 3,000 people and close a major marketing center in Orange County. The Dallas-based company, one of several "subprime" lenders felled by the global credit crunch and disarray in the mortgage market, said it will move its direct-marketing operations from Mission Viejo to Dallas as part of the consolidation.

Home equity lender FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. said Tuesday that third-quarter earnings plunged 70%. The company also told investors and analysts in a conference call that it faces hurdles before it can close an agreement to sell off key portions of its business to Coast-to-Coast Financial Corp.

FirstPlus Financial, which closed its home mortgage affiliate in Mission Viejo last month and folded the unit into the parent company in Dallas, has been sued by a pair of vendors who contend they are owed nearly $750,000.

Although two subsidiaries of Dallas-based FirstPlus Financial Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy recently, the move will not affect the Tustin-based banking affiliate, the lender's president said Monday.

After failing to find a buyer, beleaguered home equity lender FirstPlus Financial Group said Thursday that it will sell off several affiliates, fire 3,000 people and close a major marketing center in Orange County.