David Siegel went to work for an affiliate of Guaranteed Rate in 2021 and got a signing bonus of more than $100,000. Interest rates were super low, and mortgage bankers were raking in cash.

Now that business has dried up, the mortgage company wants its money back. He said it fired him one month shy of the date when it could no longer ask for the bonus back, then demanded the money. Guaranteed Rate and its affiliates are also telling hundreds of other former employees that they have to return their signing bonuses, people familiar with the matter said.

“It seems like they realize they aren’t making money in their mortgage business, so the way to get income is to claw back the payments,” said Siegel, who is based in New Jersey.

Guaranteed Rate wouldn’t comment on individual employees. But its general counsel, Anwar Shatat, said, “We are not going to be apologetic about exercising our legal rights to recover our money.”

The mortgage industry is notoriously boom or bust, but this bust is especially bad—and it’s only getting started.

Unlike previous housing downturns, there’s no obvious way out. If the economy keeps chugging along, then the Federal Reserve will continue to keep rates high—which would in turn keep the housing market in the dumps. If the economy sinks, the Fed may loosen rates—but a recession wouldn’t do the housing market much good either.

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