Maryland Lender Closes

Bay Capital, a Maryland-based mortgage banking firm, has closed its doors after its parent company declared itself insolvent.At deadline time, no details were available on Bay's production. The parent firm, Clear Choice Financial, Tempe, Ariz., was traded on the "pink sheets." CCF said in a statement that it had closed two offices belonging to Bay, one in Owings Mills, Md., and another in Irvine, Calif. Roughly 120 out of 150 workers lost their jobs. The statement says Bay was "forced" to shut down its warehouse lines. David Birdsell was recently named chief restructuring officer to the company, and the law firm of Keller Rohrback was hired as bankruptcy counsel. (For more details, see the Jan. 22 issue of National Mortgage News.)